Which to buy: Apex 1100W, 1200, 1500, or Daewoo 5700? txt

[Chris Smithe]

Hey, I found some good buys recently, but I'm not sure which is the best. I thought I'd found the holy grail when I spotted the new 1100W open box at Walmart for $51, but then found the 1200 that I'd heard good things about open box at Circuit City for $50. But I've also read good things about the 1500. It seems all these can be had for about the same price. Am I just extremely lucky with these findings or is this pretty common to find these at that price?

Basically, I've read good things about all these players, so I really can't go wrong with any of them. That having been said, has anyone had experience will all these players? If you had to just pick one of them, which would you choose? And why?

And then there's the Daewoo 5700/5800. Is it worth the extra $30? Is the build quality on the Daewoo really all that much better? Does it play more than any of the Apex?

Finally, is it just a matter of time before someone finds the hack to make the new Apex 1100W region free and play PAL discs? It's not worth it to me if I have to go buy a chip (might as well just buy a regular name brand player if that's the case).

All advice welcome.

Thanks,

Chris

[tenders]

i have the apex 1500 and its worked great for me for about 2 months now. i think its just amazing,for the price. paid 149can. if they are all that cheap in the u.s.,why don't you buy them all!!

[thxkid]

As Soon as I got my Daewoo 5700 I tossed out all my APEX's, not only does it have a better picture(newer Chips) and audio, it does not suffer from the audio synch probs the Apexs have. Yes it will play everything plus the Apex's start choking and stuttering at anything above 3500 Bitrate, while I record non compiant SVCD's at 704x480 at 6000 bitrate and the daewoo plays it perfect, its like having burning a DVD on a CD-R but with only 15min. aviabale on a 80min. CD-R. Plus the macrovison hack is very simple.

[man_friday]

I have an Apex 1200 which has done everything asked of it. I have not tried the macrovision adjustment however the region free adjustment works fine. I would like to look at the Daewoo 5700. Maybe you could take a few home brew S/VCDs to a few stores and see for your self.

[kurtyboy]

Does anyone know where to buy Apex players in the UK?

[Feanor1]

I had a Apex 1100W.. for about a month.. then it stopped.. But only partially stopped.. it stopped playing sVCD's (and when it would play it, they were totally pixilated, even svcds that had previously worked perfectly).

So I wouldnt recommend getting it. A friend bought it at the same time, and his is working fine, but I've heard of too many people having problems.. Seems to be a Hit or miss thing with it.. you have a good chance of getting a buggy one (as is often the case with cheaper things), but you could luck out and get one that will last years.

I suggest getting a very good TV Out card (ATI AIW Radeon 7500) and just using your computer as your DVD player.. You get alot more freedom, can Play Anything, and are not limited to worrying about bitrate limits or can it handle certain settings..