Apex AD2600 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

My parents own and watch a lot of VCDs from Asia, I got this for them years ago specifically for this purpose. It does its job well.

Well-marked buttons make the device easy to use without a remote.

It died after 13 mos. To their credit, the company agreed to honor the warranty, so I sent it back. To their discredit, I never heard from them again.

Like a cheap Rolex you get off the streets of NYC, this falls into the same category. Except those cheap Rolex once made in Hong Kong at least lasted longer that this Apex made in China.

Bought this about 4 years ago and it still works well. plays everything. Great DVD player.

Unlike many of the fellow reviewers, I haven't had much problem with it (most of the problems posted can be rectified through the menu). The picture quality is good and nothing much to complain about. Occassionally, however, the AD-2600 player would not read certain DVDs (I speculuate that these may have "special features"), i.e. "Mission Impossible 1" and some "Sex in the City" discs. If you only watch movies sometimes on your standard television and choose price over quality, the Apex AD-2600 is perfect for you. However, be wary of its inability to read some DVDs, lack of support from the company (no firmware updates, no FAQs/Manual on the website, etc.), and if you own an HDTV, I suggest you just wait for a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player (the PlayStation 3 is dirt cheap for a great BR Player: $599).

I have a 2500 at least two years, it is not perfect, but it is still working, sometimes after view a special format disk, it may be messed up system, but with the P/N or I/P button, it can be reset back. I would buy another one if I need it.

DVDs that work on other machines won't load on this machine. Sometimes it will take 20 minutes trying to load and then will reject the disk. Sometimes it skips large segments of a movie that plays fine on another machine. Not worth the trouble!

There are tons of people now who have posted reviews that say that this DVD player just stopped working on them. Well, that should hopefully give you a clue as to whether or not to buy this piece of junk. The same exact thing happened to me. One day it just stopped putting out audio or video, for no good reason that I could ascertain. It is now in the garbage pile waiting to be taken out with the morning trash.

DVD player worked fine for a short period. Suddenly it stop producing the picture. I tried S video connection etc. Nothing works. Even I followed pressing the IP button it did not work. APEX do not provide any useful FAQ for this probelm. I do not recommend any one to spend even $10.00 for Model AD2600. Hope someone will send me some advise how to correct this.

This machine worked fairly well for about a year. It had trouble reading some DVDs and would display 'no disc' even though there was a disc in the player (in particular, I remember The Crow not working). Then, without warning, the DVD player would only play the sound and had no picture. Some had suggested pressing the I/P button on the remote to rectify this problem. This did NOT work, and the DVD player continued to display no picture what so ever. I double-checked all of the wiring to no avail. We ended up having to purchase a new DVD player and I will never purchase any Apex product again. You'd be much better off buying a reputable name brand or something hot off of the street.

This is my fifth post on this machine since 2003 and the first to post a troubleshoot. People need to look at what other people have written, like my post! Many of the people who are unhappy with this machine have problems with the picture. Learn to read the manual people!!! If you are currently having problems with the picture on your machine, I'll save you the trouble of hunting down the manual... please skip to Troubleshooting Tips.

Review:
This is in fact the best machine for the price. I am amazed that it plays pretty much every format it says on the box and all disk media CDR/CDRW/DVDR/DVDRW. Today I have two Apex DVD players and they all work perfectly since 2003, except for the occasional motor hum from spinning. Despite the hum, I am very very happy with this Apex machine. In fact I recommended this Apex DVD player to a coworker of mine and he also bought two of these fantastic machines. He has not had any problems either. I highly recommend this machine because of performance versus price. My machine still works perfect! If you should have a problem with picture in the future, please remember to look at Troubleshooting in this post.

Troubleshooting Tips:
Does your Apex DVD player only play audio and no video? Or does it play audio but the video is scrolling in black and white? Before you try to return the player or waste hours calling Apex tech support, or run the player over with your car, try these simple troubleshooting ideas first.

