Apex AD-800 Progressive-Scan DVD Player
GO FOR IT!
As a \\"dyed in the wool\\" audiophile, I take my home electronics rather seriously. The Apex AD-800 is a serious component, which can be purchased for a song. In every respect, the AD-800 does what it is supposed to do, and even manages a few tricks that make it quite unique.<br />\\"Who is Apex?\\", you might ask. I am new to the brand myself, but judging from the product design, features and even styling, this is a company to be taken seriously in home entertainment. The controls are well thought out, and the pleasingly sculpted front end give the device a professional appearance and feel. DVD and conventional CD's play flawlessly-- as do a wealth of other disc-based media which I have yet to explore. Much to my delight, the unit decodes High Definition Compact Discs (HDCD)-- making the AD-800 one of the few devices available that can realize the audio superiority of this medium. The unit offers true progressive scan, making it ready to interface with High Definition monitors. It features built-in surround decoders, allowing conventional audio amplifiers to access DVD's individual descrete audio channels. If you've never played a Surround DVD in your home, you will be thrilled, not only by the superior picture quality, but by the audio quality as well. Clearly, these players are being priced with the intent of phasing out VHS analog tape. Once you've seen and handled a DVD, your VHS library will most likely go the way of the LP record.<br />The AD-800 is clearly intended for the hobbiest/enthusiast market. It has enough \\"whistles and bells\\" to delight the most demanding user, and yet is quite simple to set up and use. One note of caution to the casual user-- the AD-800 will work with any modern television receiver that has either S-VHS or separate video inputs, but does not have a built-in RF adaptor. This means that you cannot connect it to your \\"antenna terminals\\" as you would a consumer VCR. If you have an older TV set that lacks video inputs, the AD-800 may not be for you. Be aware that you CANNOT route this unit through your VCR to get around this problem. Most (and I do mean MOST) DVD's are copy protection encoded. Routing through a VCR makes the resulting output unviewable. This fact is clearly documented by Apex.<br />This caveat aside, the AD-800 is a well designed digital component that will reward its owner with many hours of satisfying performance-- all at a price that makes it hard to resist or ignore. If you happen to be in the market for a new CD player as well, the purchase of an AD-800 becomes a no-brainer. It will play all of your digital media for the price of what you might have paid for a \\"Walkman\\"-- 20 year ago. Go ahead and order it!