HARDWARE
OK, you're finally buying a DVD player, but which one? Pioneer? Lame! Toshiba? So 1999! Those in the know - or those who troll DVD forums late at night - will tell you that the Apex Digital AD-600A is where it's at. This low-cost DVD player blows the competition away.
Sure, it plays DVDs - even "troublesome" ones like The Matrix - without problems. And while most players choke on burn-it-yourself rewritable CDs (CD-Rs) and video CDs (VCDs), the Apex Digital gladly accepts them - and will play discs filled with your downloaded MP3 songs or MPEG video. All this makes it the perfect companion to a computer with a high-speed connection and a CD-R burner.
Depending on where you buy it, your Apex may even have secret features. While the manufacturer claims to have removed the extras on new models, it's likely that a used Apex player for sale on the Net has a "loopholes" menu, which declares "You should not be here." It's accessible only to those who are willing to hunt around the Net a bit for instructions. Once you get to the loopholes menu, you can make nonmanufacturer-suggested modifications to programming features like Region coding, to view a DVD made in any part of the world. Imagine the look on your friend's face when you kick back and play the unedited UK version of Eyes Wide Shut from the comfort of your stateside apartment. Another bonus: You can disable Macrovision, which protects against copying onto VHS.
Word on the street is that, despite units flying off the shelves, nobody has encountered an Apex that can't be hacked. But even without the secret menus, the Apex is the most digitally versatile disc player ever to hit the consumer market.
AD-600A: $229. Apex Digital: +1 (909) 930 1239. Distributed by Future Shop: www.futureshop.com.
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