Apex AD-1500 DVD Player
Easy to alter
Certain serial number ranges of this player can be modified with a CD image available on the net. Burn yourself a copy, stick in the player and bingo, the PROM of the machine is altered. The player will be Region Free and have no Macrovision copy protection.<br />So far mine has had no problems with VCD, SVCD, DVD, CD, or MP3.  Variable Bit Rate MP3s play fine.  Using ISO 9660 MP3 CDRs, the player shows the disk file structure and allows several modes of play.  The menus aren't fancy in appearance, and unfortunately MP3 File tags are not used.<br />MP3 PLAY MODES<BR>FOLDER : Plays all MP3s in one directory in alphabetical order then stops.<BR>FOLDER : Plays all MP3s in one directory in alphabetical order over and over until user hits stop.<BR>SINGLE : Plays one MP3 file and stops.<BR>REP - ONE : Plays one MP3 over and over until user hits stop.<BR>SHUFFLE : Plays each MP3 in one directory once in random order then stops.<br />If you group your files in directories by artist you'll be able to easily find what you're looking for.  Files can only be played in alphabetical or random order.  Numbering your tracks will alphabetize them into proper album order, but will waste two of the allowed eight ISO file name characters.  Shuffle will randomly play files from one directory but not entire disk.  There is no provision for shuffle repeat, after each tune plays once the player will stop.  The inability to play all MP3s in shuffle mode regardless of directory is a serious flaw and will make you choose between burning disks good for navigation by artist, or best for playing random tunes.<br />The remote is hard to use and player build quality is [poor], but what did you expect for the price?<br />One surprising feature is the ability to compress the audio output into a dynamic range closer to that of a human.  You'll be able watch a movie<BR>without constantly riding the volume control.