Rating: 
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:
Summary: Ups and Downs of Apex AD-800 DVD Player
Review: I bought one from Sams Club last Christmas. I loved it, but it had some quirks. Took the first one back, and got another one with identical quirks. After many frustrating moments with it i finally found a site that had an unauthorized update for the firmware that worked WONDERS for this machine. Although not perfect, it fixed most of the quirks (upside of a Flash Upgrade):
1. SVCD's didn't always work right now work almost perfectly (a few skips, and stalls, but will work most of the time - I believe this is due to the media, and not the machine, or possibly the burning software).
2. DTS audio CD's didn't play in DTS, now work correctly.
3. No more high-pitched squeaks when drop-outs occur.
4. ALL functions still work correctly with Apex AD-600A remote.
Current Problems (on the downside):
1. Someone mentioned that they had red lines on the front display: So do I! Not sure what it is caused by.
2. Some disks will say Error! Replace me. But will eventually work. I believe this is a problem of the dye, as it appears to be caused by certain Brand CD-R's and DVD-R's (DVD-RW, and CD-RW work too!! I have a DVD-R/RW - CD-R/RW burner in one - Pioneer A03 so I could test these formats).
3. Had to wipe out the original firmware for a Hiteker software package that disabled the remote. But my Apex AD-600A remote works beautifully now with my AD-800! All functions are capable from remote, (albeit not exactly as originally designed for the AD-800). By the way. Someone said it didn't have a fast-forward/backward mode. IT DOES! press the forward button ( the big button on the right (or the left for reverse), and hold for a second or so. FAST Forward or Fast Reverse! Voila!! Zoom in and out is AWESOME! This player has MANY great options for the money!!
4. Apex support is totally non-responsive to inquiries, so don't count on any help there. On-line (internet) help is abundant though...The player is still a great buy if it is still available! Remember this: Progressive Scan...
Rating: 
Summary: Navagation is horrible
Review: First off, the picture quality is great. I have a 53 inch Sony HDTV and the picture is great. There are so many features in this baby you'd get sick trying to tweak it all. The only issue I have is the navagation features are horrible. Trying to fast forward or rewind 3 seconds if you missed something someone said takes 3 minutes to get where you need to go. The remote sucks big time.
Rating:
Summary: Good for the Price
Review: I bought this DVD player because I wanted one with component video and 5.1 audio outputs. The price can't be beat, I've been happy with my other Apex 660 DVD player, and you can upgrade the AD-800's firmware (except for some early models) to be "region free" - so you can play foreign DVDs (see nerd-out.com). It even automatically converts PAL DVDs to NTSC. The firmware upgrade also allows you to defeat macrovision copy protection.
If these things are important to you, I think you'll be happy. I am. I can only give it 3 stars, though, because of some irritating, though not deal-breaking, flaws. They shipped the unit preset with a color setting inappropriate for the US - at least I *think* that's what was wrong. The result of this was that I got a black and white display when I first connected the unit to my TV. Fortunately, I had read (I think here) that you just have to change the color setting in the setup menu. It took me maybe an hour (I don't even remember which settings I selected), but I finally got it to work. It was frustrating as [...], especially when the display went wacky and I had to get back to the original settings without being able to see the on-screen menu, but I managed to get it done, and wow does the picture look good using component video (get the special component video cables - ordinary video cables don't work).
Another thing that is poorly thought-out is the location of the "Setup" button. On the right side of the DVD drawer is the "Open/Close" button. On the left is the "Setup" button. Do you think you might get mixed up now and then, and hit the wrong button? How on Earth they could have decided to put a button you will probably want use only on the first day you buy the machine in a location where you will routinely mistake it for the button you want to use every time you insert a DVD is a great mystery. It's one of the bone-headedest things I've ever encountered on a piece of electronic equipment.
I'm happy with the unit, though, because the picture looks great, the sound is great, and it's [inexpensive].
Rating: 
Summary: Dont waste your money..
Review: If you need a DVD player, buy another one but this. Only lasted aprox 16 months and then just quit working without warning
Rating: 
Summary: Will NOT Play SVCD!!!
Review: I bought it assuming that it would play SVCD but it does not! It will not play any SVCD's that are burned by NERO or Direct CD software...it keeps getting me a "Not Valid Disk" error message. Somehow it can't read the SVCD, don't know why. Other people who bought this said that it's the same error message that they get. APEX's description of this DVD player is misleading though. The manual doesn't say that it supports SVCD.Which is true? It will play burned VCD's but sometimes it will make a loud squeal noise and no sound will come out. Tested the progressive scan on my 65" HDTV and the picture quality was good but there were't any significant changes from my regular RCA DVD player. Yes, I used the component video output and you still can't see the difference. The menu selections are kind of hard to read & get used to...just poor outdated menu setups. Don't know how long this DVD player will last cuz this is my first APEX. This is going back to Amazon. instead. It's a good bargain for the price but if you're looking for a DVD player that will play anything you put in then look some where else. Maybe looking to buy JVC or Pioneer brands.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely NO problems!!! PERFECT player!!! Must HAVE!!
Review: No, I dont work at Apex, but I have to say this is the BEST player I have EVER used, considering the price. I got it for christmas and must have watched atleast 50 DVDs on it by now. Its no different now that it was when i got it. Very easy to setup and great picture/sound quality. Also, this player just feels solid, and the door gives a nice solid sound when you close it. Lots of people complain about skipping and "Clean Me" messages. Well I got "clean me" ONCE when viewing a USED DVD i bought off of eBay. I cleaned the disc with some alcohol and never had that probelm again! I tried a lot of the movies that "test" the performance of a DVD player and I couldn't notice a frame-skip or other errors once. Also, the SVCD play back is great! Lots of my friends have very expensive Sony and Pioneer DVD players that look flashy and cost ... but they can't even play SVCDS or MP3 Cds. This might not be a great player if you don't like to take care of your electronics and beat the hell out of them, or if you have kids that use DVDs as frisbees. But for me, just keeping it clean and not abusing it has worked perfectly.
Rating:
Summary: like many others here...
Review: my husband received this as a gift about 4 months ago and it died this evening. No power, nothing working. Strange how they manage to make it work within their 90 day parts and labor window. Now? It would cost as much in shipping and labor as it will to buy the new Sony my husband is out buying as I type.
Rating:
Summary: Only good for a year
Review: Bought this as a gift for my husband, but we have been too busy to use it. We just started using it to play DVD's for our daughter & crackle pop - out went the power (one year & one month after we got it). It was cheap, but probably cost us $1.50 a viewing if we calculate it out by how many times we used it. Doesn't seem like a great value. On a brighter note - it worked fine when it worked!
Rating:
Summary: Poorly designed, and built with underrated components
Review: I gave it 2 since it did work for a few months under EXTREMELY LIGHT USE! I even turned off the hardware power button after each use, but it was pointless since the player still died with only about 50 hours of runtime. It turns out this player has a very poorly designed power supply unit, that uses underrated capacitators. Apparently this might not be the only Apex unit affected by this, but I think it might be a combination problem with the underrating and the fact that there has recently been a bad strain of capacitators in Asia. Whatever the cause, use underrated capacitators sure doesn't help! Very annoyed, although hopefully I will be able to get my unit working again after replacing the capacitators. If you notice red lines showing up on your LCD display on the front of your unit and the display is dim, PLEASE STOP USING THE UNIT! Further use will eventually cause the capacitators to explode. If you catch it in time theoretically the capacitators could be replaced, although I don't know if anybody's actually gotten this to work. =(
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