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Apex AD-800 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

Apex AD-800 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

List Price: $179.99
Your Price:
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Throw-away dvd player
Review: I bought this player due to reviews in last year's consumer reports. It worked ok for about 9 months and quit working after that. I took it to the electronics place and they said "time to buy new,too expensive to fix." I guess you get what you pay for. Definitely think twice on this one.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Blew up after only 4 months use.
Review: We were generally happy with this DVD player until suddenly it would not power up - took it to a repair shop and they said (paraphrasing) "Oh my! I've never seen a power supply explode like this before - This should be part of a recall." Totally unfixable.

The DVD was attached to a surge protector - can't explain what happened, I just know we'd never buy this product again.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Simply didn't work
Review: Read most of the reviews and decided to take a chance with a low priced item. The progressive scan option simply didn't work. When turned on, the picture was split in 1/2 in separate parts of my HDTV, and in black and white only.

The menu navigation was cumbersome and really hard to get used to. My suggestion is to go to APEX's home page, and download the manual before you buy this item. If you can easily understand the manual, (and you don't receive a defective unit) then you'll have no problems with this unit.

The remote control was strange to say the least. The usual 'enter' button was not near the directional buttons, so when you scroll through the DVD menu or the DVD player menu you have to constantly look for the enter button located among 10 other similar sized buttons. It's a small thing, but it drove me insane.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A good progressive-scan dvd for the money.
Review: Based on a positive review by the Dec. 2001 issue of "Consumer Reports" magazine, I purchased the Apex AD-800 from Circuit City, as it was the only recommenned progressive-scan DVD player that I could afford. I do not have a HDTV, however, I plan to buy one in the near future. DVD disc sound and picture, when hooked up to a typical television set, are excellent. I put a music CD disc in, and it also sounded great. It is a very good value for the money. The only problem I have had with it occured when I tried to play a DVD disc that I rented from a supermarket. It was just too scratched up for it to be played. According to "Consumer Reports", some DVD players can play damaged DVDs and damaged CDs. I suppose that also depends on how badly they are damaged. I would reommend the Apex AD-800 for those people who want a very good progressive-scan DVD player, and who don't have a lot of money to spend on it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: broke down
Review: learned my lesson...never buy a... product...got the apex ad 800 last december, it broke down for no apparent reason two weeks ago under normal use...first started noticing red led lines across the screen, but the player was still working manually...next thing i know, it went completely out, like somebody literally pulled the plug...emailed apex about the problem, wants me to ship it for repairs......

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Fails to play SVCD
Review: Yes. It's an incredible price for a progressive scan DVD player,but NOT if you want also to play SVCD on it.
I have the AD660 and AD800. Any SVCDs played on the former smoothly just don't work on this AS800,even though Apex claimed that function.
I am not the only one having that problem....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Love it!!!
Review: Works great, only thing that was a small hassle, videos show in black and white until you change a setting. Tech support responded right away with the correct setting. Good thing, because I would have never guessed how to set it up. Great picture and sound, easy to hook up to the TV.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Apex AD-800 DVD Player
Review: The ease of operation and the crisp picture and sound playback are the qualities which cause me to be very happy with this DVD Player. And.............I couldn't beat your price anywhere!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: You Won't Be Sorry!
Review: Any single women out there like myself will find this APEX AD-800 a breeze to install and operate. It should take no more than 15 minutes at the most for you to have it up and running.

I have never heard of APEX, but thought I would give it a try. This is my first DVD player. I am absolutely pleased, the picture quality is very good and stable.

If your a novice like myself, this is an excellent starter DVD player. I don't see how anyone could go wrong purchasing this product and for the price the performance is excellent.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: GO FOR IT!
Review: 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.

"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.

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.

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!


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