Apex vs Pioneer 333?

[jeffw]

Apex seems to rule here based on previous posts. My dad says the Pioneer 333 is great, and that other forums prefer it over the Apex. Here are some of the comments he forwarded to me from other forums:
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I have both the apex660 and pioneer dv333. Must say that the dv333 is
better in that it plays some SVCDs that my apex cannot when authored with
non-compliant mpegs. Also the dv333 has ffwd/rwd capabilities with SVCDs
burned with nero whereas the apex does not. Also audio quality seems
better with the dv333.

Get the dv333, you won't be sorry!
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There's no choice to make, get the DV-333, I had the 703 Apex, took it
back, doesn't play VBR anything, MP3's or VCDs. Had 2, 1st didn't work at
all, not even DVD. Apex is a fairly new company, sooooo,,,. This DV-333
kicks ass. Plays everything I've put in it so far. Even the wierd shit.
Just no MP3 support. No biggy for me. If your getting it for mainly
movies, 333!!!
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Anybody care to comment? clarify? critique?

Pioneer 333 is $159 + S/H.

Thanks.

jeffw

[jeepman]

I have picked up the 333 from Costco in So. Calif. for $180+7.5%tax. I have to say I like it, but I have not tried the Apex. Circut City's down here don't have the 703 in, and don't carry the 600a anymore which has component out, etc. If I can find the 600a, I may take the 333 back.

In terms of the 333, I have run an XSVCD test disk that was encoded with 3500Kbit, and it is jumpy. Apparently, the 703 can handle 3500Kbit for XSVCD. I am interested in XSVCD because it is full frame, and I want the family videos to look best.

The regular SVCD's I have made for the 333 look real good, better than the VHS I created with my Marvel, mainly because I don't have to adjust the brightness, etc when trying to output from the Marvel. The only issue is with fast movement, you seen the interlacing. I suspect I just need to tweak TMPEGenc a little more to get it right.

If you haven't gone here yet, this is a good apex page http://apexweb.terrashare.com/special.html

Also, www.vcdhelper.com is really good, and includes comments about all the players you and I wrote about.

[wkulecz]

As to the fast forward/reverse on the Pioneer 333 with SVCD, when I tested it on VCD and SVCD disks encoded with TMPGEnc12a and burned with Nero 5.0.3.8 it wasn't a "real" fast forward/reverse. What happened was it jumped N frames forward or backward and showed a still, jumped N frames and showed a still, etc. Better than the Apex which could only jump between files, but still not a true fast forward/rewind and far inferior to the searching offered by a 4 head VHS deck. Although VHS has nothing to compare with the next/previous chapter (file) buttons of the Pioneer or Apex DVD players which is a really great feature when combined with a working fast forward/reverse.

--wally.