Apex AD-600A DVD Player
Excellent Buy -- Even Without the Loophole Menu
Although my 600A doesn't have the much sought after &quot;loophole menu&quot; (i.e. the &quot;secret&quot; 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.&quot;600-E&quot;), which allows for firmware updates via CDR.  This is simply a matter of popping the firmware CD into the tray!  <br />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!<br />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.  <br />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 &quot;enhanced&quot; 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).<br />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?!)