APEX AD-600A Came today...

[Talk2raffi]

Well, i got my Apex dvd player today through circuit city....

And as far as I can tell, the loopholes are disabled.

For those of you that have one, the problem im getting is that the preferences menu is disabled...

The mp3 works great though... i have a Yamaha 4x4x16 SCSI on green discs...

The only real reason I wanted this is for the mp3 playback, so I guess I will keep it..unless someone knows of another DVD player that does mp3 discs??

Hope this helps anyone interested in getting one of these.

[Renski]

How much do they normally run?

Renski

[Talk2raffi]

I think after shipping and tax it came out to $201....

I'm getting the Ikena one too...I wonder which would be better??

[jonyi]

there is a device coming out this July, it is going to be called ViAlta. It will be a internet, mp3 player, dvd player, video/internet phone, Kareoke. all in one for around $200.00. I know for sure it will be sold in circut city. This is from the inside source of ESS Technology. This will play your mp3 to your tv or stereo system.

[jonyi]

press release on vialta.
http://sec.yahoo.com/prnews/000110/ca_ess_tec_1.html

[Renski]

Thanks for the info. I am going to check it out when they release them.

Renski

[Renski]

Or maybe wait for PS2 on October 26... Hmmmmm...... What to do?

[ProMinx]

what is all of this about the apex dvd? i've seen a lot about it, but don't understand. is it in honor of our apex or just a complete coincidence? and why does everyone talk about it? is it that good?
ProMinx

[Bryan Parker]

PS2 doesn't play MP3 songs on a CD, right? Just need clarification because the first post said he wanted MP3 feature and you bring up PS2..

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Renski:
Or maybe wait for PS2 on October 26... Hmmmmm...... What to do?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Renski]

Sorry for the confusion Bryan.

PS2 does not play MP3. They do play VCD's and DVD's.

Renski

[jclark]

I'm actually suprised that noone's written an mp3 player for either the Dreamcast or PS2. Sony didn't make an affordable Yaroze-type box for programming the PS2, and I can't afford a full-power developer's PS2, so *I'm* certainly not going to be writing one.

[shotime1]

Another one you might want to try is the Raite 715 or 715K. They both play dvd/vcd/svcd/cd/mp3 and the 715K also does karaoke. From my experience they Raite is better quality than the Apex and you can also disable Macrovision and make it region free whereas with the new apex players you cannot do that. Another advantage is with the Raite player you can upgrade the EEPROM because it is flash upgradeable. I don't believe you can do this with the Apex. They sell the Raite 715 at Fry's for $180 plus tax and you can get one on ebay for around $220-$250 plus shipping.

[Justin42]

Got my extra Apex 600A today and no loopholes in it. Supposedly someone has seen the ROM file and the loophole menu is there in text, so the question is, is it really disabled, or is it just hidden a different way? Also heard rumblings that swapping in a 1/2000 BIOS with loophole menu WILL work with the loophole free models-- someone will have a nice little cottage industry burning EEPROMS of the right bios. (there are a few on EBay that are untrusted as the sellers get really snarty when questioned)

I'm holding onto mine for a few weeks to see what happens...

Guess the Raite is the way to go for right now. The big advantage of the Apex was that it would convert PAL to NTSC-- great for someone like me who buys import music DVDs from Europe. The Raite, while region free, needs a PAL TV to display PAL DVDs (or you need an extra converter).

Oh well, was worth a shot... hopefully something amazing will happen and a new loophole hack will be found.

[Jago215]

-Promix

It's just coincidence. What's is/was really good about the player is that it plays mp3s and can read, or at least the older ones could read any region dvd. Plus you used to be able to deactivate the macrovision protection which would allow you to hook up a vcr to it and copy dvds onto a vhs tape. The current players being distributed through circuit city have everything but the mp3 feature disabled/removed.

[Renski]

On the Macrovision thing... Are the DVD's out there that can be disabled?

Renski

[This message has been edited by Renski (edited 05-15-2000).]

[wh3j]

can someone explain what a loophole is..

[wh3j]

way to go guys,
buy.com has the same model for sale at 189 with free shipping,
Use the 30 dollars off coupon and brings it down to 160.... only 93 left. hurry

alex

[wiseguy]

HEADS UP!!

I would be a little hesitant about the Apex DVD players from buy.com only because they had some a while back that were older models that would not play MP3s (and did not have the loophole menu). If I was really interested, I would have to verify it with someone at buy.com that this was not one of the old ones because I read a lot of posts about people returning Apex DVD players to buy.com because they would not play MP3s. I noticed in the buy.com description that it does not mention the ability to play MP3s, but this could be an oversight on their part and this could be the "good" model with the loophole menu.

Check out the Apex 600A forum at: http://www.sbtpro.com/forum/list.php?f=5
and you will find posts that mention the buy.com clearanced Apex machines...

I would only order one after verify that these are not the old models that do not play MP3s (these are still 600As, just older manufacture dates).