The hacker types out there have even modified this player by adding an internal hard disk. Those interested in these mods should check the nerd-out dot com web site.

Although they are not as expensive as more know name brands like Sony and Panasonic, this DVD player is very dynamic for the price. It has all the usual features, plus one of the very first DVD players to have a guideline similar to the V-Chip on the latest television models.

Although Apex only makes DVD Players on the market, the first model that came out is well worth the buy. If you want to buy a DVD player that is very cheap, but not all that hastle, Apex has DVD players that are worth it.

Secret Bonus Menu for AD-600A:
1) Turn DVD player on, and make sure that the on-screen display says no disc.

2) Press "setup" button, and highlight preferences under the setup menu.

3)Once youve highlighted the preferences, press the "step" button on the remote control.

4)Then, press the "previous track" button, below the button marked "A-B".

5)Hit "Next Track" button, next to the previous track button.

After following these steps, youll see a bonus "loopholes" menu on the display. On this menu, you can change the CSS Encryption, Macrovision, and Region I.D.

For the uninitiated, the firmware chip is basically where the player stores its behavioral data, which dictates things like user settings, features, graphics, menu selections, and most importantly, in older versions of the 600A unit, it contained the elusive loophole menu!

What this all means, is that if I wanted to turn my DVD player into the version with the loophole menu, I need only burn the loophole-enabled firmware to a CD, place it in the CD tray, and press Close! A much better alternative to the loophole-enabled firmware, is to use a hacked version of the *latest* firmware which defaults to Region Free and Macrovion Off anyway, yet is free of many of the bugs that plagued the loophole-enabled version of the firmware (eg. seamless branching problems), plus it has RCE turned off.

For 600A units without FlashROM-enabled players (mostly US-based units), adding the hacked firmware is still pretty simple, but requires opening up your unit and replacing your EPROM with one that contains the "enhanced" firmware. You could do it yourself or pay somebody to do it for you, but its much easier and cheaper to try to buy the Canadian version of the 600A in the first place (if youre lucky, sometimes you can find them on EBay, with the firmware CD included).

For the money, its an excellent unit -- I know people whove paid $600+ for the Karaoke feature alone! (And have you *seen* what they charge for legit Region Free DVD players?!)

HERE IS THE BAD NEWS. This DVD Player is NOT user friendly. If the DVD you are playing HAS closed-captioning subtitles, THEY WILL BE ON THE SCREEN. Lots of other DVD Players default with the subtitles off the screen, this one defaults with them ON the screen. Also, if you want to remove them, [unlike other DVD Players where it can be removed with a push of a button,] you have to go to the movies menu, find the audio set-up and click them off. Also, if you want to do any cool things DVDs can do, like: zoom in, change camera angles, change the time [so it displays how long the movie has left, how long its been on, etc], whatever, a bar appears on the top of the screen that shows which function you are doing; so after you are done, you have to go and push ANOTHER button just to make the helpful bar go away. Also, the both the buttons on the Player itself, and the remote, are all the same size, and just it neat little rows, so you have to be in a well-light room to see the buttons, or [like I ended up doing] memorize where the buttons are.

Basically, if you are willing to fiddle with multiple buttons to get it to do something in order to save yourself 30 or 40 bucks, this is the DVD Player for you. Personally, its almost as though VHS tapes have started to be a little tempting because I have to do so much for the DVD Player just to play the DVD. Im going to get another, move convenient one for my home theater, and use this one in my bedroom. If you have the extra $$, you should go for the more expensive, but more convenient Player, so you can experience the fun of DVDs without "getting all funned out".

Apex is an unknown brand offering DVD players for 50 bucks less than everyone else. They dont have the quality control or the engineering experience of a company like sony, toshiba, panasonic, or jvc. While its tempting to have a very low price DVD player with mp3 capability its not worth blowing 150 bucks or more on an unknown brand with severe reliability issues. Buying one of these is risky. Ask the returns department of any store that sells this brand and theyll tell you to stay away.

First, we attempted to set up the 3-disc player. I popped a CD in full of MP3s, and it played them fine, although not with the easiest directory navigation. When we went to play a DVD, it wouldnt work, and after quite a while of tinkering we finally declared it busted.

On to the single-disc unit, we tried it out for DVDs right away, and it worked great. Ironically enough, it wouldnt play MP3s. It seemed as though it read the MP3 files at an accelerated rate, but nothing would actually play the songs.

Considering the fact that both of the units we received were defective, I wouldnt count on these players lasting long if you manage to get one that works.

Its a great idea to integrate these technologies, but the quality just isnt there.

If youre going to be playing VCDs a lot, you may want to go with the Apex 703, as they have a 3 disc tray so theres no need to get up and switch discs during playback!