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Apex AD-5131 3-Disc DVD Player

Apex AD-5131 3-Disc DVD Player

List Price: $99.99
Your Price:
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Results for the Price
Review: I got this unit after buying a Daewoo DVG-5000 and finding it dead on arrival and having no success with Daewoo's pathetic customer service.

At first I didn't expect much out of this APEX machine but after getting it home I connected it to my older TV and VCR, powered the unit on, figured out which combo of buttons to punch on my myriad of remote controls and there it was ... a nice DVD movie playing on my TV and great sound coming from my stereo speakers.

The unit is able to play my DVDs, audio CDs, and CD-R/RW without a problem and the 3-disc changer is a pleasure to have for us couch potatoes. The remote has too many buttons for my taste but they all work as they're supposed to so I can't complain.

Have yet to try the MP3 and jpeg reader but I expect these functions to work as advertised and after my recent electronic experiences, it'll just be icing on the cake.

Having this kind of functionality available in such a low-cost unit is terrific!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Two units DOA
Review: I have an Apex 1200 and I loved it to this date. But I need a changer. The only Apex DVD changer available is a 3-disc one, which is the only one changer listed on apexdigitalinc.com. Yes it plays everything, -R/RW, +R/RW, PAL & NTSC, JPG, MP3 and more. Unlike some later Apex players that I heard of, it doesn't play JPG on DVD (only on CD), and I guess the same for MP3, on CD but not on DVD. The two mic karaoke input is a plus. The bad - it's noisy. It's like playing a VHS or even a 8mm film. In the worst case, you can hear it during quieter moments on movie. If you go near it, you just feel ashame of it. While my old Apex, still playing strong, is silence for the same disc. Surprisingly the play back of non-ideal disc is worse than my old Apex. The disc plays smoothly in the old Apex without a hint of problem, while it jerks all the time in the new Apex. The remote is more stylish. But instead of narrow they go wide. Yes pretty thin but they opted for 2 AAA battery. It's slightly better than my old Apex remote - difficult to use. In a way it's more difficult because you now have more function. The range and operating angle of the old remote is not good at all, but at least you know the target, a little labelled square, to aim at. The new one is even worse and they don't tell you where is the bull's eye. I have difficulty using the remote except sitting down on the couch in front of the player. If you eject the tray, it's very likely that you cannot use the remote to close the tray again because the large tray is blocking everything. I don't really understand. Many many years ago the IR remote control signal used to reflect over walls and glass windows, at least the Sony's are. Why after so many years the Apex still can't make it right? Any other remote control in my living room never miss anything.

So I got a Sony 5-disc changer. That's the only choice because I need -R and +RW. It's more likely that a person don't have a DVD player, than that his/her player doesn't play -R. If you have a DVD burner, and you don't want to finalize the DVD or never heard of it, go for +RW. If I really need to watch PAL disc, I can convert it on my PC and burn. JPG and MP3 on CD doesn't mean much to me unless it can also play them on DVD. If I want karaoke, I have to add a little box with a mixer, probably you can build it yourself, cheap. If you play karaoke you have to use the 2 channel sound build in the Apex anyway.

What surprised me is that the Sony is like a ballerina while the Apex changer is like terminator rough. You can open or close the Apex tray while the disc is still playing. The advantage is that you can change disc without disrupting play. But it's slightly dangerous for tiny fingers because you can touch the spinning disc at high speed, can be sharp. The main disadvantage is that you will get lost. For the Sony, when you open the tray, the playing disc will turn to the front ready for taking out. That's the only good reference as you normally don't and won't remember what's the other disc. The Apex tries to do everything fast, tray close, turn disc, spin disc, but one after the other, a bit rough too. The overall response time is rather slow. Everything is synchronized in the Sony. When the tray begin to close, the disc turns gracefully into position before the tray is fully closed. The overall response time is much faster. With the multi-disc resume feature, you can play each disc in turn where they stopped last time, and see what's the disc are. With the Apex it takes forever even for 3 disc only. You use only 1 button to look at the next disc. For the Apex you need to remember to press disc 1 button, disc 2 button or disc 3 button. If you want one of the Apex changer about to turn up, be sure to test drive one and compare to the others. The Sony runs a quick setup first time. And also the manual is much better. If you still don't know what's SPIF, PCM, RAW, than the Apex is not for you. You never get anything out from them. But somehow Apex want to demonstrate their userfriendlyness, by calling the DVD menu button DVD digest! But I have to mention that the Sony is most sensitive to non-ideal disc. For the disc that I mentioned, the Sony spin it up, must have failed some test, and refuse to play outright, while the disc runs normally on my old Apex, jerky in the Apex changer.

