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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A computer in a set-top case, September 6, 2003
By A Customer
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.
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