Mp3, karoke, will play virtually any disc... (read below)

..except for a few select DVD titles.. Spy Who Shagged Me, Stuart Little, a few others.. bad bad bad

only real use for this is VCD playback, since that seems to be the only thing it does worth a @#!@... DVD playback is marginal (if it can get past the opening menu of the disc).. karoke feature is a joke.. mp3 playback feels, well, rushed?.. even at $179 bucks this isn't EVEN CLOSE to a value.. beware of underpriced "wonder" products..

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toshiba 3109, sony dvps560, pioneer 525

Many useful features, including some semi-legit ones. Plays a ton of formats, has karaoke, and the easter egg goodies.

Strange playback problems when jumping around tracks, runs very hot, awkward remote, poor fascia button layout, no optical digital output.

I had owned a 1st-generation Panasonic DVD player which was quite good for the money. I sold it and bought this Apex at the height of the craze over this unit, when they were sold out at every Circuit City, and were being shamelessly scalped on ebay. And then, I sat on the Apex for many months without ever unpacking it. I started reading the ugly reviews the unit was getting on this website, and I heard the reports of reliability issues, so I got a bit worried and decided to try it out. I was at first relieved to find that it did indeed work. It was able to play all my DVDs, including the Matrix, which is supposed to be a tough one on some players. It also played CDRs of both music CD backups, as well as 600 MB of MP3's. I haven't tried the Karaoke function, but the fact that it has it is pretty cool. I haven't needed to use the secret features, but I'm glad I have them. There are drawbacks to this unit, however. Aside from minor quibbles such as running too hot, or the poor button layout on the fascia (eject looks just like the other buttons and the lettering is hard to see), my main problem is when I jump around tracks. I can usually get the machine to lock up when I do this. To compound this problem, the play button on the remote is very confusing (there are 2 of them, and I don't always know which to pick). Furthermore, there are other bizarre problems which occur after a lock-up, such as the subtitles disappearing, and not appearing again until the playback is stopped and restarted.

My conclusion is that this unit is invaluable for those who need its unique features. For the average consumer, especially with the fall of DVD player prices these days, it's best to look elsewhere (Toshiba and Panasonic seem to make cheaper units that perform well).

I consider myself someone who makes use of the extra features, so I give it 4-stars.

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DVD looks amazing! I found an awesome place to buy dvd at http://consumer.20m.com

Looks great!!! thats all I have to say!

Cheap, Cheap, & Loop-Hole.

Picture quality, Heat build-up

It has been a year since I got this first generation Apex 600A. This machine read everything that I throw in: DVD region 1, 2, 3, VCD, CD-R (every brand that I have ever had), or CD-RW. The loophole that made this player world famous is a must for me since I have some DVDs coded in region 2 & 3. Within this one-year period, I rented almost every DVD came up in local Blockbuster and never had any problem in playing them. I did notice in one or two disc¡¦s main menu it showed some glitch, however, no problem in the movie parts still!

For the audio, I use the digital out put directly sent the raw digital signal to my Sony STR-DE835 which did a really good job to render it. The composite video out-put is pretty good in my Samsung (the TV¡¦s comb filter may played a major part on it). However, for the new Apex that without the loophole, my advice is that it just as good as any cheap DVD player out there.

Apex AD600A vs Tredex 300550 vs Helios AD-M513. Which is best choice?

Limited info available for brands and models available.

Does anyone have any info to compare the Apex AD600-A to a couple of recent upstarts with similar price and features, the Tredex 300500 and the Helios AD-M513? I have found no mention of these in the reviews, but they seem to be abundant offerings on ebay. Would like to buy one but want to make the best decision. Must have the karaoke feature. Any help would be great for this low budget user.

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Not a current user. Looking for guidance.

it has a tray to put things in, i can put in jar lids and a cool thingy pops up on the screen. plays these puter diss calld mp7s they sound xquiesit. very good priece much better investment than them pink flamingos, mayb even my trailer.

you need a tv to watch it. gotta get me on of dem. nun dose digitile ooutputs plug in to the power generator of the trailer. have to open tapes to fit in drawer (just like my wife, er daughter)

THis is one of the besstest i ever useded. i recomeded dis to all doese adiofiles out dere. i hoped yu enjuy my weview and find it bery hepfulnessered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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microwave, sherwood reciever, antenna, brokesonik tvcr combo, ona dem emachines

MP3 cd, cheap, CDR, VCD, SVCD, CDRW
secret region code and macrovision removal menu.
Karaoke function

It looks and feels like a dvd-rom drive with a cheap cpu board hooked on to it.

