Big Newbie question - The Apex AD-600A
 

Do all players of this model come with the infamous "loophole menu," and is there any region or type of disc this player CANNOT play?!

Also, when was this machine pulled from the shelves, and if I could get it for $150, would that be paying too much?

Re: Big Newbie question - The Apex AD-600A
 

All models do not come with the loophole menu. If the manufacture date is after April, 2000 you will have to do some work. And if the manufacture date is September, 1999 you may have other problems. All models should be retrofitted with better heatsinking.

Some can have the loophole menu enabled by changing chips, some by a firmware change (I believe). All will have quirks with seamless branching and regionless play at the same time unless they've fixed that since I last checked. One solution had been dual firmware chips with a switch selecting which one you needed to use for a particular DVD.

I have one, obviously, and really like it. But there are newer Apex models that are "upgradable" by reading new firmware from a CD. And they are less expensive.

You really don't want the loophole version as that firmware is INCREDIBLY buggy. In almost all cases it's worth the trouble/cost to upgrade the firmware chip, which cost about $20-$25 shipped. This will make the player region free and macro free, and will give you a lot few problems than the loophole version will. In fact, the newer the 600A, the better, since earlier versions of the machine can limit the firmware that you can use.

The production date can be almost meaningless. My 600a has a date of 1/2000 on the back panel, but when I cracked the case, the DVD drive had a date of 4/2000.

As for price, I paid $120 delivered about a month ago for a brand new unit, and got a new chip for $20 shipped. You may just wanna go with the 500w, which is easily available for $85-90; may even be $75 at WallyWorld on Blakc Friday. The upgrade chip for this unit also runs $20-25.....