Customer Reviews

Apex DRX9000 Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

For the features and price the DRX9000 DVD recorder is a very good buy. It has a great picture plus digital sound. It is even better when used with HD progressive scan TV. Audio CD's sound great played on this unit too.I have not had any problems recording or playing back the DVD+R or +RW disc. Also, the recorded disc play just fine in my computer DVD drive.
There is one thing I would like to say to potentail buyers, or someone who has just purchased a new DRX9000. There is a hookup flyer that comes in the box with the DRX9000, that states, Do not connect this DVD recorder to a VCR or TV/VCR combination, it will cause picture distortion. APEX has addressed this problem with a firmware update. You can download this file off their web site and burn your own disc, or contact them by telephone and they will send you a disc with the new firmware update on it. This update takes about 20 to 30 seconds to do, and it works.
Anybody thinking about purchasing a new DVD recorder that has great features and good price. I would highly recommend the Apex DRX9000.

This machine is good for the money, but don't expect it to be fantastic. DVD set-top technology is still immature and this machine is initially quite confusing to use. I had the Philips/Magnavox DVD+RW unit prior to this and it was much more intuitive, just more ugly (and it died totally after 2 weeks, which is why I exchanged it for the Apex). The Apex has worked fine for a month now, and overall I'm pleased with it.

So what is it? I opened it up (I don't care about the warranty sticker) to find it's a basic computer NEC ND1100A DVD+RW drive exactly as you'd get in your PC, complete with IDE connector and standard power plug. The rest of the circuitry is LSI and effectively an embedded PC/Display unit. This is why it takes fifteen seconds to "boot" when you power it on. It also has one really nasty feature that you don't know about till you get it home - a huge noisy fan on the back which makes it sound like having your PC on all the time. I plan to fit a quieter fan.

The manual is amusing. The writer clearly doesn't speak English and it is full of inaccuracies.

Regionalisation is an issue for me, I have R1 and R2 DVDS (lots of them). This unit is strictly Region 1 and so far there is no region patch. I suspect that there never will be, because that PC DVD+RW drive is internally regionalised (RPC2) and the average set-top user will never know how to put it in a PC and patch its firmware. I did - it's RPC1 now - but the APEX still refuses R2 discs so I guess its own operating system needs patching too.

Interestingly, you can both record and play (multi-region) discs with a PAL signal, the circuitry handles the color perfectly but you lose the bottom 100 lines of the picture.

The mpeg-2 compression is performed on the input, so you can see on your TV what your picture will be like before recording. The Apex brightens the picture and can "flare-out" on very bright shots. Recording from digital cable, which is already mpeg2 compressed, can be somewhat disappointing occasionally. A bad cable picture is made marginally worse. A good cable picture doesn't show degradation at all.

Quality overall is very good; I would like the ability to choose other compression levels since EP is not quite good enough and SP doesn't record more than 2hrs 10 minutes. A halfway setting would be great. The forgetful memory is no problem if you invest in a cheap computer UPS ($40) to power it.

I'm very happy with my unit despite its limitations. It has enabled me to save all my precious VHS tapes to DVD without messing with PC capture cards, which are still too flaky to be valuable despite the marketing blurb. For recording programs off cable it's great. Its compatibility with set-top and PC is first class and you can manipulate its VOB files on your PC with no trouble. I know if its drive packs up, I can just buy another one and put it in the case.

Another couple of issues - it will only FF/FRW its own DVD+RW discs at 2x. This is odd, commercial DVDs can be FF/FRW at 16x, and the +RW work at any speed in other players. And I don't like having to switch through all the inputs to go from play mode to monitor/record. The Philips "monitor" button was great. Also don't expect to insert a blank disk and hit record, you have to press record about three times with a wait inbetween each press before it's ready to go. I usually record a little video and then re-erase the disc before recording anything important so I know it will record without delay.

Apex still produce their units with a poorly designed remote control. Sling it out and buy a learning universal remote.

One last gripe -that big blue power LED is just too bright! Mine is covered with a piece of black sticky tape.

Bottom line - if you can put up with the noisy fan, R1/NTSC only, complicated menu and forgetful memory, it's great value for money. However if you don't need a set-top DVD recorder just yet, wait six months or so and the technology will have matured. Prices should fall too. But don't invest in DVD-R or DVD-RAM, those formats are already losing ground.

If anyone from APEX reads this, take heart - it's a good product, just spoiled with irritations. Fix those, and you've got an excellent machine.

I bought this unit...with hopes of having a faster way of converting home movies to DVD faster than it would take using a computer capture card and program and waiting for it to render the entire DVD movie.

The manual was confusing to figure out how to setup the player/recorder and once I got my vcr to send a signal to the DVD recorder it ended up looking like a cable box signal when it's scrambled. The picture quality wasn't quite as bad as that but it certainly jumped around and flickered in and out. Definitely not something people wanna watch. The picture input was not stable at all coming from a vcr and I do not mean copyrighted materials, but personal home movies. However its ability to take antenna signals and save them to DVD was great. I had no quams about that part.

The user-interface was quite confusing. One thing I did NOT like about recording to DVD on this machine was that there is no way of telling the recorder to start a new dvd chapter as you're recording. You have to hit stop recording and then start again, which does not make for a seamless footage dvd...

