Apex or Pioneer?

[misterfuct]

Okay, i've been checking the reviews some more and the highest rated seem to either be Apex or Pioneer. Any comments from those of you who own either one? I need to buy a dvd player soon. What are some pro's and cons from either player? I've been reading that the Apex no longer played the vcd stuff so what now? Should I just stick with a Pioneer and be safe?

[musher70]

i dont have an apex or pioneer,but i have a sampo 620,lots of hacks
for those,such as region n macrovision,got a real cheap lasonic for
70 bucks,its plays pal vcds the best of any player i seen,always
have cropping effect with some but not on lasonic player,but only
hack is for region,apex is gd cheaper chioce though,tnx

[nocam1334]

If you can, get the Apex AD-1100w 1MB. They're at Wal-Mart for $68. The 1MB usually (but not always) has the white Kodak sticker on it. Check out these links that give more info on how to identify it and make it Macrovision disabled/Region Free.

http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20600
http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17523

There probably aren't many 1MBs left, but it you can find one, definetly get it. I can play DVD, VCD, XVCD and XSVCD(both up to 5500kbps), SVCD, MP3, Kodak Picture CD, and jpegs. Plus I can run it through my VCR, which you couldn't normally do, because the Macrovision is disabled. Cheap and versatile. Only minus is that the MP3 feature doesn't support ID3 tags or long filenames (more than 11 characters).

[IonNuke]

Pioneer offers better DVD output quality and the APEX isn't as great in quality. Both machines have region/macrovision bypassing hacks. The APEX AD 3201, I was able to use the remote and hack the regions.

With my Pioneer DV-525 I was also able to hack the regions by soldering an 8 wire chip to the main circuit board. It wasn't easy but it works. But sometimes with modded dvd players is that you encounter issues when playing RCE DVDs.

[misterfuct]

I've narrowed it down to either the Apex AD-1500 or the Pioneer DV-444. The Apex AD-1100w doesn't sound bad either. My mom is 800 miles away and will probably buy me one so who knows if I can get her to make sure it's a 1MB. Does anyone have any comments on either of these players?

[banjazzer]

Maybe best check out what I just got back from Apex in the thread below! http://forum.vcdhelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=103894

[mpb]

I've narrowed it down to either the Apex AD-1500 or the Pioneer DV-444. The Apex AD-1100w doesn't sound bad either. My mom is 800 miles away and will probably buy me one so who knows if I can get her to make sure it's a 1MB. Does anyone have any comments on either of these players?

Actually, yep, that's pretty much the whole ballgame right there. I'm using an Apex 1500, and I am more than satisfied with it. I wouldn't particilarly object to a newer Pioneer player either, as they tend to be very good machines. Take your pick, it's win/win.

[tenders]

in the 5 months that i have had my apex 1500 i have had zero problems with it i'm thinking of getting another!

[misterfuct]

I keep hearing stuff about Apex not playing vcd's anymore. Is this the case with the Apex AD-1500 model? In that case Pioneer may have the advantage here.

[banjazzer]

According to my email from them, no player manufactured after 15th April will play VCD. So, do you feel lucky? Well, do ya...8)

[misterfuct]

No I dont. Pioneer wins. Now I gotta figure out which Pioneer is the best. Would you guys suggest me going with the Pioneer DV-444?

[troyvcd1]

I got the pioneer dv440. It is an excellent machine but I sometimes wonder if another one could handle higher bitrates. It seems to max out at about 2600 when playing a svcd.

[spidey]

I have a Pioneer DV 503 and my bro has a 444. No complaints at all, but that they don't play mp3's. But, if you're getting a player to sub in for multiple components, ie cd player, etc. go for the Pioneer...

If you just need a player,......

I just recently bought a relative a AD 1500 APex, but the composite outputs went dead on it after 2 weeks aside from that it's performance was great. It even played mp3 discs, that were authored as plain old data discs. No m3u file.....just raw mp3's in folders even on a cdr.....it is truly a play anything player, but for durability, I've heard hit or miss. Either you'll have no problems, or there's also a reason they're so low in $$$$.

[wulf109]

My expierience with Apex DVD players:

Ad-600A - would not play any SVCD no matter what brand of CDR
AD-500W - skipped and paused on every disk,DVD,etc.
Ad-1100W - 1MB with macro hack - froze-up half way thru every VCD,SVD,an minDVD I tried. It even froze up on commercially produced VCD's. The only thing it would play all the way thru was DVD.

