Hardware and InstallationConfigurationDVD PlaybackMP3 Recording and PlaybackVCD Recording and Playback
Apex AD-600A FAQ
This is the FAQ-O-Matic for the Apex AD-600A DVD Player. Instead of being a static, read-only document, this FAQ allows the visitors of this website to add questions and answers, as well as edit and remove data as new information is found.
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--Alowishus
jpenix@nerd-out.com
This FAQ is broken down into the following subcategories:
Hardware and Installation
Configuration
DVD Playback
MP3 Recording and Playback
VCD Recording and Playback
Buying a AD-600A
How do I turn up the volume on the Karaoke microphones?
Loopholes
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Apex AD-600A FAQ :
Hardware and Installation
The Hardware and Installation section is for questions and answers about integrating an Apex AD-600A DVD player into your existing A/V system, as well as hardware-specific issues like overheating, RF interference, etc.
jpenix@nerd-out.com
Subcategories:
Remote Control
Answers in this category:
What is the latest known firmware version?
I think I'm having overheating problems. What can I do?
I'm having interference problems. What can I do?
What is the parental lockout default password?
[Add a New Answer in "Hardware and Installation"]
Apex AD-600A FAQ : Hardware and Installation :
Remote Control
Information about the remote control, its functions, and the infrared coding used (so that a universal remote can operate the AD-600A).
jpenix@nerd-out.com
Subcategories:
Answers in this category:
Why is the range on the remote so short?
What type of batteries does the Apex's remote control take
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Apex AD-600A FAQ : Hardware and Installation : Remote Control :
Why is the range on the remote so short?
The "Rooster" batteries that come with the remote control leave something to be desired. A number of people have mentioned that they arrived in the box DOA (dead on arrival).
Get a set of good AAA's and see if your range improves.
jpenix@nerd-out.com
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Apex AD-600A FAQ : Hardware and Installation : Remote Control :
What type of batteries does the Apex's remote control take
The Apex AD-600A's remote takes two 1.5V AAA batteries.
jpenix@nerd-out.com
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Apex AD-600A FAQ : Hardware and Installation :
What is the latest known firmware version?
Most players have been coming out of their boxes with v1.76 firmware, which according to Apex is the latest.
A few people who got theirs late last year have players with v1.73 firmware.
Also, according to Apex, there is no way to flash the firmware to a new version. A socketed chip must be replaced.
jpenix@nerd-out.com
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Apex AD-600A FAQ : Hardware and Installation :
I think I'm having overheating problems. What can I do?
[Append to This Answer]
Apex AD-600A FAQ : Hardware and Installation :
I'm having interference problems. What can I do?
Subcategories:
Answers in this category:
I had the same problem. BTW I love the Apex player, but it leaks RF noise. After some playing with my RF spectrum analyzer,here's what I did to stop it.
Place ferrites on ALL the cables to the player (POWER,SVIDEO and AUDIO)Yes, even the shielded ones. I looped 1 turn through these. I used ones I have collected over the years but I think Radio Shack sells them. I removed the cover and cleaned the areas UNDER the cover and chassis were they CONTACT (ie: along the edge and where the screws attach) and I even added some copper mesh over the vent holes. Once put back together I had a LOT LESS noise.I can say this... This unit did NOT meet FCC part 15 when I got it. Good luck.
Apex AD-600A FAQ : Hardware and Installation :
Apex AD-600A FAQ :
Secret "Loopholes" MenuSetup Menu
Answers in this category:
How do you turn off parental control?
[Add a New Answer in "Configuration"]
Apex AD-600A FAQ : Configuration :
Secret "Loopholes" Menu
How to access the secret "Loopholes" menu, and what the settings in there do.
jpenix@nerd-out.com
Subcategories:
Answers in this category:
How do I access the Loopholes menu?
What does Automute do?
What is CSS and what are the effects of turning it off?
What are the "regions" in the REGION menu?
[Add a New Answer in "Secret "Loopholes" Menu"]
Apex AD-600A FAQ : Configuration : Secret "Loopholes" Menu :
How do I access the Loopholes menu?
See this URL for a pictorial walkthrough.
