Apex AD-1500 DVD Player
The Apex AD-1500 DVD Player was a low cost consumer DVD player considered to be a basic unit. However, for under $30 US this little unit was one of the first players on the market that allowed video pirates to play their self dubbed VCD and other video recorded onto computer CDR media. The Apex AD-1500 DVD Player could also be easily modified to play DVD media from any region with a region code hack.
In addition to removing the region code detection, the player could also be easily modified to remove copy protection schemes. This makes it easier for owners to use the player to provide video to a recording unit in order to exploit the analog hole and make backups of DVD media. To remove copy protection and region code, the owner simply downloaded the region code hack from a web site, burned the files onto a blank DVDr, and inserted that DVDr into the Apex AD-1500 DVD Player, then followed the firmware update instructions.
On the downside, the Apex AD-1500 DVD Player was known to have a weak power supply which would tend to fail over time. The PSU was slightly undersized for the power draw of the unit. The PSU could be replaced with some work by the electronics hobbyist. It wasn't that difficult to replace, but not something the average owner could do.
Even today (2013) the Apex AD-1500 DVD Player brings a premium on eBay. Again, this is because you could easily remove the copy-protection scheme and regional-encoding features. DVD Player manufacturers are required to use Macrovision copy protection technology to prevent people from connecting recording devices and dubbing copyright video.
The 4.0 star review is based on the capabilities of the unit for its day, when it was a relatively new product. Obviously, over time newer units and ever changing technology makes any consumer product eventually become obsolete. As a wonderful little single disc DVD player, the Apex AD-1500 is a 4.0 star product. It not for the weak PSU, it would be a 5 star product when compared to other single disc DVD players in the same class.
The only other criticism is the lack of "Component" video. Digital HDMI did not yet exist, and Component was relatively new. The unit has S-Video, which was much more popular around the year 2000. It just so happens that S-Video was discontinued and televisions eventually dropped the S-Video connection in favor of Component. Component video is one of the highest quality analog video connection types available and is still widely available even in 2013.
Product Description
This versatile Apex DVD player supports a wide range of formats, including VCDs, SVCDs, CDs, CD-R, CD-RW, and MP3. Also features Dolby Pro Logic and is Dolby Digital/DTS/PCM ready. Enjoy precise control over your viewing with Fast and Slow Motion Forward and Backward as well as Frame by Frame Slow Motion. Keep unwanted movies from being played in your home with the Parental Lock function.
Playback options include a built-in screen saver, two-step zoom, chapter/track programmable memory, frame-by-frame advance, support for multiple captions and angles, slow- and fast-motion forward, and parental locking.
The AD-1500 is compatible with NTSC and PAL televisions and discs (as long as the discs are Region 1), and it includes a remote control for convenient operation from the comfort of your couch.
Connections
The unit was pre-HDMI and does not include component video. The higher quality video connection on the unit is the now deprecated S-Video. Although S-Video is near Component quality, the two are not compatible.
Copy Protection Removal
Over the years, a few Macrovision-free DVD Players have made it to the market. An early Apex DVD Player, the Apex AD-600A (circa 1999), had a hidden easter-egg menu that could be accessed by a series of button pushes on the remote, sort of like a cheat code in a video game. At the bottom of the menu was a warning, "You should not be here," which let you know you had found the secret.
Apex AD-1500 DVD Player allows owners to upgrade the unit firmware, which is the software that provides everything from the menu you use when you select the DVD title features, to the internal reading and decoding of the video content. Apex, like many companies, release newer firmware to fix glitches and sometimes provide new features. Hackers create a copy of the firmware which they have modified to unlock stupid industry copy protection restrictions. The modified bootleg firmware can be installed with the same process used to install legitimate Apex firmware.
Installing the bootleg firmware a user can make the Apex AD 1500 player Macrovision and region-free in a matter of seconds. The owner can then connect the AD1500 to a DVD recorder, or computer with a video capture card, and make backups. This type of backup is known as exploiting the "analog hole." By exploiting the analog hole, you get a copy that is lower in quality than the source, but still acceptable depending on the recorder.
