spasmolytic

What is the best DVD Player I can get for under $300 USD? I need Dolby Digital and optical DTS out but not onboard because my receiver can decode it. I currently have a crappy Apex player that loses s-video signal whenever the screen is dark. Also, is there much difference in sound quality between optical and coax outputs on the player?

Anad

Which APEX do you have?
I'm stuck with a APEX AD703 until I return it to the store. I've had it for 3 days now and it pauses for a few seconds while playing films and screen artifacts appear on most of the DVD's I've tried.

spasmolytic

I have the AD-600A, without the loophole menu. That was this players only redeeming quality. Last night it started skipping for the first time towards the end of "A Nightmare Before Christmas". I felt the player and it was very hot, so that's probably why it skipped. They are known to overheat and skip. You should definitely return yours, I sent mine back to Apex for a factory repair and they returned it with the SAME problem.

jellis

Sony 360 - $249 from Circuit City/Best Buy - cheaper online I am sure.

I will be purchasing one this week as a back up while I send in my Sony 550 to get the lip sync problem fixed...

Nice features, does what you are looking for, etc.

Optical vs. Coax - tons of people asking about this. I would have to say that there is no difference (at least to me). I us Optical because when I purchased my first receiver, the sales guy @ Circuit City told me I HAD TO GET this optical monster cable. Anyway, save yourself some money and pick up a 75ohm Radio Shack RCA audio cable for the coax connection...

cloud

The best ones would be the Pioneer DV-333 and the Sony DVP-S360. The only difference is that the Pioneer is CD-R compatible.

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Taco

I like the Toshiba 2200 for under $200 on UBID. I got one for myself and one for my Mom. It replaced the one year old Toshiba 3109, which is now in my bedroom. It has dual disk, digital audio outputs (toslink & RCA), s-video (and component I think?), and 5.1 decoding if you need it.

spainlinx0

Well I have to defend my choice, the Toshiba 2300 Nuon player. It's 299.99 at Best Buy, and plus it got higher picture quality ratings from one of the guys who used to work for ISF and now works as a reviewer for etown as well. He made it his new favorite pick in the mid-level region, with around an 85 overall rating.