Based on other reviewers, there might be a quality control on this unit, but I don't have any problems with the video quality (I use the component video output, and haven't tried the svhs). There are a couple of DVDs that won't play on it, but I mostly use to play MP3's and karaoke dvds

More on video quality. I have a few friends who bought this as their 2nd or 3rd player just for the novelty factor and none of them has seen this video quality problem, perhaps they don't know what to look for.

On Audio quality. I normally don't use the built in DTS/DD decoders on any of my dvd players, preferring to use the external one on the receiver for ease fo use issues, so I can't tell if there are audio problems.

On the Karaoke DVDs, there's never a glitch.

After getting this player, I still prefer to use my panasonic A310 to play movies and this is just a karaoke player.

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panasonic A310
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all

none

Great machine. Everyone who says it doesn't work sucks. They are idiots. Try using component video you morons. What do you expect when you hook it up to a 1950s vintage B&W TV. Plays all videos fine. Karaoke sucks so who cares if that works or not. I want to hear music, not the moronic wheezing of some fat slob blowing into a slimey spit covered microphone. Put in an AC-DC MP3 CD with all their songs and drown out your Helen Reddy playing Karaoke singing room mate/mom!

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sony, toshiba, panasonic, ge

All: Good Audio and Video Quality

Power switch

I did not have any of the problem reported by others. Guess must be the quality control problem with the company....and I am one of the lucky ones with a good piece. All the so called "Problem DVDs" played fine...I have played Matrix, Saving Private Ryan etc...there was no noise on the video output and audio was great too...Saving Private Ryan skipped once but on replay went past fine. VCD playback is great.

I have hooked it up with Toshiba 27 inch TV and Kenwood HTB503 using Coaxial Digital output for Audio and S-Video for Video...overall the setup is fantastic!!!

I hv noticed that if you switch off the manual power switch u need to switch it 2-3 times before it powers up again.

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Saw couple of others

Unit has played everything I have thrown at it.

One, no optical out.

I bought the Apex the first day The Circuit City in North Attleboro Massachusetts recieved them. They happened to be having a weekend sale so I got the 179 dollar unit for 159. Sorry I was weeks later I didn't buy ten of them, two to keep 8 to sell!
I originally read about the unit on nerdout.com. I tried the "hack" as soon as I plugged the unit in. Sure enough the "You Should Not BE Here" menu was up. I was pleased to say the least. The next test was MP3 CD's. My Apex played CompUSA Cd's, Memorex Cd's, Pinco CDRW's, Smart and Friendless CDr's and CDRW's, and to date every other MP# cd I have given it. The 8.3 naming convention display is a bit lame but hey it works, you can name individual directories to help organize and who watches the screen when they are kickin jams? ( I'm sure there are some total Zork fans out there who do, sorry). Also the key to the Apex MP3 playback was the shuffle mode. For some reason this is absent on many of the new pseudo - mp3 players.
The next test I gave the Apex was recording to a SVHS VCR with macrovision disabled. It worked, and I was not suprised at this point.
My next endeavor was creating a VCD, with the help of vcdhelp.com, then vcdhelper.com, I made a short cartoon into a VCD using Adaptec 4. I was absolutely psyched when I threw it in the Apex and it began playing back. The coolest thing was the zoom features worked and most other key controls. I later made a 110 minute VCD to test the limitations, this also played without incident.
The last test was SVCD, I used Iauthor SVCD and this worked nicely with a 30 minute simsons episode converted via Panasonic Mpeg encoder.
The only thing I have never attempted, was to remove the drive and attach it to my windows box(supposedly it is recognized as a DVD drive on Windows PC's). Why would I infect the Apex with the Windows OS anyway? Aside from that I have yet to test an other region DVD. I have no need as DVD prices are quite affordable. It is nice to know that I have the menu there with any region I like.
I have had the Apex over a year now and wrote this review because I see lots of references to the Apex skipping, not playing "hardcore" dvd's, etc. I have never had any of these problems with my original 99 serial unit. I think some people who missed the boat are now tring to throw crap at it as it sails off. The APEX AD-600-A is still the most kick ass DVD player out there.

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Other DVD players I have :Toshiba 2109, RCA 5210P, Phillips crappy remote model.