Price Paid:  $68.00 from J&R

Summary:
On the face of it, looked at the the APEX 5131's extensive features and long list of supported formats (a novelty at the time buy now almost a requirement) the it sure seemed like a "right choice" at the time--NOT!! I've had two of them in as many years--and only bought the second one because J& R was practically paying folks to haul them away. There is a major problem with the optical read mechanism that seems to get worse and worse with time. Basically it just stops being able to reliably recognize playable medium no matter what you offer it. It seems to be most problematic when switching (from SVCD CD's to a Commercial DVD for example). The result with both the 5131's I've owned is and endless cycle of turning it off and on....switching from one disk to another...banging the box (which over time has proven to be the ONLY thing that gets it to work)--but now that's now working any more most of the time--perhaps I scrambled it's already addled brain. I'm tossing mine--just not worth fighting with it every time I want to watch something. I won't even give it to anyone--since they'll wind up not being grateful.

Price Paid:  $89.00

Summary:
We we given this DVD player last year as a Christmas gift and now it has stopped reading the disks. And to repair the product APEX wanted us to ship it back to them for $39.00 labor charge and additional fee for shipping (we pay shipping) and wait 3-4 weeks for it to be fixed and shipped back. I could purchase a brand new DVD player for that price.

Price Paid:  $150.00 from bestbuy

Summary:
Great DVD player but now flaky as hell. Worked flawlessly back in the beginning but now, it hangs on operation. I have to turn it off and on to get it to start working again. I get the occasional artifact in a few DVDs but otherwise the picture is clear and crisp. I bought the unit because of its MP3 and VCD playback but I haven't used those options since 2000. Would I buy this again? Maybe, since there is nothing better than lying down on the couch to watch 6 hours worth of DVDs without having to get up to chnage any of them. However I was hoping to get more than 3 years out of this player.

Strengths:
-3 disc changer -mp3 playback -vcd playback -optical out -component + svideo out -cheap price

Weaknesses:
-has to scan for discs on startup instead of taking the disc is already has loaded -flaky operation after 3 years -no special raised buttons on remote

Price Paid:  $8900.00 from CIRCUIT CITY

Summary:
WELL SO FAR THIS PLAYER SEEMS TO PERFORM OK,PLAYS EVERTHING I HAVE. BUT I CANT BELIEVE APEX FORGOT SOMETHING LIKE THE TRAY ADVANCING TO THE NEXT DISK.WHATS WITH IT AUTOMATICALL GOING INTO PLAY MODE WHEN YOU TURN IT ON?AND IT WILL NOT STOP TILL IT REACHES THE MENUE.SO IF YOU LEAVE A DISK ITHE MACHINE,THE NEXT TIME YOU TURN IT ON YOUR FORCED TO WHATS ON THE DISK TILL YOU GET TO THE MENUE.AND HOPE YOU DONT HAVE ONE OF THOSE PIZZA HUT DVD GIVEAWAYS IN IT .IT WILL NOT STOP UNTILL YOU MANUALLY ADVANCE IT.

Strengths:
IM STILL DEBATEING

Weaknesses:
NOT HACKABLE YET,DONT KNOW IF ITS GOING TO BE ,THIS ONE HAS THE NEW VIDEO PROCESSER IN IT

Price Paid:  $85.00 from Sam's Club

Summary:
For the money you can't beat the features of this player. Plays every format available including SVCD's. Has both Digital Coax and optical audio out as well as component video and S-Video outs.

Strengths:
Price Features

Weaknesses:
Remote is a bit cluttered but not bad

Similar Products Used:
Toshiba Players Sony Playter