You either have cheap A/V cables or you're viewing the
OSD while watching TV. it does have a bit of hum or buzz while the program guide or other
OSD features are on while watching.
My opinion of the box is it's ok, it's a little simplistic but it does have a nicer
EPG, it shows more than the current show and the next one, it can show up to two days in advance; a lot of other converters, some even more expensive (the Apex is only $49.99 here) boxes only show a 'simple guide' that only gives info for the current and the next show, no better than the channel showing what's coming up....the only thing about the Apex is that like the DigitalStream, it requires you changing the channel to view
EPG info on the other channels; the guide only shows info for the channel you're already viewing only.
The
OSD is cheap and cheesy low-res looking. but the box succeeds in the signal dept. it isn't a victim of 'red-zoning' at all (Red Zone is my nickname for a box that has an ok signal but it varies so much that the box 'gives up' and simply pegs the red area of the signal meter and stays there, resulting in sub-par pixelation and requires the box turned OFF then back ON repetively) you can be in the first half of the 'red area' and still have a watchable non-cutty outty picture. and also, the box is forgiving of weak signals. it won't black out and say 'NO SIGNAL,' or cut out audio. it can work with a partially pixellated picture and still have perfect audio, and if it does get bad enough, no skipping or stuttering, it just stops as if a 'pause' button was hit. in fact, the
OSD shows a 'play' icon similar to that in VCRs when the picture is ok, and a 'pause' icon if it's not. it's currently the only box i know of that can view a pixellated picture and still hold the audio stream, making it sorta like weak analog signals.
Review: The Apex is good, but is it good enough?
Linear Mode