The first machine Shipped to me had the same problem listed in other reviews, that it did not hold setup inputs when the machine was put on standby mode. I sent it back and requested a replacement. The second unit worked perfectly. I reset the record input mode, put it on standby, Turned it back on and it was still set the way I set it. It seems Apex has some units out there with this problem. The record and playbacks were perfectly clear and crisp. The Audio was excellant also. I would recommend this unit for the price, However I would keep returning it until you get one that works properly. Also by reading these reviews I was able to download the upgrade patch and install it. I THINK APEX NEEDS A BETTER QUALITY CONTROL DEPARTMENT BEFORE SENDING UNITS OUT TO RETAIL

I wrote a good review of this machine for another site. I have had one for just three weeks, and it replaced a Magnavox which was so unreliable I took it back. I was impressed with the Apex although I agree with previous posters that it is more complicated to use than it should be. I put up with the fan, the lousy remote control and the clock dying with every little power blip, because the picture is really good and the ability to record DVD+RW is fantastic.

Or it would be if the thing worked. Yesterday I pressed the power button (the machine was on standby) and the display vanished. The machine died, totally. Nothing. Nada. No power, no lights, no sound at all. I called Apex who told me they'd had a lot of trouble with this model (at least they are honest) and that they were soon releasing a better version. I took it back to the store and got a full refund.

My advice - don't buy one. Another reviewer on this page had the same dead unit problem, and Apex confess it's not unusual. At least mine didn't have a disc inside when it fell over. I agree with the previous reviewer, the technology is still in its infancy and it would be better to wait a few months to buy something which is more reliable and probably cheaper. Seems other DVD Recorders are not much better, my Magnavox died and so did another reviewer's Philips. I have more sense than to go with the dying DVD-Ram or -R formats, Panasonic take note. People who buy those are going to end up like the Beta users - great system, no support.

Felicia

I purchased this item off of another website and sent it back the day after it arrived. (At least the Philips model will work for a couple of weeks.) This unit will only record programs off the air. You CANNOT record anything from your VCR, and this has nothing to do with copy protection. This unit will not allow you to convert your VHS tapes to DVD. There is even a flyer inside the box proudly touting this little defect. So in other words, I quickly found that the DRX9000 only does half of what a DVD recorder should do. If you're assuming that it must at least do that much well, you're wrong. It has an intolerable synchronization problem. For example, when you play back a disc, you see an actor's lips moving and hear what he says about 2 seconds later. Garbage.

It completley quit working after month. no power, no menu, no anything. I was able to return it to the retail store. I used the money towards a Philips DVD burner.

I pre-ordered the DRX9000 and waited almost 3 months for delivery. Setup of the machine was easy. Thats where the fun stopped.
I used a secondary AV source for the input. And again connection instructions were well-detailed and easy to follow.
I purchased the DRX9000 originally because of the some 11 formats it would be able to read and play. I could only get the machine to play audio CDs. It was totally incapable of playing any DVD of any format. One of three things happened: 1. the machine froze and locked; 2. the TV monitor was cleared of picture; or 3.the machine displayed the word 'Hello' in the display and froze. In all three cases the only solution was to unplug the machine. The freezing occurred continually. The machine would freeze within 5 minutes of starting any DVD. If you attempted to select a title or use FastForward it would immediately freeze when Play was selected.
The remote did little. Its basic functions did not perform and it kept displaying 'invalid' on the tv monitor.
I never attempted to copy or use the write/rewrite features. I boxed it up within 24 hours and shipped it back.

Save yourself time and money and try a different manufacturer.

I guess you pay for what you get is the thing here.

There's no time shift option, so you cant watch the begining while recording the end, but thats ok it doesnt ever advertise this and it wasnt a feature i was desperate to pay another 100 for.

What really bothers me is the fact that the setup only stores the programs i want to watch (timer function) and input preferences (such as default input source/tv type, etc.) while the machine is on.

Whenever i put the recorder in to standby (via remote) it lost all my settings. I thought this might be a faulty machine as ive never come across anything like this before.

I called Apex and they said that this was normal - the machine they told me was supposed to be fully on all the time. I asked what the standby function on the remote was for and they said to save power when you're not using it. But they said yes it will lose the settings if you do this.

I said this was really strange and they guy said "yes it's really out of order isnt it".

Im hoping that someone at Apex realises what the heck is going on and releases a firmware upgrade to sort this out. The one released on 8/8/03 doesnt seem to do much with regard to display options, etc.

I'd love to recommend this - it does appear to be a nice machine and is so much cheaper than it's rivals, but until they get the setup feature sorted out its going to be a loser im afraid.

APEX!!!! LISTEN UP AND FIX THIS ISSUE!!! IF MY POWER GOES OUT, OR I ACCIDENTLY PRESS THE STANDY BUTTON ON THE REMOTE DONT WANT TO HAVE TO RESET EVERY SETTING!!!

I WOULD ADD TO ANYONE WHO ALSO HAS A UNIT TO CONFIRM WITH ME THAT THIS IS INDEED THE CASE WITH THIER MACHINES - IM SO STRUCK DUMB ABOUT THIS I STILL CANT BELIEVE IT! - contact me Many thanks

A major theme with the DRX 9000 is a very high failure rate for the power supply. My unit was no exception. Shortly after having the power supply fixed the DVD read/write unit went out. It's pretty much a piece of junk right now. I bought mine from Walmart for $264, I see they no longer carry it. I would stay far away from this one.

Dave