Price Paid:  $400.00 from Media Markt

Summary:
Having had this baby for a couple of years, I can say it is a great piece of equipment. Seriously, I haven't yet encountered a better sounding DVD player or one that would provide a better picture quality. I use a projector for my movies and believe me, even the newest DVD players find it hard to deliver a 2-by-5 meter image and keep it flawless. The sound quality in movies is perfect, this thing sounds exactly like the equipment in really good theaters - while delicate and faithful in details, extremely powerful when the soundtrack calls for it, especially in DTS tracks. I don't use it for playing CD-Audio. Although the sound is detailed, it's not as warm and creamy as the one developed by my Marantz CD player. Also the drive gets very loud when playing CDs, which also doesn't improve the overall impression. The remote is nicely designed and easy to operate. However, there are some dark sides - the loading mechanism gets tricky with time, and sometimes fails to load discs when all 6 are inserted. I never bothered to repair that, I guess it's not a big deal. The biggest problem is that it reads CDs, DVDs, and that's it. Forget about CD-Rs, DVD-Rs, and even VCDs. This means you won't be able to expand your collection using a DVD recorder, and these things get really cheap these days.

Strengths:
Wonderful movie performance, great detail and floorshaking dynamics, plus perfect picture

Weaknesses:
won't play DVD-Rs, CD-Rs, VCDs; loading mechanism requires maintenance after a few years, loud drive noise in CD-mode

Similar Products Used:
pioneer, sony

Price Paid:  $450.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
I was in Circuit City when I heard this thing playing in one of those "Surround Sound" rooms. Of course, that was under the best possible circumstances. However, I was not disappointed at all when I got it home and listened to it. I can turn it all the way up (I mean ALL the way up) and it will not distort the slightest bit. As you may have guessed by now, I use it more as an audio CD player than as a DVD. I haven't had the first problem with it. This review is being written in Dec. 2003 and I bought it in Dec. 1999. However, there are some things I really don't like about it. It will not play CD-R or CD-RW. And, if you load it with 6 audio CD's, it will not play randomly from all 6 CD's. It will play the tracks from any single CD in random order but it will not access the CD's randomly. In my opinion, this is a tremendous flaw. I love listening to music when I don't know what's coming next. I record my CD-R's so that each song on the CD is by a different artist. That would be ok if this player would play CD-R's but it will not. As fair as using it as a DVD, it has great picture clarity and the audio is outstanding. If I bought another DVD, I would buy one that would randomly access all CD's. However, I will probably end up purchasing an actual CD player that does that very thing.

Strengths:
outstanding, and I do mean outstanding sound from CD's and DVD's.

Weaknesses:
does not play CD's or CD-RW's. does not randomly access individual CD's to play tracks in random order. will play tracks from a single CD in random order, but that is all

Similar Products Used:
N/A

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Excellent cd audio! I recently recieved this product from an uncle of mine, under the impression it no longer functioned. Well, this was partially true: it no longer plays DVDs, but has no problem playing CDs. Unfortunately, information on this product seems to be fairly lacking on the 'net, and its doubtful that calling customer service will result in anything productive. If anyone has this player and knows of an easy fix (I know with the Apex players you can flash the firmware to alliviate some problems) please post it here! Even if its a not-so-easy-fix, you should post it. Otherwise, color me impressed with this product. Even on a setup with an ancient Adcom GFA-535 amp and GTP-400 reciever, this unit blows every other CD player I've ever used out of the water. I have no experience with the standard issue remote for this unit, but the RC-391m works flawlessly.

Strengths:
Amazing audio quality, professional appearance, and very quiet operation.

Weaknesses:
Doesn't play DVDs.

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
I'm suprised to see that no one has mentioned the fix for this common problem. I too have expirenced the problem with it not reading discs. Bad thing was it started right after the warrantee expired. The Onkyo service centers here in AZ suck. The are all pompus a-holes to you when you are on the phone with them trying to get an idea of just how much this POS is going to cost you to fix. I'm very suprised that they couldn't give me a ball park figure of repair costs when this seems to be a very common problem with the unit. I tried to clean it and even opened it up to blow air in it but nothing worked. It has been sitting in my closet for the past year while we watch movies on a crappy Panasonic that my wife got for free off the internet! That junker works better than the "high end" Onkyo! LOL! Ahhhh, you just have to laugh at the situation. I feel bad that my wife spent that much money on me only to have the thing turn out to be a POS. Anyone have the solution please email me. Thanks!

Strengths:
Excellent performance when working. 6 discs is a really great feature.

Weaknesses:
Stops reading discs after a while, kind of big. May not fit in some shallower entertainment centers.

Price Paid:  $379.00 from circuit city

Summary:
got this DVD from circuit city 1 and a half years ago as they said it was hands down the best at that time. i would HIGHLY recomend the 3 year plan that CC has as this player develops loading problems randomly as other people have mentioned. the 3 yr plan saved me from major headaches, although it is a major irritant. another problem is it doesnt even play CD-R''s. i use my 7 yr old cd walkman to play the cd-r''s. aside from these things, it has great sound and picture and easy set-up. although at this time a player with cd-r/w, mp3, dvd-r, progressive scan r a no-brainer over this.

Strengths:
great sound, picture. and set up

Weaknesses:
loading problem, cd-r compatibility.

Similar Products Used:
panasonic players