No picture: Hopefully you still have the remote control. If you tossed it out the window, you need to fetch it. But first check to see if your video is hooked up correctly and your TV is switched to the correct video input. If everything is correct, using the DVD's remote control, press the I/P button located on the bottom right corner of the remote. The I/P button switches the TV display between interlace and progressive. If this doesnt bring back the picture, try pressing this button without playing a DVD. If you dont get video back, now you can run the player over with your car!

Picture scrolling in B/W: You need the remote control for this so you better get it from your dog before he burries it in the backyard. Press the P/N button located on the bottom right corner of the remote. The P/N button switches your DVD players video output signal between PAL and NTSC. By pressing P/N, you should be able to get a good picture on the screen.

For other problems go to http://www.apexdigitalinc.com/support.asp

I hope I have helped you continue to enjoy the Apex DVD player with these troubleshooting tips. I have done some research and experimenting with the remote when my Apex AD-2500 seemed to have lost its video signal. Im a more happier person after discovering the I/P button! The button was probably accidentally pushed to cause the black screen in the first place.

We had this DVD player for about 3 months and then one day we no longer had picture but could hear that the movie was playing. Customer service was contacted but did not reply. Based on the reviews from other customers it sounds like this is a common problem which is only treatable by the customer paying additional money in shipping and labor....

Within 6 months of purchase the video on this unit began going screwy. This progressed as time went on until it became unusable. Don't buy it.

The Apex AD2600 DVD Player that I purchased from Amazon has quit working. As far as I can tell it only worked properly once or twice. Now it will only play the audio portion of a DVD, without video. I have tried hooking it to different TV's, using different video cables, and different DVD's. My conclusion: it doesn't work. At least it was relatively "cheap". I won't so much mind throwing it away. THIS WILL BE THE LAST APEX PRODUCT I BUY!

It seems that a good percentage of the reviews here complain that the player just doesn't work right. I should've listened. Maybe it's only some of the players, but mine is one of them. I could go through all the problems with "no disc" and the system hanging and refusing to let me reach certain scenes, but it's not worth it. I guess you can buy one and play roulette, but it's just not worth the savings. Pay for quality, or at least mediocrity. This is just garbage.

APEX HORRIBLE TECH SUPPORT - DO NOT BUY, November 10, 2004
Reviewer: H. San - See all my reviews
I bought an Apex DVD 2600 player 2 months ago. And yesterday, it broke down - the colors were all distorted in the output. So, I call tech support, which was reasonably fast in answering my call. Told them about the problem and they asked me to send it back - they have a SHORT 3 month warranty - to add to this, the Customer Service Rep said that the warranty does not cover "service charges" for repair and I had to argue with him until he agreed that it was covered. Next, it says clearly in the APEX LIMITED WARRANTY that the buyer pays for shipping to APEX but APEX pays for shipping back to the customer. They tried to give me an "internal policy" saying that customer pays both ways shipping. I told them that, as it says at the bottom of the warranty, the warranty gives the customer certain legal rights. So, they shouldn't claim any false information in such an important document and not follow what they are claiming. They claimed it was a "misprint".

BOTTOM LINE: This company is about LIES and NOT HONORING LEGAL DOCUMENTS. If you don't care about respect for the customer, then go ahead and buy Apex. For me, I will be adding a few bucks to buy a Panasonic, at least I know I won't be treated like a fool.

Well, I guess mine made it longer than others. For 11 months it worked fine. But last month it started having problems. It reads the disks fine, but shuts off after about 30sec. Then when you try to turn it back on, it turns on then shuts right back off again. So, the piece of **** didn't even last a year.
Called customer support, and since it was past the 90 day period, I have to pay 39.95 for labor... Not to mention the cost for shipping it to them! As some others mentioned I thought the rep wasn't very friendly either.
So, I'm gonna take my ~50 bucks and put it towards one that'll last.

I am almost a year down the road with this machine and it is the most reliable that I have used yet. I have owned two Norcent 300 series players, a Lite-On 2002, and an older Sony and this one performs better and more consistently than any of them and has never failed to play any DVD or VCD that is playable on any other machine. I am not sure it is available any more, but if you can find one, grab it! The only problem that is kind of a nuisance is that it decides on its own when to close the drawer. Sometimes you have to be fast to grab or insert the disk.

