APEX DVD Player $89 @ Best Buy (Plays MP3 also)

[distrachi]

Apex Multiformat DVD Player with Integrated MP3 Decoder

I bought this from Best Buy a little less then a month ago. I think it was $115 back then. This is a very cool little DVD player. We've put in DVDs, VCDs, and MP3 CDs. Plays them all without a complaint. Navigating thru folders of mp3s were surprisingly easy with the remote control. DVD picture quality seems really good. Hooked it up to a surround sound receiver and an old thirty-something inch Sony TV. Sounds just as good and looks just as good as the Sony DVD player. Maybe on a bigger, and sharper TV you could notice the difference but then why would you buy an Apex if your TV is that great. A few complaints though. . . it doesn't resume when you watch a VCD. So if you turn off the Apex, it completely forgets where it was. This is only for VCDs though, on DVDs it does have the resume feature. Another complaint is that the the player gets pretty warm when it's been on for awhile. I think this is common to most Apex players. As far as i remember, there's absolutely no vents on the player.

Overall, for $89 this is an amazing player. Oh, I did a little research back then on if this was hackable (to make it region free and turn off macrovision). Didn't find anything on the AD1500. Maybe there's a hack available now but i'm too lazy to look for it again.

Hopefully i can find where i put my original receipt so i can get the difference in price back.

 

[nealh]

thanks I may get one..nice price

 

[chuckieland]

but how is the playing quality

 

[ThePanda]

wow this keeps getting cheaper. is this better than the ad-500w?

 

[SteveSimpson]

Apex hacking info can be found here

and the Apex msgboard can be found here

I had trouble playing VCD's on the 703 and 500W. Burning
at 1X helped but it still had video glitches. The DVD drive
is a regular computer DVD drive. The drive is what the problem
was as replacing it solved the problem. I returned both drives and
instead settled on the Apex AD660 which I got for $99 at a local
Sam's. Any video glitches are minor and it looks like burning at
a slow speed fixes it. It plays MPG's burned to a cd even without
it being burned as a VCD! Thats handy as I have a bunch of mpg's
archived to cd's. And hacking the 660 software is as simple as
inserting a cd with the new firmware on it. No chip replacement
needed. I've bought four so far - one for me, one for a friend,
and two as gifts for people who didn't have dvd players.

I didn't see the 1500 listed on the Apex firmware hacking page
but it's only a matter of time before its hacked. There is
however a 1500 section in the msgboards.

---
"there's too much free speech going on on the internet"
Hillary Clinton

 

[RONType1]

alright... GF needs a birthday present

 

[sanjayraj]

Hacking link does not work for me. By the way has anyone hacked the APEX to be region free?
Thx

 

[sanny]

I HAVE A QUESTION, I HAVE RECORDED BY OWN CD AND WHEN TRIED TO PLAY THE SAME IN DVD PLAYER(WHICH SAY COMPATIBLE WITH CDRS .MP3 ETC ....PANASONIC) BUT DVD PLAYER WAS NOT ABLE TO SENSE THE CD, IT CAN PLAY REGULAR CDS BUT NOT BURNED CDS..

ANY REASON/SOLUTION

 

[sanjayraj]

Sanny please post the model number and make of the DVD player and someone will be able to help U.
Try this
Thx Link may help

 

[Salvador]

I bought and returned an Apex a while ago because I was hoping to get one of the elusive players that still had the infamous "loopholes" menu that allowed region free, macrovision disabling and a few other things. It was also one of the few players on the market that played mp3's at the time, no matter how crude it was.

It's a pretty cheap player and this one seems even cheaper. It plays movies ok. Not the greatest picture or sound for a dvd player. I think you'd be better off saving your pennies and getting an older Toshiba or Panasonic closeout or just grab a new Panasonic RV-31.

In the time of sub $200 dvd players, this thing is just average for the price if you ask me.

Sanny: How did you burn the disc? I remember the Apex would not allow for packet writing.. You cannot burn with Direct CD. The Apex will not recognize it. Sounds like things haven't changed if this is the case..

Sal

 

[huesmann]

sanjayraj, try this: Linkee Fixee

 

[7lords]

I bought and returned an Apex a while ago because I was hoping to get one of the elusive players that still had the infamous "loopholes" menu

It's amazing what people were and still are paying for the "loophole" menu. That is no longer the version that you would want:

"Also, there is still this misconception that the Loophole Menu is the "biggest and best". Nothing could be further from the truth. The loophole firmware is old and does not support all types of DVD, especially those newer ones that has "Seamless Branching" features. Sooner or later you will have a DVD that won't play. Try playing "Dinosaur" and you will see what I mean - 1/2 way into the movie and the plyer quits. Also the old Loophole firmware does not play MP3 properly and has a problem with sound and video being out of sync. There is a lot better firmware out there (N6 and GK600B) that can be made Region Free and Macrovision off permanently and do not suffer from RCE problems (discussed here). Therefore a Loophole Menu is not needed."

 

[cr]

Thanks for the link fix huesmann.

 

[applehubby]

Can this machine be used as a Karaoke machine?
Is there any other Karaoke DVD Player?
thanks!

 

[sanjayraj]

Thanks Huesmann.

 

[yellowperil]

I got the AD-500W at Wal-mart a few weeks back. It's my opinion that on any regular TV with only composite inputs, a higher-priced DVD player isn't going to help. I tested this and a Toshiba SD-1200 (higher priced entry level player) and video is the same. Same DD5.1/DTS passthrough, no difference in sound. If you have a more expensive TV, you'd probably skip entry-level DVD players altogether.