Apex DVD player

[jameslee]

i read a review in an audio/video magazine that stated even though apex claimed to remove the loophole, the author hasn't come across one that doesn't allow the menu hack.

Hope this helps.

When you try out the mp3 cd, can you tell us how the audio quality is? I read in another review that the ambient noise level is a little high. ??

P.S. Here are the directions on hoe to access the loophole menu http://64.45.6.252/apex/Secret_Menu/secret_menu.html The site's been moving around, but it works for now.

[This message has been edited by jameslee (edited 06-24-2000).]

[gonolez]

Thanks! Just picked one up. Here's a coupon to knock $20 bucks more off...

<a href=http://www.us.buy.com/promo/80220131.asp>http://www.us.buy.com/promo/80220131.asp</a>

[johnnymk]

The clearance section of http://www.buy.com has the Apex DVD player everyone was talking about recently for $169.95. Free shipping. The ad says that MP3 music can be played on the unit. Is this the good one or not?

[CiViC]

If you don't have a DVD player, BUY THIS. No, it probably doesn't have the ability to turn of macrovision or select that universal region thingie, but it's a great dvd player for the price.

[This message has been edited by CiViC (edited 06-24-2000).]

[gogators]

See if you can get the customer service people to check on the date of manufacture. Anything pre-1/2000 should have ALL the desired features unless it has been altered.

[smeakim]

Hey I just got one a couple of days ago. It works great. I had no problems playing some of the movies which seem to give DVD palyers trouble. I tried the Matrix and the Green Mile with no probs. I also have tried music CDs and they work fine too. I am going to get an MP3 cd from a friend and try it today.



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[gogators]

Caution: the link supplied by jameslee above has a bulletin board wherein many recent purchasers have reported receiving units with no secret menu. the only remedy is to change out the eprom.

[johnnymk]

With that new $50 off coupon, you could buy three of these units; sell two of them on EBay and end up keeping the third one for practically free.

[sklim1]

DON'T BUY IT. Buy.com had a history of trying to clear these out. These are either refurbished or rejects from customers. I was told by the CSR. I bought 2 in the past unknowningly and had to refuse them. THEY DON'T HAVE THE SECRET MENUS. You may be buying the two I had returned. One more thing, clearance items are NOT returnable. You open-you keep!

sklim1

[WebMonkey]

These are a nice DVD player. The price should fall through the floor. I know everyone that received backorders got players without the loophole. 90% of of the people returned them. Somebody is going to be selling these returns. Check out the return policy before you buy one. As for Ebay, I've seen the players go for $375 to $400 early on and now I've seen some sell for $50.00...ouch.

[smeakim]

I bought mine from circuit city. It does not have the loophole. However, I have had no probs with mine and like it rather well since it is one under $200.00. Plus if you want to do this and I am not condoning it, but if the one you get doesn't work go to circuit city and buy one that does take it home and put the non workng one in the box and return the broken one they will not know the difference.

[Justin42]

DO NOT BUY APEX PLAYERS FROM BUY.COM!!!!!!!!

These are *extremely old* units (over a year ago manufacture date) that CAN NOT play MP3s and have a LOT of trouble with normal DVDs.

If you must have an Apex now (all models currently in circulation HAVE BEEN fixed, with NO loopholes) get one at Circuit City-- as was stated, almost all of them can be hacked to get the menus back, with varying degrees of difficulty (some you just need to swap an EPROM, some you need to surface-mount solder a new RAM chip, etc, but it can be done).

Check out the forums at http://www.nerd-out.com/apex for more information.

[dgem77]

"I bought mine from circuit city. It does not have the loophole. However, I have had no probs with mine and like it rather well since it is one under $200.00. Plus if you want to do this and I am not condoning it, but if the one you get doesn't work go to circuit city and buy one that does take it home and put the non workng one in the box and return the broken one they will not know the difference. "

I got one from Circuit City and when I returned it because it didn't have the loophole, the lady checked mine very thoroughly with the receipt and stuff. I am not sure if they have to serial on the receipt (I actually doubt they do) or what it was, but they checked the back of the player with the info on the receipt. Don't know if this helps.

[sphiatt]

For anyone who saw that Andy's Basement place selling these at $199 a few weeks back, I couldn't get them to tell me anything on the loophole so I bought one to test it. No loophole. I just sold it on Ebay for $227.50 but had to throw in some free Hastings Rental coupons to do it. I wouldn't buy one of these for a while as the demand is steadily falling for the non-loophole players and supply has continued to increase. I called the California # on the instruction book and asked them about supply because my Circuit City was sold out. They said they were shipping over 1,000 units a day and that they were catching up to demand quickly. Look for these to be clearanced in the next few months for cheap. It would make a good "second" dvd player for anyone who wants one for a bedroom or whatever though.

[dgem77]

sphiatt-"I called the California # on the instruction book and asked them about supply because my Circuit City was sold out. They said they were shipping over 1,000 units a day and that they were catching up to demand quickly."

I was wondering if these had the loopholes in them?