I forget to add that the Apex is thick. If you have a thick home theatre box, you may have problem putting the two together in a typical 32-36" TV stand. I only have a tiny fraction of an inch left, and the Apex is directly sitting on top of the theatre box.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I returned it reluctantly
Review: I have an Apex 1200 and I loved it to this date. But I need a changer. The only Apex DVD changer available is a 3-disc one, which is the only one changer listed on apexdigitalinc.com. Yes it plays everything, -R/RW, +R/RW, PAL & NTSC, JPG, MP3 and more. Unlike some later Apex players that I heard of, it doesn't play JPG on DVD (only on CD), and I guess the same for MP3, on CD but not on DVD. The two mic karaoke input is a plus. The bad - it's noisy. It's like playing a VHS or even a 8mm film. In the worst case, you can hear it during quieter moments on movie. If you go near it, you just feel ashame of it. While my old Apex, still playing strong, is silence for the same disc. Surprisingly the play back of non-ideal disc is worse than my old Apex. The disc plays smoothly in the old Apex without a hint of problem, while it jerks all the time in the new Apex. The remote is more stylish. But instead of narrow they go wide. Yes pretty thin but they opted for 2 AAA battery. It's slightly better than my old Apex remote - difficult to use. In a way it's more difficult because you now have more function. The range and operating angle of the old remote is not good at all, but at least you know the target, a little labelled square, to aim at. The new one is even worse and they don't tell you where is the bull's eye. I have difficulty using the remote except sitting down on the couch in front of the player. If you eject the tray, it's very likely that you cannot use the remote to close the tray again because the large tray is blocking everything. I don't really understand. Many many years ago the IR remote control signal used to reflect over walls and glass windows, at least the Sony's are. Why after so many years the Apex still can't make it right? Any other remote control in my living room never miss anything.

So I got a Sony 5-disc changer. That's the only choice because I need -R and +RW. It's more likely that a person don't have a DVD player, than that his/her player doesn't play -R. If you have a DVD burner, and you don't want to finalize the DVD or never heard of it, go for +RW. If I really need to watch PAL disc, I can convert it on my PC and burn. JPG and MP3 on CD doesn't mean much to me unless it can also play them on DVD. If I want karaoke, I have to add a little box with a mixer, probably you can build it yourself, cheap. If you play karaoke you have to use the 2 channel sound build in the Apex anyway.

What surprised me is that the Sony is like a ballerina while the Apex changer is like terminator rough. You can open or close the Apex tray while the disc is still playing. The advantage is that you can change disc without disrupting play. But it's slightly dangerous for tiny fingers because you can touch the spinning disc at high speed, can be sharp. The main disadvantage is that you will get lost. For the Sony, when you open the tray, the playing disc will turn to the front ready for taking out. That's the only good reference as you normally don't and won't remember what's the other disc. The Apex tries to do everything fast, tray close, turn disc, spin disc, but one after the other, a bit rough too. The overall response time is rather slow. Everything is synchronized in the Sony. When the tray begin to close, the disc turns gracefully into position before the tray is fully closed. The overall response time is much faster. With the multi-disc resume feature, you can play each disc in turn where they stopped last time, and see what's the disc are. With the Apex it takes forever even for 3 disc only. You use only 1 button to look at the next disc. For the Apex you need to remember to press disc 1 button, disc 2 button or disc 3 button. If you want one of the Apex changer about to turn up, be sure to test drive one and compare to the others. The Sony runs a quick setup first time. And also the manual is much better. If you still don't know what's SPIF, PCM, RAW, than the Apex is not for you. You never get anything out from them. But somehow Apex want to demonstrate their userfriendlyness, by calling the DVD menu button DVD digest! But I have to mention that the Sony is most sensitive to non-ideal disc. For the disc that I mentioned, the Sony spin it up, must have failed some test, and refuse to play outright, while the disc runs normally on my old Apex, jerky in the Apex changer.

