What do you think about APEX?

[RhinoZ]

Hi Ya Folks,
My local Walmart has the apex AD1500 DVD for a cheap price. I've looked on the web and I like the APEX ability to play all types of formats and not too many people seem to complain about APEX. I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on APEX. Is the picture quality any good? Or is it a cheap box?
Thanks and have a good one!

[Dr Mordrid]

FYI: last year APEX surpassed Sony as #1 in DVD deck sales in the USA with 30% of the market.

I have three APEX AD-660's, a slightly older model but quite good.

In terms of price APEX decks are definitely cheap. I've seen them here (hinterlands outside of Detroit) for as low as $65 USD. This does not, however, relate to the quality of their decks which I find better than my previous decks (Philips, Panasonic & Toshiba).

As far as playback quality goes it's really quite good. The colors are bright and the images sharp. I have the one in our entertainment center connected by way of S-Video to a 31" Sony WEGA, but it looked good on our previous TV's composite inputs as well (Sanyo ).

My AD-660's play VCD, xVCD (high bitrate VCD), SVCD, xVCD (I've tested up to 3400 kbps), MP3 and even MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 files burned to a disk without VCD/SVCD formatting.

When you put in a disk (I use ISO-2) with MP3 or MPEG's on them you get a little explorer type window where you can use the arrow keys on the remote to select the file you want to play. Works every time.

They do NOT reliably play DVD-R/RW or DVD+RW, but then they weren't around when my AD-660's came out.

APEX just came out with some new models that can also play HDCD (20 bit audio vs. 16 bit on standard CD's), JPEG images burned to an ISO disk, Kodak PictureCD and CD's burned with Windows Media Audio files instead of MP3's.

This fall a new line comes out that will add Windows Media Video playback to APEX's already long list of formats.

Now...as for the AD-1500....I'd pass on it as it's also an older model. I'd wait a bit as there are new models to get through the distribution channel;

http://www.apexdigitalinc.com/html/UpcomingDVD_Players.html

The 1600 and 2500 look very interesting. They should be shipping soon, if they haven't already.

What I want to see the price on is this HDTV that they have coming this fall;

http://www.apexdigitalinc.com/html/Projection_Widescreen_HDTV_Series.html

Dr. Mordrid

[RhinoZ]

Thanks Dr.
I really like that TV too. But one thing at a time
Have a great holiday.

[KvHagedorn]

The reason for APEX's cheap price is that they are made in China, and quality control is not very consistent. Sometimes you will luck out and get a good one, though. I know someone who returned 3 before he got a decent unit. Couldn't tell you anything about picture quality, though.. never actually saw his in action.

[Dr Mordrid]

I've gone 3 for 3. No returns.

Every maker can send out a cluster of bad decks, especially if they were made on Wednesday (hump day) or Saturday (hangover day)

I went through two Philips when I first bought that one.

Dr. Mordrid

[DentyCracker]

Perhaps Creative made a batch of bad Live!s. I went 3 for 3 there, CT4620 (original Live!), CT4760 (X-Gamer), and SB0060 (X-Gamer 5.1) with none of the problems I hear everyone bitching about. I even drop very few frames with my ATi TV wonder using DVD Movie factory.

[RhinoZ]

Yeah,
Well I have a curse... anything I buy I usually have to return it for some reason or another. Missing parts..doesn't work etc..
From my car ( the instrument panel died after 5min drive away from the lot ) to my computer monitor...etc etc.
It's was so bad at one point that when I came home with a new ceiling fan/lamp for our bedroom, she said why take it out of the box it's not going to work anyways. Well I said it can't happen all the time, but after taking a friggen hour to put this stupid ceiling lamp up, the fan didn't work. And you know what..it really pissed me off that she said that. But I've been lucky lately so that's why I'm thinking of getting a DVD player. We got our evenings back as both our kids are growing up and in bed early ( Still have to hear that 3:00am feeding cry with my little one ).
Have fun out there.