APEX California firm rallies to become home electronics stalwart NEW YORK (CNN) -- A few years ago, DVDs were a high-priced, far-fetched fantasy to most people. Nowadays, they are everywhere -- and so is Apex Digital. The marriage and emergence of the two is no coincidence: Apex sold more DVD players in North America this year than anyone else, including venerable home electronics giants like Sony and Panasonic, according to the California-based company. With products available at more than 15,000 retail outlets, Apex expects to top $1 billion in revenues for 2002, more than double what it made the previous year. Not bad for a company that did not make its first noteworthy sale until 2000. Even though it spends no money on advertising, Apex created a buzz from the outset. Its first DVD model, the AP-600, was the first to incorporate MP3 technology -- in the middle of the online music craze and controversy fueled by Napster. Today's Apex players, with models priced under $60 at Circuit City and Wal-Mart, still routinely go for $40 less than comparable players. "That's why Apex is doing so well," says David Katzmaier, an associate editor at CNET, the tech news Web site. "They consistently beat everybody's price, and their players work just as well."
Of course their DVD players are the best seller...Hell, they're so cheap, you can probably get one of those pieces of shi-ite by sending in three cereal box tops plus $2.95 for shipping and handling... I was at Wal-Mart returning an APEX player that somebody got me for a wedding present, because I got another better known brand from somebody else. The lady behind me said, "Oh, are you returning one of those APEX machines, also?" Turns out that she returned TWO of them because they performed so poorly...
A big reason they sell so well is that the older models didn't have any region coding and the new version and be easily upgraded to avoid it. Your average joe won't care about this, but a lot of people see it as a major feature, and they're really cheap.
Their newer players don't play VCDs and don't have a way to get rid of region coding and macrovision (yet). thumbs down
My wife isn't happy with her apex...It never seems to come around, while mine always comes too soon... I'll let you use that one if you get me a ticket for your next show in Houston.
I have an apex machine, it's not the best, but what the hell, all it does is play DVDs so I can't complain
I checked that link out and low and behold there is my old soccer coach Marty Rackham! I just saw him on a rerun of Seinfeld he played a cop ---thats hilarious. I wonder if they count the PS2 along with the straight DVD players in sales? $175 for a game machine and a DVD player works for me.
my apex can play MP3s, and MPG movies. so i can download movie clips off the internet and watch them on my tv. and it can play VCD and SVCD.
I have had a Toshiba SD-3109 2 Disc player for over 3 years - no problems at all. I paid 379$. My mother in law got an Apex DVD player last XMAS - it is broke already. It was like 79$ You get what you pay for.
Sometimes that's actually true. Sometimes not. My Symphonic VCR that I paid something like $30 for has lasted me considerably longer than the relatively high-dollar Magnavox machine it replaced. My Audi A4 didn't last as long without trouble as the Ford it replaced. And so on.
Very true mrpaige. I had an Emerson VCR that I got back in 1994 or so and the damn thing is still working at my father in law's house. But in the electronics arena I will usually buy something of quality instead of saving a few $$$.
I agree with Sonny. As a haughty, narcissistic home theater snob, I think Apex is pure crap. If you'll just spend like $50 more on a DVD player, the build quality (and performance) of the player improves ten-fold (okay, maybe two-fold...). Worth the dough, IMO. I have a Toshiba 5700 DVD player, and it's awesome. Toshiba and Panasonic make great low-end players. I would include Sony in that group, but too many of my friends have problems with their low-end players. My last DVD player was a first generation Proscan unit that played DIVX movies (bought in January 1998 for like $550). It was a pretty good machine with above par performance, but I was always embarrassed by the (non-removable) "DIVX" sticker on the unit. DIVX tanked like 3 years ago and was an absolute bomb for Circuit City. The player still works like a charm today, though, and probably outperforms the Apex players. Oh, yeah, and you DO get what you pay for...
Yep, sure did. Best feature of DIVX was the eventual "We've gone belly-up!" refund. What was Circuit City thinking? Worst... idea... ever... (I bought the player for its capabilities, not its DIVX feature. No, really, I did.) By the end of DIVX's reign of terror, those discs were selling for about $1.99, which was a pretty good price... for a cheap 3-day crappy DVD rental.
Well, when I did go to buy a DVD player, I did go with Toshiba even though it was a little more expensive than the no-name brands at the same store.
