The same thing can (and usually, if Murphy has anything to do with it, will)
happen with an exensive unit. I have a $300 Sony unit that lasted about 18
months before it ceased being able to read DVDs of any variety. "NO DISC".
Out of warranty, out of luck. The damn thing couldn't play most CD and
DVDR/RW media anyway.

So I bought a cheap $80 APEX which plays just about EVERY media and format I
can throw at it: DVD-R/RW DVD+R/RW VCD SVCD JPG MP3, and even XVCD. Yes, it
does not "feel" like it is built for lots of use and abuse but I've taken
care of it and 2 years later, so far so good.

Also make sure whatever you buy can be upgraded with a new firmware. Since
the APEX worked out for me I bought another cheap DVD, this time an AKAI
unit (actually a Daewoo). It would not play my DVD-R / RW or DVD+R / RW and
SVCDs authored with Ulead. I contacted the company and they emailed me a new
firmware revision to burn on CD and boot the DVD player with to update it.
Now my AKAI plays just about every media and format I can cram into it.

Worst DVD player I've ever seen: My aunt's expen$ive Toshiba SD-2300 which
will ONLY play commercial DVDs and will not play any DVDR/RW or CD media,
period. And -- guess what? No firmware upgrades! Why not just flush your
money down the toilet? Toshiba normally makes good stuff, but they should be
ashamed of that one.

Summary:

Cheap but sturdy DVD players that can be flashed: GOOD
Expensive name-brand dead-end DVD players: BAD

Douglas

"Steve Reinis" wrote in message
...
Considering an Apex DVD player is now $29.00 (!!), a repair is not even
sensible. It's wasteful to not repair it, but that's what you get these
days with Korean/Chinese ultra-cheap electronics.

You can either buy a $99-200.00 Sony/Panasonic/Etc and hope to expect
years
out of it, or just get another Apex and use it till it dies. It's pretty
much a crapshoot... I've got an Apex AD-1500 that is now two years old
and
still going fine with moderate use.

-Steve