Suggestions for DVDplayer replacement?

[Cornucopia]

Well, F*%k! My Apex Ad600A that I got in Jan 2000 with the Secret menu seems to be biting the dust. Something about the power supply, I think.

Anyway, unless one of you have heard of a fix for that problem, I will be looking for a good, relatively inexpensive replacement for it.

I intend to do some research through the player listings (to the left), and on forums, and do some Bestbuy walkin tests, but was just hoping for some good suggestions from this great forum...

I want a player that costs less than ~$180 US. It needs to do all the usual stuff that the apex did--VCD, SVCD, MP3, DVD-R, CD-R, CD-RW, Region-free modifiable, Macrovision modifiable. Plus, DVD-RW, SVCD subs and multichannelMpegAudio and JPEG would be nice. Quality and compatibility are highly desired but not strict requirements. DVD-Audio, SACD, and HDCD would be icing on the cake. So would true PAL<-->NTSC, miniDVD and progressive.

Any takers? Recommendations or horror stories?

Thanks in Advance,
Scott

[davideck]

I just bought my second Sony DVP-NC650V because BestBuy was clearing them out for $189. It plays DVDs / SVCDs / VCDs / CDs and SACDs. I bought the first one because it was such a great DVD Player (Best Buy hides them in with the Stereo stuff). I also use it for DVD-Rs and DVD-RWs, which play great. There are claims that it is also DVD+R and DVD+RW compatible, but I cannot verify that. It also has built in Dolby AND DTS decoders, plus SACD decoding of course! The sound is great! I bought a second one now because I may not see another unit with all of these features anywhere near this price again. SACD seems to be on its way out. It will be a great enhancement for my den. Sorry, no macrovision or region hacking.

[davideck]

P.S. I also have an APEX 600A that died, but it was the DVD Drive unit inside. Believe it or not, the drive unit is the same form factor as a standard PC DVD-ROM drive. I replaced the original with a 4X Toshiba unit, and this souped up APEX is the fastest responding DVD player that I have ever seen! Good luck fixing yours.

[Bob W]

Sony model DVP-NS715P. Plays both DVD-RW and DVD+RW and all that other junk. Sells for about $150 USD.

[Cornucopia]

Update:

After doing the Q's and research and seeing what was available online and physically in this area, I chose a NORCENT 300!

This is a great machine, especially for the money.

Only 1 gripe--No Macrovision hack! Well, I worked around that externally.

I'm still looking at a higher end player that'll be a Universal DVD-Video/DVD-Audio/SACD etc. but will probably wait many months until I rework my sound system into a complete jaw-dropping 5.1 media room. Right now I'm got an economical but respectable InterAural-Crosstalk-Compensated Ultrawide Stereo layout (like Carver's Sonic Holography or Polk's SDA speakers).

Anyway, thanks for all the help!!

Scott