[mdm]

Please read my message at http://forum.vcdhelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=298303#298303

The new APEX models play VCDs just fine. My new AD-2100 mentions VCD compatibility all over it.

[banjazzer]

Take a look at the Apex website. Every player mentions SVCD. No player mentions VCD! And 2 emails from them yesterday confirm they no longer play VCD. If you have one that does, then it was manufactured before April this year, no matter when you bought it. So why are you pretending they all do? The fact that they now don't, and you have one that does are not inconsistent.

[banjazzer]

From the Apex website: http://www.apexdigitalinc.com/html/ReleasedDVD_Players.html

AD-2100
Highlights:
AFF-APEX Full Screen Function
Component Video
Component Video
Dolby Digital/DTS/PCM Ready
Dolby Pro Logic
JPEG Compatible
KODAK Picture CD Compatible
Microsoft Windows Media Player
MP3
Plays DVD-SVCD-CD-CD/R-CD/RW-HDCD
Video Fluorescent Display

[mdm]

Even this data may be outdated. As I mentioned in another thread, the downloadable manual for the AD-2100 now has both VCD and HDCD removed from the "Playable Discs" chart.

[banjazzer]

I am not sure whether you are agreeing or disagreeing with me! Your previous 2 posts seem to be self-contradictory. 8)

[mdm]

I am agreeing with you. We've both been posting in another thread where it seems a little more clear. After posting my original message, I discovered that Apex had indeed changed the specs on the AD-2100, even though it's only been shipping for a few months at the most. The specs you quoted from the web site show "HDCD", but even that was removed from the manual. I wish they would be consistent with their data, i.e., the web site mentions SVCD but the manual never mentions it (in either the old or new manuals).

Whatever the situation, I really don't like the fact that they have removed a primary feature for buying an Apex player.

[banjazzer]

I agree. After hearing people in the US raving about them for ages, I was delighted when they appeared here in the UK, but then I discovered the truth. Let's face it, when you buy a cheap DVD player, it is very often not just for playing DVDs. 8)

I've contacted them again to see if they will explain why they removed VCD capability.

[Romper]

Just another story.

I have a Hiteker AD-600A, same as Apex and a Pioneer 535.

Both are great units, the Pioneer for quality in main area and the Hiteker for playing with ie. mods. Both are great, it just depends on whether you quality or features / options.

[sullen]

I got my parents a Pioneer for Christmas, the DV-440 which is the same as the DV-444 without the progressive scan. It is a really good player with one noticeable drawback, it won't play PAL SVCD. Some might say this was not big deal in the US, but when someone else does a really good PAL SVCD and you want to watch it...forget about it! As for the rest it is a really good player with superb picture and was one of the first slim designed players. It doesn't support long mp3 file names or ID tags, but still a great player for NTSC material including DVD, VCD, and SVCD.

I personally have a Pioneer C302D, an older 3 disk player. It plays everything except miniDVD. I would highly recommend it if you can find one on EBay cheap or at a pawn shop.

I also have the Apex 1100w that is region/macro free. I have had no problems with it since using he firmware update. Good all round player with a good picture. If you can find one of these left at Wal-Mart, not a bad buy.

[nocam1334]

I read somewhere that in order to make DVD players that can play VCD discs, you need to include a certain type of software...

The thing is, someone owns that software.

Apex didn't pay for the rights to use it.

Now whoever owns the rights to that software wants a licensing fee (money) for each player (I think it was something like $4.00 for every player sold). Because Apex players are so cheap (<$100), they probably decided it wasn't worth it to continue supporting VCD.

[banjazzer]

The only thing *extra* a DVD player needs to play VCD is the ability to play mpeg-1 video, and I don't believe anybody needs to pay anyone to play mpeg-1.

[nocam1334]

banjazzer,

I could be wrong. I did find it on the internet, so who knows if it true or not. I was trying to consider one of the possibilities of why they discontinued VCD support. Seemed plausible when I read it.

[puertorican138]

misterfuct, poll this topic.

[banjazzer]

Well, I was wrong - completely wrong.
http://forum.vcdhelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=103894