I forget to add that the Apex is thick. If you have a thick home theatre box, you may have problem putting the two together in a typical 32-36" TV stand. I only have a tiny fraction of an inch left, and the Apex is directly sitting on top of the theatre box.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Exceptionally reliable unit with a few minor exceptions!
Review: I have had this unit for about 2 years and paid a very small price for it (<$... New). It had all the features that I wanted in a DVD player, multi-format and karaoke (consider myself a good singer). It has proven it's worth over and over with howevers:
1. Remote control, though stylish, is quite user unfriendly and you need a magnifying glass to read functions on the remote.
2. You need to reset to karaoke function each time you wish to use that function, again via remote, which is cumbersome.
3. Unit smells, I know this sounds funny, but it has always had an odor emitted from it which smells like electronics frying, however, unit operates flawlessly. I have always expected this unit to start smoldering and ignite, but thankfully, it has not.
4. To upgrade firmware, you need to know which pirate to buy from, support from Apex in this respect is nil...
Great unit, all in all, and functions as expected and it's longivity has been quite welcomed. Do not expect a whole lot of satisfaction from the remote!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Exceptionally reliable unit with a few minor exceptions!
Review: I have had this unit for about 2 years and paid a very small price for it (<$... New). It had all the features that I wanted in a DVD player, multi-format and karaoke (consider myself a good singer). It has proven it's worth over and over with howevers:
1. Remote control, though stylish, is quite user unfriendly and you need a magnifying glass to read functions on the remote.
2. You need to reset to karaoke function each time you wish to use that function, again via remote, which is cumbersome.
3. Unit smells, I know this sounds funny, but it has always had an odor emitted from it which smells like electronics frying, however, unit operates flawlessly. I have always expected this unit to start smoldering and ignite, but thankfully, it has not.
4. To upgrade firmware, you need to know which pirate to buy from, support from Apex in this respect is nil...
Great unit, all in all, and functions as expected and it's longivity has been quite welcomed. Do not expect a whole lot of satisfaction from the remote!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: OK player
Review: I have this player. It seems to lack a few features, but perhaps i just haven't figured it out yet. for instance, it doesn't seem to go to teh next cd/dvd when it's done playing. it also doesn't seem to save the preferences that get set, such as the volume, the user-defined EQ, etc. but it plays mp3s, vcds, and svcd, not to mention dvds and regular cds. so it's pretty decent.
- duane nason

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Have two and love them, super buy for extra rooms
Review: I have two of this model and gave another as a gift and I really appreciate the steady quality. Never have a problem, they deliver superior picture and sound and are sturdy. For the price they are an exception bargain. If you count I have had them for over two years, the price per year is ridiculously cheap!!

Wish everything delivered as well as these players do. Right out of the box, don't even have to really read instructions and in couple minutes you are playing DVDs. Have zoom effect that let you take a letter box and push it to three closer levels, has buttons for reverse, memory and forward among others.

Very nice price.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Have two and love them, super buy for extra rooms
Review: I have two of this model and gave another as a gift and I really appreciate the steady quality. Never have a problem, they deliver superior picture and sound and are sturdy. For the price they are an exception bargain. If you count I have had them for over two years, the price per year is ridiculously cheap!!

Wish everything delivered as well as these players do. Right out of the box, don't even have to really read instructions and in couple minutes you are playing DVDs. Have zoom effect that let you take a letter box and push it to three closer levels, has buttons for reverse, memory and forward among others.

Very nice price.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Two units DOA
Review: I purchased a unit, it was non-functional (after loading, message said "no-disk"). I have returned it, received another one - defective as well.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Do Not Buy This Product
Review: I purchased the AD770 (basically, last year's version of this model) and have had nothing but problems. After about 2 months it stopped playing audio CD's (CD-R's, as well as regular store-bought CD's). Since then it has gotten worse. There are occasions when the door will not open, holding my DVD's hostage for a couple days at a time. When it does get around to opening, it quickly closes itself back up, leaving me only a few seconds to snatch my precious media. I went out and bought the Toshiba SD2715 that has all the same features and is in the same price range. I haven't had any problems with it.


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