Nice, small, basic DVD player.
Written: Jan 19 '09 (Updated Jan 19 '09)
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Pros: Does everything I want it to do.
Cons: Very narrow beam from the remote has to be carefully aimed.
The Bottom Line: If you're building a home theatre, this isn't for you. If you just want to watch movies on TV, it's a good inexpensive way to do it.
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| lnthomp's Full Review: Apex Digital AD 1115 Player |
We bought our Apex Digital AD 1115 Player almost 3 years ago when we wanted to watch DVDs in an extended-stay hotel where we stayed for some time. We picked the Apex Digital AD 1115 Player for two reasons: small size, and small price. We also had to buy an RF modulator for it, because the hotel's TV only had a cable/antenna input.
The Apex Digital AD 1115 Player is fairly attractive. It is silvery-gray color, 10 ¼ inches wide, 11 ¼ inches deep, and (including feet) 2 ½ inches tall. The front face is plastic, the rest appears to be thin metal. The front has a power switch on the left, small bright blue power-on led on the right above the eject, play/pause, and stop buttons, the DVD drawer behind an artistically curved door centered in the front and a small round window for the remote control signal just to the right of the DVD drawer.
Making connections is easy if you are at all familiar with video equipment. On the back there is the permanently-attached power cord, an S-video plug, and 7 color-coded RCA jacks. The RCA jacks are: red for audio right channel, white for audio left channel, orange for audio “coaxial”, yellow for composite video, green for video Y, blue for video Pb, and another red for video Pr. I have only ever used the red right audio, white left audio, and yellow composite video connectors, connecting them to the RF modulator or to a television using a triple-wire assembly with color-coded RCA plugs at both ends.
The remote is a nice small size, 6 ½ inches long, 2 inches wide, and ¾ inch thick. It is powered by two AAA batteries. There is a notch of sorts across the bottom in a good place to rest on the user's index finger while pressing the main buttons. I sometimes find it annoying that the remote has to be pointed very directly at the front of the Apex Digital AD 1115 Player or it won't work. It seems to be most natural to aim it properly if the Apex Digital AD 1115 Player is on top of or above the TV. If the Apex Digital AD 1115 Player is below the TV, it feels as if the remote has to be pointed down towards the floor to operate properly.
There is a red power button at the “top” left of the remote. The power button on the remote only works if the power button on the left front of the Apex Digital AD 1115 Player is in the on position (the blue LED will be on if the remote can be used, regardless of whether the remaining power in the DVD is on or off).
All the rest of the buttons on the remote are a dark gray, some with white print on the button, others with black small print alongside the button to identify the functions. “Top” right is an eject button which will both open and close the DVD drawer. Near the center of the remote is the Play/Enter button, surrounded by a circle of up, down, left, and right keys for use with on-screen menus. Outside this circle, Stop is lower-left, Pause/Step is lower right, and four buttons in an arc over the top of the up/down/left/right circle, there are buttons for: |<< previous chapter, >>| next chapter, << rewind, and >> fast-forward. An array of 16 buttons in a square are below the Stop and Pause/Step buttons.
The array of 16 buttons on the lower part consist of: MENU, SETUP, SLOW, TITLE, AUDIO, RESUME, AFF, DISPLAY, PROGRAM, SHUFFLE, CLEAR, GOTO, UP, ANGLE, SUB-T, and ZOOM. The top of the remote, between the power and eject buttons at the far top, and the |<<, >>|, <<, and >> buttons above the circle of buttons, there is another array of 16 buttons, laid out in curved rows. These buttons are: 1, 2, 3, vol +, 4, 5, 6, vol -, 7, 8, 9, REPEAT, 0, 10+, MUTE, and A-B REPEAT. Most of those 32 buttons have to do with setting up the order of playback for music tracks on CDs or MP3 files recorded to CD or DVD, or the pictures on a photo CD. When used with pre-recorded DVD movies, the only buttons of these that come into play are MENU, REPEAT and A-B REPEAT. MENU takes you to the main opening menu on the DVD. REPEAT will play the entire movie, and automatically start it again when it ends. I suppose this could be handy if you are playing a short program for small children. A-B REPEAT lets you select a portion (a few seconds up to the entire movie) within your movie to repeat over and over, which I have used a few times when a hard-to-follow intense action scene took place, and when dialogue was hard to understand.
We played a CD in the Apex Digital AD 1115 Player once just because it said it could play it, and it worked fine. Otherwise, we've only ever used our Apex Digital AD 1115 Player to play purchased or rented DVD movies, and only using the composite video and left and right audio outputs to connect to a television. The only time we've ever had trouble playing movies were occasions when the DVD was dirty or scratched. Our Apex Digital AD 1115 Player has been through two moves. Its small size makes it easy to pack, and it is lightweight but it doesn't feel flimsy or fragile. I wouldn't want to drop it, but it seems as if it got knocked off its shelf by a cat and fell the 2 ½ feet to the carpeted floor, I think it would likely still work.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 35
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Epinions.com ID:
lnthomp
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Member: Lee Thompson
Location: Oregon City, Oregon, USA
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
This too shall pass.
U.S. Navy (ret) / Oregon City, OR
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