Rating: 
Summary: The "Swiss Army Knife" of DVD Players
Review: OK, if you're an audiophile/videophile, you are not going to be happy with any Apex product, especially the Apex AD-1200. This unit feels light and cheap. There isn't even an LCD display on the front panel to let you know what's playing. This unit, is as cheap and flimsy as they come. But if you can get aside this stumbling block, you will find that the this Apex DVD player is the best value in the electronics world, plus it can play not only DVDs, but also any CDr MP3 disk, any CDr with digital photos in JPEG format (view like a slideshow!!), and also plays any VCD or SVCD disc that you can burn onto CD. There is no other player that can pack all these features in like Apex can! In short, this unit can play virtually any format and reads any backup/burned disc out there. You will not find such compatability anywhere at ANY price. And to think you get all this for a mere [price] is simply amazing. I figure on average, most decent DVD players cost 2x, maybe even 3x as much. But those "other" players won't play your digital picture discs, nor can it play your MP3 discs, and most are not compatible with your CDr burned VCDs and SVCDs. So far, this unit has worked flawlessly. Video, sound, mechanical...everything is working just perfect, as indicated on the box and manual. Just realize that this unit was not built to be on par with the Denons, Sonys and other bigger name brands of DVD players in terms of quality. This unit was built to be the affordable "Swiss Army Knife" of DVD players. I highly recommend the Apex AD-1200 if you're looking for a multi-purpose player, and ESPECIALLY if you want to play your CDr discs of digital photos, MP3s, VCDs or SVCDs. At a pricepoint of only [price], this purchase was a no-brainer for me. My only concern was whether the unit really worked as advertised....and it does.
Rating:
Summary: Worth every penny and more
Review: Circuit City has a no-hassle return policy, so I decided to buy this DVD player. When it got home, I discovered that this DVD does more than it should at such a low price. It can play DVD, CD, CD-RW (I used a closed-session disc), MP3 and Kodak photo discs. At the corner of the screen, I noticed that a little hand appears when I press the remote at the wrong time, so I don't get frustrated with lack of information. I love the screensaver that prevents light burns on the TV. It is S-video connectable, so I got surprisingly sharp image. The menus are intuitive and can be understood quickly. I don't use the remote as much, because I found the buttons on the unit to be sufficient (yes, there are buttons on the unit, too). The zoom feature is handy, as well as the progressive speed forward and backward scan. I am very happy this product is in the market.
Rating:
Summary: Resilient
Review: I have owned this unit for over 3 months. It has performed flawlessy, my only qualm is that it does not play dvd+r. The unit is packed with features most $300 players dont have. My favorites are dts decoding and optical audio, other options include MP3 playback, and .jpg slideshows. The unit is a great player overall, and you can get it for a even better price.
Rating: 
Summary: Frustrating, frustrating, frustrating.
Review: Ok, so I guess its true. You get what you pay for. I paid almost nothing, and that's what I got. I'll start off with the good stuff: Usually, if the kids want to see a movie, I can put the movie in, press play, and the kids get to see their movie... no problem, no issues. Worth the (minimal) money I spent. Now the bad news: Movies freeze. They just stop. The machine locks up and I have to turn it off. That has ruined about half the movies I've seen. I seem to have better luck with the kids movies. I don't know why. The remote control is terrible. Really. Trust me on this one. You don't realize how important a good remote control is until you have to deal with one that is this bad. Get this: you have to be within 7ft of the DVD Player for the remote control to work (this is by design, if you can believe it!) When's the last time you sat within 7ft of you TV? So if I want to use the remote, I have to get up off the couch, walk two feet forward, and then click. Also, a DVD remote control needs to have some kind of lit buttons/labels. Think about it. You watch DVDs in the dark. You can't see a thing on the remote when its dark. You need to get up, turn the light on, walk two feet forward, then use the remote. And, don't even talk to me about the miniscule size of the buttons, and the inexplicably pale text on the remote... are they purposefully trying to hide the names of the buttons? More bad news: The electronics are fussy. Here's an example. Try to get a disk out of the player... just try it, and good luck! Press the eject button... nothing happens. Press it again, and the door opens a quarter of an inch then immediately closes. Press the eject button again... nothing happens. Wait longer... nothing happens. Press it again, and the door opens a quarter of an inch then immediately closes. No kidding. I once sat in front of this thing for five minutes trying to get the DVD out of the player (because it was freezing!), unsuccessfully. If there was a hammer within my grasp, I would have smashed the thing to bits. You get the basic idea. ... Pay any more and you got ripped off. I'd recommend spending a little more and getting a player that actually works.
Rating: 
Summary: Apex AD-1200 DVD player broke in less than three months!
Review: I got this player as a special gift on August 25, 2002. It was working fine until it started to mess up the first week in December 2002. The player froze in the middle of the movie several times. I had to turn off the power and turn the power back on. After I did that, it froze again. I tried cleaning the lens with my CD/DVD lens cleaner, did no good it messed up again. I returned it to the store and got a better model, the Apex AD-1201, no problems yet anyway. I will never get a low-end piece of el cheapo garbage from Apex again ever. Shoppers beware of that! Get a Sony, JVC, Samsung, or Panasonic DVD player. You won't regret it. I wish you luck!
Rating:
Summary: Apex 1200 GARBAGE!
Review: I have to agree with other consumers that have purchased a Apex AD 1200 DVD player that this product should be recalled! I purchased one as a gift for my boyfriend and fresh out of the box error message reads no disc after loading! I purchased the item several months ago prior to giving it as a gift! So the warranty of 90 days has expired before using this product.I'm afraid after reading on this forum about customer service I fear that sending it back would be futal mand costly even though the parts are still under warranty. I wish I had seen this forum before purchasing! Lesson well learned! Future buyers BEWARE!!!
Rating: 
Summary: 1 Year and still working
Review: Yes this is a cheap dvd player in every sense of the word. I purchased mine on a long business trip and have been using it for about a year now. I use it fairly often to play home burned VCD and DVDs. I think I've gotten $40.00 of use out of it.
Rating:
Summary: It BROKE in eight months!
Review: The machine was finnicky from the beginning, often dissasociating the picture from the sound, and then suddenly it refused to work at all. Now whenever I put in a DVD the power turns off a few seconds later. Do not buy this product.
Rating:
Summary: Cannot be used for long time
Review: Yes, I watch DVD a lots. However, just after 8 months, it cannot read mp3. one month later, it can read cd. One month later, it cannot read DVD normally.................
Rating:
Summary: Years of use - bitrate issues
Review: I've had this deck for several years now. This deck is fine with black+white movies [almost everything I watch is from the 1930s]. It has problems with higher-bitrate encoded DVDs. DVD is software. The MPEG datarates can vary depending on the manufacturer. The only DVDs I've had problems playing on this deck are certain Deep Space Nine disks. When I watch multiple episodes the memory defragmentation problems causes shows to stop and get out of sync, etc. The solution to this is to turn the DVD player off and then on again, then go directly to the episode you want to watch. This is a great player. three nine buks it kost me. It plays VCDs and SVCDS flawlessly. And like I said I have only seen problems on certain DVDs with high bitrate encodings.
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