I bought this player (...). The player died within less than a year. There is an annoying problem: the media tray opens and immediately closes whenever you push the open/close button. I have to pull the tray quickly to be able to put my DVD/CD in. Sounds ridiculous? This is the worst electronics i have ever bought.

I will avoid any products from Apex in the future.

Simply put, the low price isn't worth the trouble. I picked up one of these to throw in a spare room and it constantly has trouble reading DVDs. Many of the DVDs I use nowadays are from Netflix and this player fails to read at least half of them. It doesn't do so well on the DVDs I own either.

Save yourself the trouble and just spend a little more money.

This player will not play
some clean DVDs that play
fine on other players.

Warning!!! Do not buy this product. Mine worked only for 5 months......

I've used player for 8 mos. now and noticed that it has lots of problems playing DVDs that are not new. I see all the time with DVDs from rental stores that has some finger print

I read a couple of reviews that warned that the APEX 2600 would break within a couple of months. I ignored them and now I have a DVD Player that plays sound but displays no picture. It worked fine up until now.

Also the unit is chintzy in design -- I think all the electronic engineer flunkies work for this company.

I could sum this DVD "player" in one word, but I think it deserves three.....

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE!

I would have gotten more and longer enjoyment out of setting my dollars on fire. The player was bought as a gift for my dad... first time DVD owner. He had problems with it the first month he had it, but was too embarassed to tell me. He used it about 8 times and the DVD player stopped working. It would spin any of the DVDs. He finally told me a little over 3 months after he had it. I then called APEX knowing it had a 1 year warranty. HA! I tried for 2 days to get through customer service. All I received was a busy signal. When I finally got through (on my dime), I was on hold for 2 hours!! No wonder they don't have an 800 number with all the complaints they must receive.

After finally getting through, I was told the year warranty was on PARTS only. The labor wouldn't be included. Neither would the shipping of the product. So when all was said and done, I would be paying just as much to repair their faulty DVD player as I did to buy it initially! Not to mention, customer service was very rude on the phone and offered no alternatives... just an "oh well, what do you want me to do about it?" Uh, maybe stop selling merchandise that is crap. Or at the least back up your equipment.

Shame on you APEX. I will never buy a product by this company again. If I could have given a negative score to this product, I would. If I ever hear of a friend wanting to buy something from APEX, I will do everything in my power to steer them away from it. Not only did you lose me as a current and future customer, you lost anyone I may talk to as well.

Player plays all my backup dvds and photo albums. NIce picture and good sound. Great Dvd for the money.

When I purchase this product the reviews were all pretty good, however whenever I try and play DVDs some chapters are skipped over, and I can't view them!!! This alone would make me say DO NOT BUY!! It does look nice though.

One word - JUNK!

I did purchase another DVD player from Amazon, a Zenith that I am more than happy with. However, Amazon was supposed to take my junk Apex back, been waiting 2 months now... If you order something from Amazon (pay), it's here FAST, returning something...what a joke. Contact Amazon? That's another joke. See if you can find a customer service phone number on this website. You have to follow like 6 links and be a cyber slueth just to get an email across...

Whatever you do, do not buy this Apex player, you will be sorry. It won't play several DVDs.

I bought this DVD for my parents for X-mas (2003) and about 5 months (May 2004)later it doesn't work. Because I bought them this DVD player, they went out and bought DVDs for it. They had to replace the broken DVD player in order to play their DVDs. I am so embarrassed, I feel like I cost them money by making such a bad purchase.

Read the info. Seemed legit. Wasn't. 90 day warranty ran out 30 days before this unit bellied up. No recourse, no satisfaction, no DVD player. No happy.

Did not even work when we took it out of the box. We sent it back to the company for refund...NEVER GOT IT!

We purchased this DVD player for my mother-in-law for Christmas and she has had no complaints! It's a great gift and it's one that keeps on giving as it's something that can be used almost daily.

