Rating: 
Summary: It Rocks!
Review: Absolutely the best DVD player for the money! Awesome picture & sound. Mine plays anything that I throw at it. How many DVD players can actually read CD-R and CD-RW? How many do Karaoke as well as have the ability to play MP3 files you've burned to CD? This one does it all! It even plays VCD's. Why spend $300-500 on a machine that won't even do half of what this one will? The Apex 600A had notoriety for awhile since it was able to circumvent region coding and copy protection. Unfortunately those machines also were riddled with playback issues, most notably the problem with seamless branching noted above. But not anymore! None of the newer 600A's have these problems, making them, in my opinion, probably the best DVD player on the market. If you're going to be playing VCD's a lot, you may want to go with the Apex 703, as they have a 3 disc tray so there's no need to get up and switch discs during playback!
Rating:
Summary: It Rocks!
Review: Absolutely the best DVD player for the money! Awesome picture & sound. Mine plays anything that I throw at it. How many DVD players can actually read CD-R and CD-RW? How many do Karaoke as well as have the ability to play MP3 files you've burned to CD? This one does it all! It even plays VCD's. Why spend $300-500 on a machine that won't even do half of what this one will? The Apex 600A had notoriety for awhile since it was able to circumvent region coding and copy protection. Unfortunately those machines also were riddled with playback issues, most notably the problem with seamless branching noted above. But not anymore! None of the newer 600A's have these problems, making them, in my opinion, probably the best DVD player on the market. If you're going to be playing VCD's a lot, you may want to go with the Apex 703, as they have a 3 disc tray so there's no need to get up and switch discs during playback!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Buy -- Even Without the Loophole Menu
Review: Although my 600A doesn't have the much sought after "loophole menu" (i.e. the "secret" feature on older units which allowed you to make all sorts of tweaks including Region Free and Macrovision Off), I was lucky enough to have gotten a Canadian version with FlashROM (firmware v."600-E"), which allows for firmware updates via CDR. This is simply a matter of popping the firmware CD into the tray! 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 it's much easier and cheaper to try to buy the Canadian version of the 600A in the first place (if you're lucky, sometimes you can find them on EBay, with the firmware CD included). For the money, it's an excellent unit -- I know people who've paid $600+ for the Karaoke feature alone! (And have you *seen* what they charge for legit Region Free DVD players?!)
Rating:
Summary: A Player That Is Fine
Review: Apex is a fairly new company, that came out in early 2000. The Apex AD-600A was their very first DVD player to hit the market. It was also the very first of its kind, to have the MP3 compatability that a lot of players didn't have for some time. 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 you've 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, you'll see a bonus "loopholes" menu on the display. On this menu, you can change the CSS Encryption, Macrovision, and Region I.D.
Rating: 
Summary: Most hackeable units
Review: Bought one two years ago. Haven't needed anything else. I was able to update the firmware to support multi-region, macrovision disabled, and playback of mpg files. 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.
Rating:
Summary: Only one "flaw".
Review: For the money, you cannot find a better DVD player anywhere! Picture and sound quality are fine. I've got a kick-[...] home theater set-up, and when my "top-o'-the-line" DVD player pooped out on me, I began looking for a replacement. I cruised the internet for player reviews and found that the geek community was raving about this new player that also plays MP3s. That was it for me. I was one of the lucky few who got the first generation machine with it's minor benifits before APEX caught flak from the MPAA. Anyway, great player that plays DVD, CD, CDR/CDRW, MP3s (for hours on end with no problems!)and Karaoke (not just one mic input, but 2 if you prefer duets). The remote is not designed for scientists (a big plus!) The only drawback I can think of is the MP3 menu is confusing, but hey, put it random mode and go. Presumably your only burning songs you like onto a disk anyway.
