DVD player comparisons

Never thought I'd ever be able to do this -- a comparison of DVD players. It's not full blown though and there are just two (well three) players involved. The suspects: APEX AD-1200, APEX AD-1201, PANASONIC DVD-S35S.

APEX AD-1200: The first DVD player whose brand and series number I could remember. Seemed full-featured at a very basic level (could handle DVDs, VCDs, CD-RWs, Audio CDs, picture CDs). Didn't have a good television set to check finer details though.

APEX AD-1201: A purchase made solely based on information about the one above. The purchase is also marked by an inundating update (courtesy a Circuit City store assistant): S-video, component video et al. This results in a headspin. The DVD player is purchased. Back home, one discovers how the remote control serves as a great idea for Human Computer Interaction class show n' tell. To scroll up and down or across menu items one has to press a green key labelled 'shift' (which results in a yellow rectangle on bottom-right corner of the TV screen with the word SHIFT in white!). Nice. S-video is the maximum the DVD player will support. A Monster cable connects its output to the TV, which can actually go up to component video. Soon it is evident that this DVD player sucks. There are so many colour artifacts and jealousy (read: colour green) abounds on screen.

PANASONIC DVD-S35S: Purchased in exchange (within the 30-day period, thank heavens!) for the above. Supports component video, optical audio output AND progressive scan. Cool. Looks silver and sleek too. Really cool. The Monster component video cables are a medusan monster indeed. However, once the wires are all in, the TV looks like a large jellyfish supported by audio and component video cables from the DVD player and RCA audio and video cables from the VHS player. This time it is clear that the purchase has been a good one. The colours are wonderful, they don't overflow and good bye green monster. More $$$ definitely, but evidently worth it.