Ten Reasons Why You Should Not Buy an APEX AD DVD Player

This may seem like a strange reason for disliking a piece of electronic equipment. But I have found that the APEX DVD player is a little too small for my taste. When I think of electronic devices that I plan to use for the purpose of never-ending entertainment, I typically consider devices which have a bit of size on them. The Apex, while priced considerably cheaper than most other brands, made me feel like I was buying a toy for a child.

9- Noisy:

Boy oh boy is this a noisy little machine. I was surprised that after having the DVD player only a few short weeks, it began making weird little chirping noises when I would play DVDs. It was the kind of sound that usually indicates when a disc is dirty, or when the player needs to be cleaned. But I found that this noise crept up a lot sooner than I expected. That surely couldn’t be good.

8- Picture Quality:

At first I thought that perhaps my old TV was on its way out. Because when I popped in a few discs into the Apex player, I noticed that the picture was not as crisp and clear as was indicated on the package. Since other users of this equipment (that I know) have stated that their APEX machines show flawless pictures, I decided to put it to a little test. I disconnected the DVD player, and reconnected it to another, newer television. Sure enough, the same “less than favorable” picture was displayed. Perhaps I got a bum machine. But these sorts of things just shouldn’t occur with today’s technology.

7- Sticky Drawers:

No, not those kindâÂ?¦ I found that the DVD drawer which holds the disc had a mind all of its own. Shortly after purchasing the APEX player, I found that the drawer began to stick a little. At first I thought the batteries in my DVD remote were going dead. (Though they shouldn’t have been since it was NEW.) So I then tried using the manual eject button on the player. Only after a few tries did the drawer decide to open. On a few other occasions, the drawer worked perfectly fine. But then it would lapse right back into technological laziness, and begin sticking all over again. I guess maybe the machine was sleepy or somethingâÂ?¦

6- Hidden Menu:

It has been discovered that some Apex players have a hidden menu that can be used to override the regional encoding features that prevent copying DVDs to VHS. While this feature may be extremely attractive to the general public, the idea that this can be done bothers me for some reason. As an artist and musician, I have a problem with the whole concept of “bootlegging.” But then again, I have an entire soapbox on which I like to stand, that is dedicated to that topic. As for the APEX, I simply feel that the quality of the picture and sound is more important than copying silly movies to a format that I rarely use anymore.

5- Poor Sound:

The first major anomaly that I noticed about this machine was the quality of sound. It seemed that after about 2 months of use, the sound wouldn’t work properly. For instance, when I would place a DVD in the drawer, the picture and menu would be displayed, but the sound would not. I thought that maybe the connection in the back of my TV was faulty. But that certainly wasn’t the case. A few more attempts at reloading the DVD did the trick. But after a while, I got tired of having to find creative ways to get the APEX player to do what I wanted it to do. It was also quite embarrassing when I had guests over.

4- Choosy Player:

In addition to cutting out the sound on occasion, I noticed that the DVD player didn’t read all CDs that I attempted to play-despite the advertisement that it played all DVDs, CDs and MP3’s. Some CD’s the APEX seemed to enjoy, and others it did not. In all fairness, I tried playing these same CDs in other devices, including the DVD players of other people I knew. But alas, it appeared that only my APEX machine had real musical preferences.

3- DVD Remote:

I was never a huge fan of the DVD remote that accompanied this inexpensive machine. While it contained a lot of features, I found that the buttons were really small. I also wished that it was a universal remote. I got tired of having my coffee table look like the control panel for NASA. In addition to that, I watch a lot of my movies in the dark. Unfortunately, this remote does not have a fluorescent “glow-in-the-dark” feature. So this made navigating on the little remote virtually impossible.

2- Cheap Price = Cheap Quality

Ultimately, after several months of use, the DVD finally gave up on me and my entertainment choices. It refused to play CDs or DVDs or anything else. The APEX continued to make little chirping noises, but failed to function. As this was the only DVD player in the house, I was devastated.

1- Poor Warranty:

Bearing in mind that I was not completely pleased with the APEX DVD player, I might have considered returning it via the warranty that accompanies the machine. However, said warranty is only for 90 days. Ironically, I realized that it was about 3 months into the purchase that I started noticing problems with the APEX. I am almost certain this was not a coincidence. Furthermore, I was unable to locate a 1-800 number so that I might make a few inquiries about my product, which meant that any phone calls made to the manufacturer would be long distance.

The next time I purchase a DVD player, I will make sure that I have been informed about all warranty information beforehand. More than likely I will never again purchase a machine that costs so little. While I thought I was getting a good deal, I realize in retrospect that the true value of the machine equaled about (7) good trips to the movie theatre.