Apex AD-1500 DVD Player
Excellent with one exception
There is a dividing line among the Apex players that can divide the buyer. Do you want a mindless playback machine or do you want a very powerful DVD player. <BR>The biggest complaints about the Apex line of players is that they will not play DVDs, yet others say it plays them quite well.<BR>Why such discrepancy?<BR>Apex players use the same DVD players that are used in computers, which makes them very powerful. However, that kind of technology has difficulty reading damaged DVDs. Every DVD I keep hearing that will not play in the DVD player are heavily rented DVDs and mostly kid's DVDs. Look at the DVD, if it has finger prints, dirt, or scratches, it will not read properly in a Apex player. It's the EXACT same concept as looking at a CD-R and using it in a computer.<BR>If you have kids who like to damage DVDs (um ... I don't know of any kids that wouldn't damage a DVD), the Apex player IS NOT for you. GO get a much more expensive DVD player that has the more expensive components to recover from damaged DVDs.<BR>The best example I know is one of my friends who also bought a Apex player. He loves it. His wife loathes it. She tried playing a Winnie the Pooh DVD in it and it would not play. Her friend's DVD player played it just fine. After looking at the data surface of the DVD, my friend knew exactly why it wouldn't read in the Apex player, the surface was heavily damaged from the abuse of mishandling from children. It was also the same reason why it wouldn't play in a computer.<BR>So do not get an Apex player if you have children or take your time to rent DVDs. Cause if you wait several months to rent that movie you want to see, chances are a lot of other people have rented and left behind dirt, scratches, and fingerprints. Sometimes, I have even seen &quot;undetermined&quot; materials on the data surface of a rented DVD. Which is always scary. Often a simple cleaning of the DVD fixes the issue. Sometimes, the damage is too severe to simply clean it and get it to play in the Apex player.<BR>Why they did not devise DVDs to be more like a cartridge media is beyond me. It makes DVD players so much more expensive to try to get around damaged data surfaces.<BR>Aside from that, Apex players are very powerful DVD players that have the ability to do wonderful things. It's ability to play MPEG files of both MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 codecs of various bitrates and standards is outstanding. Very handy DVD player especially for those that are computer savvy. It can play a bit more than it advertises. It can play non-standard files too if you know what you are doing. Very internet friendly device. Kinda weak on the mp3 support since CDs have to burned a specific way before it can read it, but hey, it plays them well.<BR>What's also interesting is that playing damaged DVDs is never a part of the professional review process in looking for a DVD. When they always test a DVD player for review they always play a new DVD. Probably because those kind of tests are kinda unfair. I mean how can you decide how much of a DVD is &quot;properly&quot; damaged for a test review. SO get used to excellent reviews on the Apex player.