Glennette Yelverton
Premium Web Design and Hosting
http://www.premiumwebdesign.com/

It started out great !!! Played all kinds of formats. And it was affordable.

Then at about 3 months old, it died. The problem I have is the same problem customer support has as a FAQ. That's not a good sign (means that it happens alot!!)

My unit is dead (no power) and I can't get a response from customer service !!!! to fix it.

btw - this unit will NOT play the latest DVD's either (dual layer, like Alias) and Disney movies. hmmmm....

Personally I understand things happen to electronics, what puts the nail in their coffin is that I can NOT get hold of customer support !!!!

This DVD player broke down within 3 months after I purchase it.
I first contact the APEX by phone, and was on the phone waiting for over 30 min. Once I told the operator what I need, I was put on hold again until the phone call got cut off.

Then I tried to email APEX with the email address list on their web site, and email got bounced back.

So I registered myself with APEX and emailed them about the problem. Of course, no reply either.

Very disappoint at the customer service and the product quality.

THIS IS A GOOD LITTLE MACHINE, LITERALY IT IS VERY THIN, GREAT LOOK AND EASY TO OPERAIT. THE OLDER APEXS HAD VCR LIKE MENUS BUT THIS ONE LOOKS LIKE A COMPUTER WITH ITS MENUS. ITS LITTERAL MEADIA PLAYER, HAS A VERY NICE AND COMFERTIBLE INTERFACE, IN FACT THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAVE WITH THIS SYSTEM IS THE LETTERING ON THE DISPLAY, KEEP IN MIND FOLKS THIS IS ONE OF APEXS FIRST ATTEPTS AT AN DIGITAL DISPLAY. SO LET IT RIDE, I CANNOT WAIT TILL THE NEXT APEX COMES OUT, IT WILL ETHER SINKEM OR CARRY THEM INTO 2010. DONT BUY A KOSS EMERSON OR ANYTHING ELSE, GET THIS ONE IF YOU NEED TO SAVE MONEY. YOU WONT BE SORRY. EVEN PLAYS MY VERYVERY SCRATCHED DVDS. THANK YOU

UPDATE*

AND PEOPLE I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THE BAD REVIEWS, READ YOUR MAUALS, LIKE THE BLACK AND WHITE WITH SCROLLNG PROBLEM, DUH, READ UP ON PAL/NTSC SETTINGS. ITS ALL THERE. AND MANY MANY OTHER PROBLEMS LIKE THAT ARE JUST ID-10-T ERRORS (IDIOT) AND THERE IS SUPPORT, WWW.APEXDIGITAL.COM YOU CAN CALL THEM. (...)

I bought this player to replace a Sony that always skipped on DVD's with even the slightest scratches. I was delighted to find that not only does this DVD player work perfectly, it also plays horribly scratched disks without blinking. As a test, I put in an old CD with nasty gashes on it that I couldn't get my other player to even recognize as a disk. The Apex played it perfectly.
The build quality does not seem to be the greatest, but I have not had any problems with it after a couple of months. At this price, who cares if it breaks in a year.

Many of our disney movies don't play on this dvd player. I spoke to a Rep. at Apex and was told that a new format is being used and we wont be able to view any disney movies made in the last couple months.

Player has a problem with dual-layer DVD's such as Alias Season 1 and Season 2. For the money, get a better quality player. Player works and looks great - if you can get the DVD's to play. I know the saying is "you get what you pay for" but at this stage of game DVD players must have better quality than this - there is no excuse. Will never purchase APEX again. Customer Service and Technical Support are overloaded and nonresponsive - tells you about the quality of their products and their willingness to stand behind them. Pass this player up, and never believe the reviews on a product right before Christmas!

For the first few weeks, this player was everything I expected it to be, an affordable multi-format DVD player with a stylish slim case as advertised... Then my DVDs would stop playing in the middle, or not even be read at all. New CDs almost always began skipping after a few plays. I thought it was just the player, but then I started checking the discs to find that the Apex 2600 is actually ruining my media. There are funny little ridges on the DVD that look like the slice of a tree trunk! This player is not worth any price and I recommend that you don't purchase it. I intend to contact the company, but from what I've read... I just got screwed out of fifty bucks. Apex doesn't answer the phone. *Sigh.*

No way to contact their customer service. Very bad qulity.

