Re: OT Cheap DVD Player back in Stock at Dabs??

["Simon Coates" <ecolume@xxxxxxx>]

Mark,

I managed to get one from Dabs earlier this week, and for the money I would=
recommend it.
I posted some comments in a previous thread:

....." The player is an Apex AD1100WB - and what makes it worth gettin= g is
that it can handle just about anything you put in it - DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW,<= BR> VCD, SVCD, CD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3, JPEG and Kodak PhotoCD.  The player i= s of
low build quality (toaster-like eject!) but for the money it is excellent.<= BR> It even comes with a scart lead and video and audio phonos and the remote quite nice also.  The player has RGB and composite via scart, dual vid= eo
phono out, audio phono out and s-video out - and it even has digital coaxia= l
out for DD and DTS.  The picture quality isn't fantastic, but it's not= that
bad - however the
best video output is on composite!!!  The RGB output is very soft and<= BR> s-video is too colourful and very grainy.

As if this wasn't enough for a =A350+VAT (+Dabs =A33 P&P) player, someo= ne in the
US has hacked the firmware for this player and it's freely available on the=
net.  The upgraded firmware makes the player multiregion and also canc= els
macrovision and RCE.  You can even get some software to save your own = splash
screen for the player.

This player is also well supported on forums.
Look at:
http://apex.phormation.com/
http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/  and choose AD1100WB

Also, because of how the player is constructed it would be easy to take
apart and make a built-in player etc...."


After using the player for a few days now I also have the following
comments:

I still think it's good value for money!

I bought it for my 3 year old son, but I'm playing with it now!

After tweaking the contrast/colour etc controls the composite video output<= BR> still appears to be better than RGB and s-video.  I've got s-video loo= king
better than it was but there's a slight problem with ghosting.

It will output PAL when playing a region 1 disk (after hack)

It's got a nice OSD for setting up the player :o)

It's midi size, so some people won't like it - ie. might not match their full width existing equipment.

The DVD navigation buttons ie. up/down/left/right and select are on dual function buttons and you have to press 'shift' button on the remote to
activate them.  However, there is a workaround - when 'shift' is displ= ayed
on screen press 'setup' twice and you no longer need to press shift.  = If you
'power off' the player then you need to repeat this.

One annoying thing is that there's a promo type cardboard banner stuck to the top of the player - and they've used industrial strength double sided tape - takes a bit of getting off.

Since it reads JPEGs then it's easy to burn your photos onto CD and view then on your TV.  You can zoom in and move around your pictures. = There's
quite a few transition effects as well.

When you open the box make sure it doesn't float away! It's lighter than yo= u
might expect :o)

It would make an ideal 'cheapie' second DVD player for the bedroom, kids et= c
or a good Christmas present if Dabs can deliver on time.



Regards


Simon

----- Original Message -----
From: Mark McCall <Mark@xxxxxxx>
To: <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
Sent: 19 December 2002 19:55
Subject: [ukha_d] OT Cheap DVD Player back in Stock at Dabs??


> Just got this in an email from Dabs that the Apex 1100WB DVD player is=
back
> in stock...but when I got to their site it says "Availability 1-2= Days"
>
> M.
>
> Apex DVD Player - Back in stock
> This great value DVD player is back in stock, but hurry!! because it's=
only
> available whilst stocks last. Superb value at
> =A352 (=A361.10)
>
>
> http://www.automatedhome.co= .uk
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