CD-RW mp3

Freezes up, Jerky when RWD/FWD especially when done fast.
HUGE PROBLEM-- Using S-video the picture at times becomes b/w!!!! THis really sucks.. Video out works, however, you get double images, unstable picture.. NOt cool..

The reason I bought this unit not just because of the price and all the added stuff, I actually thought it was a good unit. I heard lots of stories that even the high end units, at times, would not play certain movies or even freeze up..
I feel like a fool. My last hope is to buy another one, and return this unit in its place. I don't like doing stuff like this, however, after owning the unit for over 90 days, Apex will charge me for labor. If they can't put out a unit that can last longer than 90 days, I don't feel responsible for doing the switch..

Warning: I am not a Video wiz and if anyone knows what could be causing my screen to turn black and white please e-mail me. CUATR@AOL.COM. I S-Video cable has been tested and it's not the cause. Could it be the the TV S-video connector??? We will see when I bring home the new APEX that I must put faith into.. Better luck to everyone else...

This One Can do it all

No LH Any More

Simply the best in the price range!

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None

mp3, plays all regions with hack instructions, above average picture.

to much fast forward and reverse viewing will distort and cause a mosiac picture.

To much fast forward and reverse viewing will distort and cause a mosiac picture. You must turn off the player to fix this problem. Cheap, you get what you pay for. It averages itself out. Karoke has a terrible hum to it and I believe it is VOX (voice activated) so when you don't speak loud enough into the microphone it will turn off momentarily. Not a good thing for you singers out there.

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none

Lots of great features (Slow motion foward and reverse, Zoom, MP3, Karaoke,...),fast acces to DVD chapters

Video quality

I'm going to return that unit soon... Not a good start for a review !

It has a lot of great features though image quality is really poor specially on dark scene. Look at walls, back ground or scenery behinds actors and you'll notice that color shade make big colored block or patches so there is no smoothness in background colors. Video filtering is really bad... Maybe that's why the unit is fast.

I'm having hard time to play MP3 (didn't load all songs on CD-R) and you can't fast foward or review on MP3 track.

On audio CD, when you press fast forward, the music speed up 1X or 2X and I really meen speed up not skipping like ordinary audio CD player but it's not the main purpose of that machine. I'm not also able to review when listening audio CD. Machine seems to freeze a litle and after a while, it resume track from start.

Other than these negative notes, I would say that for the price ($259 cnd), that unit is fair but I would't recommend it to a friend (!). Put 100$ more and get another brand if you buy that unit to play DVD. Buy a portable MP3 player instead and hook it up to your sound system. Soon, other company will make DVD or CD player + MP3 reader (kenwood makes one for car audio) but probably at higher prices. You can't get good performence at a cheap price in anything.

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Sony, Panasonic

Very affordable to mate a DVD/CDR/MP3 player together.Mid fi audio and average video reproduction

Sometimes lip-sync problems and occcasional inbalance within the light and dark.

The best deal involving a complete player that can play almost all formats,on par with some of the sub $400.00cdn players,and does very well with most DVDs.Quality control is iffy and sometimes DVD acts up.Still a good bargin for those who watch the occasional DVD and have alot of MP3 files to play.If you need a mid fidelity CD/DVD player this will do it job in spades.Recommened!!!!!!!

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Pioneer 525,Toshiba 2107

Inexpensive player with loopholes menu that will bring world peace.

Cheap price = cheap made...bad? Not necessarily.

If you own an older TV that does not have the obligatory RCA video & stereo in that is required by all other overpriced DVD players, the Apex AD-600A is a God-Send!

Useing a Stereo HiFi VCR and and early model APEX player with the loopholes menu I was able to curb the added expense of having to buy a new TV.

I love my Apex!

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Also own a GE DVD player and several VCRs.

great sound, low cost, component video!!!

could use a multi-remote

Apex 600 blows away the similarly -priced phillips/magnavox 825. Video is obviously better; sounds better because there is no slight drive noise evident in 3 825's that I've tried.

Save some bucks and buy this machine...

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Phillips 825

mp3

lip sync, picture, start screen, remote control & everything else

lip sync problem on the first 5 movies I rented. If you are going to use this as a main DVD don't buy it. MP3 feature is cool but trying to find 1 song on a disc with 120 songs is next to impossible. Startup screen is bad. If you want a cheap player don't buy this.

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none

Ability to play any region disc, MP3s, karaoke

Sometimes flaky operation, lip-synching

We bought this as our second DVD deck, and I have been very happy with it. It is clearly a niche product - you need to but it with a specific purpose in mind. In our case, we bought it primarily to watch Japanese DVDs since the majority of shows we watch never make it to this country. The region-switching and macrovision defeat work fine, and we have not had a problem watching discs encoded for other regions. Sound quality seems decent, and picture quality is ok, about on par with the DVD player in my computer but lower than my Pioneer. Lip-synching is very bad, particularly on my dreaded "Lost in Space" DVD. The VCD option works but is mediocre in quality, but so are all VCDs I have watched. I have not tested the karaoke and MP3 functions. We have also had problems with a particular combination of this deck hooked directly to an A/V big screen TV, since it would cause the TV to turn itself off periodically. I think it is due to an out of spec voltage in the video out, since the problem goes away when routed through a VCR.

But what do you expect for a $180 deck?? It can play other regions discs, and that was good enough for me!

*Note - it has been reported recently (as of 4/00) that new decks of this model are shipping with the "loophole" menu disabled.

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Pioneer, Panasonic, Toshiba DVD players and mechanisms

Secret menu that lets you disable region coding and macrovision, MP3 playback, low price.

Poor picture quality on some discs, lack of quality control.

I'll say straight out that this should probably not be anyone's main or only DVD player, and it is probably not a good purchase for someone looking to play nothing but region 1 DVD's. There are better quality players for only a little more money. That said, this player is perfect for its niche, and does what I bought it for perfectly. The ability to disable region coding and macrovision, as well as the ability to play MP3's, make this a worthy 2nd DVD player - and a cheap one at that.

I ran a comparison with this player against my Sony DVPS3000 and Playstation 2 (the earliest version of which was also region hackable), running copies of The Matrix concurrently. The Apex came in a clear last place in terms of picture quality, but that doesn't mean its picture quality is bad on every disc. The Apex seems to have a lot of trouble with some discs and no trouble at all with others (the latter category being the far larger based on my experience). It does seem like discs that contain compression artifacts will have those artifacts accentuated when played on the Apex.

Buy this Apex with a specific purpose in mind. It's great as a niche product. Don't buy it as a general purpose DVD player, or you may be disappointed.

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Sony DVPS3000, Sony Playstation 2 (for DVD's)