I Can't Believe It!!! I Bought An Apex!!!

Legally ..... that is. Here in Canada, I found a number of PAL-NTSC decks in legit stores but they were all Region 1 and usually less-than-brand name (i.e. Malata? or obscure Korean brands). But then, thanks to the marvels of the Internet, I find MANY Chicagoland dealers (probably all the same place ) that can ship me a modified JVC PAL-NTSC / region-free deck in two days (for about 150 bucks US). This thing plays anything I've thrown at it (especially important because I have a number of Region 2 DVD's from the UK and PAL DVD's and VCD's cherry-picked off of the 'Net).

Cliff

 

About 6 months ago, I read on the internet that the Cyberhome DVD player being sold at Radio Shack can be modded to a region-free player thru a sequence on the remote. My coworker, who has a daughter in love with Japanese Region 2 anime, and I rushed out to pick it up. Before we can open the box to the Cyberhome player, we read that Best Buy was selling a Toshiba DVD player that can also be modded to be used as a region-free player. And only for $20.00 more than the Cyberhome player. My coworker returned the Cyberhome and purchased the Toshiba, and sure enough, it can be modded to be a region-free player. The only "problem" being once turned off, you need to punch the sequence again into the remote to get the Toshiba back to region-free mode.

FYI, Panasonic currently has a 5 disc DVD-A changer with HDCD decoding capability. About $120.00 though.

Good price on the Apex. Man, I still have my first DVD player....the $300.00 and made in Japan Pioneer DV-414.

 

OK, I'll admit this was the Chicago-based company that I bought mine from, since you've outed them (I'm not sure if this illegal or not in the US). The service was very fast and efficient, and a first for any electronics that I've had shipped from the US to Canada - no taxes!!!

Cliff

 

Ah, Apex. Anyone else here ever have the grandaddy Apex unit, the AD-600A? That was the infamous player that had a firmware region disabling capability, the first widely distributed unit in the US of that kind, and it was under 200 bucks IIRC. I had one for awhile and sold it, fearing that its lack of dealing with seamless branching would interfere with my DVD-watching habits. Wish I hadn't sold it...oh well.

 

Close! Meijers! Its an all in one grocery store, slash, department store. Like I said, I wasn't looking to buy anything, but then again, we all say that, don't we!

 

I gave mine away to a friend who didn't have a DVD player. Mine was a 500A I think, made before you could blow the firmware through CDR. With mine, you had to physically flash the rom, have the EPROM programmer. It was certainly a cult favorite. It DID perform well, and still does. The guy I gave it to has been feeding it all kinds of rented and bought discs. Glad he could put it to use.

My folks have a 3-DVD Apex changer though, and love it. I tried looking for this 7701, Joe. Looks like you got yourself a steal, because no one online is selling it for that price!

 

I can't find anyone on line selling it at all! When I first brought it home, I got on line to see what these were going for. I even tried Meijers (were I bought it) and it wasn't even on their own website! Go figure....

 

I just bought one of these... This would explain why every site I went to lists this as a universal player and mine wont play SACD. Correct? By the way, my Meijer had about 20 of them.

 

I've been playing mine for a week now, and I'm really surprised how much I'm enjoying it. I had a few HDCD's that I didn't realize. "Take Five" and Beck's "Mutations" to name two. They both sounded excellent! I've been playing the Doors box (which is HDCD encoded) that I have. I bought my first DVD-A's the other day. The Who's "Tommy" and the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds." The "Tommy" is excellent IMO! I haven't gotten around to play "Pet Sounds" yet. I'm looking forward to it.

Romanotrax, report back and let us know what you think about the player.

 

I will let you know after I exchange this one. It would not play any of my cd-r's/DVD's without skipping or stopping. And everyone of the discs play in every other player I have.

 

...well, that's not a good sign! Hopefully, the next unit you get will perform better.