Rating:
Summary: No complaints
Review: I Bought a AD 703 3 disk version. I have seen it glitch a little while playing dvd but not bad. I love it because I have started takeing my Video camcorder tapes and puting them in my PC and making VCD's (Video CD's) which the AD 703 also plays. I can now have a digital long term backup of my camcorder tapes. I would agree that the unit needs a random / shuffle on MP3 and cd playback. The MP3 playback was the hook that sold me. But VCD has set the hook and im caught. (PS the Apex's firmware (software) can be adjusted to fix a few of those problems plus many Special others)
Rating:
Summary: Great Player
Review: I bought the Apex AD-600A when the "loop holes" menu was still available. By the way, I understand the Sampo brand of DVD players still has this loop holes menu. I wouldn't buy a DVD player without the ability to turn off macrovision and region coding. That was my main draw to this machine. Also of interest was the ability to play CD-R and CD-RW discs. It can play just about every format you can think of including MP3 formatted CD-ROMs, Video CDs (VCDs) and Super Video CDs (SVCDs). If you have the equipment you can even turn your home movies into S/VCDs! Visit my web page (members.home.net/babymac) to learn how to do this with a Macintosh computer. The picture quality produced by the Apex was initially somewhat disappointing, but I discovered that a lot of it depends on the calibration of your TV. I now have NO complaints about the picture. My Apex has had some quirks. Sometimes (rarely) the machine will lock up, almost like a computer. There are certain DVD titles (Stuart Little, What Planet Are You From) that trigger menu problems with the Apex, but I've always been able to work around those problems (use the resume button on the remote instead of play!). Sometimes audio and video sync can be a problem, but this is slight and becoming rarer with newer titles. The only truly annoying problem with my machine is one that relates to the "anamorphic" widescreen feature. Certain titles (like The Sixth Sense and Toy Story 2), will pop into anamorphic/widescreen mode without warning. This causes the picture to look vertically stretched on my normal TV set. In order to re-set the screen I have to pause and then unpause (using the Setup button) the movie. It's a rare problem, but it is the most annoying one. The only other problems that I can mention with this machine relate to enhanced CDs with computer data. The Apex is the only modern machine I know of that will actually play computer data as audio! When it does this (try the Foo Fighter's "Nothing Left To Lose" CD), the screeching that comes out of your stereo will give you a heart attack. It could also damage your speakers. Also, I have found one enhanced CD (The Squirrel Nut Zippers "Hot") that absolutely refuses to play on the Apex. However, that is the only one out of 500+ CDs that I own. As I said, this is a quirky DVD player, but the benefits FAR outweigh those quirks. 99% of the time I am in love with this machine
Rating:
Summary: Quirky, but useful DVD player.
Review: I bought the Apex AD-600A when the "loop holes" menu was still available. By the way, I understand the Sampo brand of DVD players still has this loop holes menu. I wouldn't buy a DVD player without the ability to turn off macrovision and region coding. That was my main draw to this machine. Also of interest was the ability to play CD-R and CD-RW discs. It can play just about every format you can think of including MP3 formatted CD-ROMs, Video CDs (VCDs) and Super Video CDs (SVCDs). If you have the equipment you can even turn your home movies into S/VCDs! Visit my web page (members.home.net/babymac) to learn how to do this with a Macintosh computer. The picture quality produced by the Apex was initially somewhat disappointing, but I discovered that a lot of it depends on the calibration of your TV. I now have NO complaints about the picture. My Apex has had some quirks. Sometimes (rarely) the machine will lock up, almost like a computer. There are certain DVD titles (Stuart Little, What Planet Are You From) that trigger menu problems with the Apex, but I've always been able to work around those problems (use the resume button on the remote instead of play!). Sometimes audio and video sync can be a problem, but this is slight and becoming rarer with newer titles. The only truly annoying problem with my machine is one that relates to the "anamorphic" widescreen feature. Certain titles (like The Sixth Sense and Toy Story 2), will pop into anamorphic/widescreen mode without warning. This causes the picture to look vertically stretched on my normal TV set. In order to re-set the screen I have to pause and then unpause (using the Setup button) the movie. It's a rare problem, but it is the most annoying one. The only other problems that I can mention with this machine relate to enhanced CDs with computer data. The Apex is the only modern machine I know of that will actually play computer data as audio! When it does this (try the Foo Fighter's "Nothing Left To Lose" CD), the screeching that comes out of your stereo will give you a heart attack. It could also damage your speakers. Also, I have found one enhanced CD (The Squirrel Nut Zippers "Hot") that absolutely refuses to play on the Apex. However, that is the only one out of 500+ CDs that I own. As I said, this is a quirky DVD player, but the benefits FAR outweigh those quirks. 99% of the time I am in love with this machine
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good DVD Player
Review: I bought this DVD Player almost a year ago, and I bought an open box one, so it was only (price). So, for the (price) I paid, it's a great DVD player with some great features. It has a x2 and x4 zoom [which is great for scenes like the guy hanging himself in "The Wizard of Oz"], it also has the option of changing your screen aspect ratio so even though you have a regular size TV screen, you can watch most 'widescreen' DVDs with or without the black bars on the top and bottom. It also has the features noted above and with all the features DVD Players in general have, it's a great deal. For only a couple bucks more than a VCR, you have the convenience of movies which will last forever, instant advance to the scene you were at, extra features, all sorts of cool advantages that DVDs have over VHS movies that you can have for so cheap. 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 movie's 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 it's 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, it's 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. I'm 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".
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