I bought this APEX 2600 DVD player for myself at Christmas because it got good reviews as a good value for the money on a variety of different sites. I took it to my father's house to play a Tom Jones concert DVD and he loved the player so much I gave it to him. Now I need to buy myself another one! Have used it frequently and have had no problems. I always research electronics online before I buy because even within the same company, some models are better than others. I liked this one enough to buy another. My dad also has an APEX TV and it was another great value for the money. Great quality picture and features.

Thought I'd weigh in here with my stats. I've bought 3 Apex DVD players now. They play just about everything, but #2 and #3 died very shortly after getting them. I am back to using #1. Nice machines, but I consider their quality pretty low now.

This item broke just two weeks after I gave it to my kids for Christmas. The door would not close. I tried to contact APEX to return it (I missed the Amazon return period) and it took 3 months to get through to their customer service dept. I am still trying to resolve it four months later.

It looks great - and is loaded with features.. unfortunately it turns out to be the "disposable" type. HAve had problems since the first day - not playing some DVDs and then finally after less than 60 days, it just would not recognize anything I pop in it. Save money on the long run - buy something decent ONCE instead of buying cheap every month.

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I purchased this unit 3 months back and I think the unit knew when my warrenty expires. It is more than 90 days and it does not show the picture no matter what I do. I can only hear the sound. I changed video cables, tried connecting to TV on INPUT1 and INPUT2 but no help.

I think you get what you pay for stands true.

I have had this player for 3 months and have been able to see a total of 6 DVD's, after the frustration and aggrivation of getting the player to do it's job. I have tried many times to get a hold of Apex who doesn't seem to answer their emails and telephone number is constantly busy as (I believe) the one lonely customer service rep is probably extremely overworked. As I emailed to the the customer service department, the only thing this player has done consistantly is use enought electricity to keep the red LED burning. Do yourself a favor and save your money to get something of better quality, or at least works.

I bought 2 of this model for Christmas presents and neither one of them work! It is embarassing getting phone calls from family members telling you that the dvd player you gave them less that 3 months ago is no longer working. One stopped working in February and the other in March. Amazon has been working with me to refund my money, but they reminded me that I have past the 30 day return policy and this was a courtesy return. I have had great experience with Amazon, but I will probably not buy electronics any more from them to avoid any future return problems.

The DVD player does not work properly. The player usually
plays DVD's, but has occasional problems such as: 1) not recognizing
a DVD 2) stopping a particular point in a movie every time we played
it 3) not being able to access certain special features on a rental
DVD. This has happened with several different DVD's and occasionally
if we keep trying something, it will work when it did not work one
time before. After we discovered the problems, we tried to contact Apex (fkor 3 months), but we never got in touch with them.The Customer support telephone number is always busy, and they do not answer their web customer
support.

I have had this dvd player for about 3 months now. Nothing has broken on it, and it plays all the dvds I have. Unfortunately it can't play all of the dvd. I have several tv shows on dvd so they are divided by episode. On 2 dvds so far it refuses to play certain episodes with no problems on the others on the dvd. Luckily I also have a PS2 which can play those episodes the player can't. Unfortunately I bought a player because the PS2 couldn't play all my dvds, and now the player can't play everything.

I purchased this as a Christmas gift for my husband. We tried it out Christmas night and it worked great. Even viewed CDs full of jpgs. We didn't get to use it again for over a month (sad, I know). But when we went to use it again, there was sound but no picture. We saw reviews that said the same thing, and also saw here that their customer service stinks. Though we were past the deadline for returns (by a few days), I contacted Amazon right away and pleaded for help. They authorized my late return, and hopefully they are giving APEX heck. I hate APEX but love Amazon, and I tell everyone. DO NOT BUY THIS PLAYER. Who knows how many uses you'll get out of it before it craps out, but it probably will.