Apex AD-500 and MiniDVD

[kabanero]

Hi guys,
I need your opinions.
I use Sony DVP-S560D to watch commercial DVDs. But I can make VCDs and MiniDVDs from my home movies. I saw on DVD players page that Apex AD-500 model plays MiniDVDs. How good is playback? Is it worth to buy it for playing MiniDVDs? Does anybody have experience with this?

Thanks in advance?

[Greg12]

mini-dvd is a waste
u get 15 minutes of video per cd.

[Kdiddy]

First of all miniDVD is not a waste!...IF you know what you are doing which Greg obviously does not...secondly..make sure you dont get the Apex 500W, emphasis on the W, because it does NOT read miniDVDs....I would recommend the GE1101P (Wal-Mart, plus you will need firmware upgrade, I can provide you link to that), Daewoo DVG-3000n(Sam's Club, plays striaght out the box, however lacks ff & rew features, just play & stop for miniDVD), Apex 703a (Circuit City, firmware needed here & limited # because its been discontinued)...all players under $150 and I own the GE model...now the only thing Greg is correct on is if you encode your video at the 7-8mbps level, then yes you will need many of disks...however, be SMART and encode the video at 2.5-3mbps, a la SVCD,...downgrade the bitrate on your AC3 stream with Soft Encode to 224 kbps..and it easily fits a movie on 2 80 min CDR(W)s...I do it all the time, you have the very good DVD like quality of SVCD plus 5.1 DD surround...simple as that!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Kdiddy on 2001-08-26 01:11:34 ]</font>

[next]

I don't think it's the 703a. I think you should have said the 703. The GE model you mention and the 703 are both Shinco units. The 703a is a completely different player and many have warned to stay away from it. Unless there's something with minidvd that I'm not aware of.

[AntnyMD]

Yes, the cool thing about miniDVD is the ability to have a full Dolby Digital soundtrack ... otherwise, as far as playing time, you can get a slightly longer playing time at the bitrates Kdiddy mentioned, by using XSVCD.

[kabanero]

Hi guys,
Thanks for the help. Yes, I was talking about straight Apex AD-500 without any letters. I found it in the local K-Mart. And my last question: If I buy it, is it going to play MiniDVD right out of the box, or do I need to uprade firmware or anything else?

Thanks.

[Greg12]

i'm gettin bad information.

[AntnyMD]

It will play miniDVD, but it will not recognize your CD as a DVD, but as a data CD that you can browse and have it play the vob file. If you've used a Dolby Digital soundtrack, a 5.1 mix will be downmixed to stereo.

In a computer, this disc will play as a DVD.

[ilc]

The following players have been hacked to play miniDVD:

* Apex 500A (NOT 500B or 500W - "no letter" 500, see below)
* Apex 700 (same as Haier 700)
* Apex 703 (NOT 703A!!! PLEASE DON'T MIX THESE MODELS UP! THEY ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! THE 703A SUCKS!)
* GE 5803P

The hack that the GE 5803P uses is supposed to work on the GE 1101P, but some people have reported problems with playback quality.

The Apex 500 (some versions), 660 (some versions), and 1500 can all play the VOB files from the miniDVD. When testing the sample miniDVD from this site, it has been reported that the 500 cannot handle the high bitrate (e.g., lots of video and audio stuttering.) I don't know if this means that the same problem exists on the 660, and 1500.

The Apex/Haier 700 can also play the VOB files straight out of the box, but you need to upgrade the firmware if you want true miniDVD compatibility.

The Daewoo DVG-3000N can also play the VOB files, without any stuttering/skipping.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ilc on 2001-09-05 00:33:55 ]</font>

[Kdiddy]

so far my GE1101P has yet to suffer any problems in playback quality..(Knock on wood)