Apex AD-5131 3-Disc DVD Player

Rating:
Summary: Great Value
Review: This little guy is a diamond in the rough. I was looking at units from JVC and Panasonic for nearly twice the price. I sent back the $300 JVC since its 7 disk carrosel wouldn't shuffle disks or MP3 files.
The 5131 will not shuffle its 3 three disks but it will shuffle all music tracks, MP3's, or Jpeg images on the disk it is playing. Its pretty slick, you can create your own family album of Jpeg files and this unit will play it back in a slide show mode. I can pop in a disk with 150 MP3's and start it playing without even turning on the TV.
It does play DVD movies as expected and as mentioned in other reviews, the remote and user interface could be improved.
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Rating:
Summary: Apex AD5131 # Disk Changer Rocks!
Review: This player handles all formats and is adequate for Karoake. The system changes disks smoothly and has excellent playback. Remote covers all features well. Definitely a great buy!

Rating:
Summary: Plays SVCD and JPG!
Review: This thing plays anything you throw at it. It plays my SVCD's (Main reason for purchase) without hesitation. My old player (Sampo 620) plays SVCD but is VERY picky about it (sometimes it will play -- others not; on the same disc!). The 5131 also plays JPG files & Kodak photoCD, mp3's and has a 3-disc changer for us lazy types. The only feature I wish it had was progressive scan but I'm sure by the time I need that for a HDTV (Don't have one yet), the progressive models will be lesser in price.

Rating:
Summary: Apex AD-5131 ...
Review: We bought one of these in late 2001 or early 2002. For the price, it couldn't be beat. It supported just about everything, and it's 3-disc. Here are the drawbacks
Complex remote - you have to look at it most of the time to use it.
Power button unit is a hard power off only, so if you power it off from the unit, you can't use the remote to power it on.
Will not automatically recurse subdirectories in MP3 play mode.
MP3s are displayed 13 characters max.
The tray jerks rather quickly. Early on, the 3" cd's would skip out of the tray and get jammed/scored on top. After a few months, full-sized CDs and DVDs skip out of the tray. Not always, but enough to be annoying.
If the player is on, the spindle is running. Always. There is no power-save mode, so if you are prone to leaving things on, expect the spindle to wear faster, and the whole unit to stay warm.
Now, at 1-1.5 years, we find that the unit locks up periodically, requiring a power reset to use. It won't play through an entire dvd before crashing.
This unit is no longer listed on apexdigitalinc 's website.
The firmware available for update is ONLY hacked / unofficial firmware.
That being said, there's alot of good support out there for these units...Just be sure to get extended warranty.

Rating:
Summary: high pitch noise
Review: when the disc is spinning in the dvd player, it makes a high pitch noise sound to the speakers.
I would not recommand this dvd player.

Rating:
Summary: Poor customer support
Review: While the product itself is okay, a functioning remote control is very critical to using all functionality. Unfortunately, my remote didn't function well, and attempting to get customer support was very difficult. It's also difficult to find a universal remote that will operate the player.