Apex AD-600A FAQ : Configuration : Secret "Loopholes" Menu :
Apex AD-600A FAQ : Configuration : Secret "Loopholes" Menu :
There is no reason for you to disable CSS; the player will play Non-CSS discs with it on, and will play CSS discs with it on as well.. Not sure why they have this in the menu, but turning CSS off does not ADD functionality like turning off Macrovision and the region setting, it removes functionality.
jpenix@nerd-out.com
Actually, CSS is not as much a copy-protection algorithm as it is a medium control algorithm. Copies can be made without bothering about CSS (bit-by-bit copies), but people that do not get a license with the MPAA cannot (theoretically) produce players because they do not get to know how to decrypt CSS and play the stream. That's why the MPAA is so angry about DeCSS; if it is allowed, they lose control on the medium and their monopoly is effectively destroyed.
splice@videotron.ca
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Apex AD-600A FAQ : Configuration : Secret "Loopholes" Menu :
What are the "regions" in the REGION menu?
The regions corespond to geographic areas for which there are different versions of the same DVD to prevent importing a title from one region to another. A brief estimation of the regions is as follows:
1.) USA, Canada, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, & US Virgin Islands
2.) Japan, United Kingdom, Europe, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, & Southern Africa
3.) Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea, Philippines
4.) Mexico, Central America, South America, Australia, & New Zeland
5.) Russia and Independent States (former USSR), India, Pakistan, Afghanastan, & Africa (minus area in Region 2)
6.) Mainland China
david.evola@usa.net
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Apex AD-600A FAQ : Configuration :
Setup Menu
(I haven't fleshed this out yet, but was thinking the category structure could mimic the hierarchy of the actual Setup menu, with a description of each option. This FAQ can also contain pictures, but I gotta figure out how. I'll get into this once I move the Apex back into the same room as my computer.)
jpenix@nerd-out.com
Subcategories:
Answers in this category:
[Add a New Answer in "Setup Menu"]
Apex AD-600A FAQ : Configuration :
How do you turn off parental control?
To turn it off permanently, press "Setup", choose "Preferences", then "Parental", arrow over and down and set it to "8 Adult". :::Answer from Ogre:::
bj2000@hotmail.com
"What is level 5"?
Does anyone know the answer to this. Option 5 on Parental Control (between PG13 and PG R)?
cherrysnapple@hotmail.com
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Apex AD-600A FAQ :
DVD Playback
Questions and answers about DVD playback in general, or issues with particular DVD movies.
jpenix@nerd-out.com
Subcategories:
Answers in this category:
Can the Apex play both NTSC and PAL DVDs?
I'm having A/V synchronization problems. What can I do?
[Add a New Answer in "DVD Playback"]
Apex AD-600A FAQ : DVD Playback :
Can the Apex play both NTSC and PAL DVDs?
Yes it can. Use the P/N button on the remote to switch modes.
jpenix@nerd-out.com
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Apex AD-600A FAQ : DVD Playback :
I'm having A/V synchronization problems. What can I do?
It appears that this unit has some problems similar to a few Toshiba and Pioneer units. Austin Powers and Big Daddy both have sound thatlags by a split second. This is a firmware problem and hopefull Apex will offer an upgrade. I have played over 20 DVDs in mine so far and only the two above gave me sound problems. However, the STARGATE SE played fine the 1st time, but had glitches the 2nd time around. Still, for what this player offers and the low price, I can live with these annoyances and will contact APEX about them.
msp1518@worldnet.att.net
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Apex AD-600A FAQ :
MP3 Recording and Playback
Questions and answers about how to properly prepare a CD-R of MP3s for optimal playback, and tricks and tips about playing MP3s on the Apex.
jpenix@nerd-out.com
Subcategories:
Answers in this category:
At what bitrate and sampling frequencies should MP3s be recorded?
How should I name MP3s on the CD-ROM for best results on the Apex?
Can Mac formatted CDs be used to play MP3 music?
Does the Apex AD-600A support ID3 Tag information?
Can the Apex play my MP3.COM promotional CDs?
Allowed files on an mp3 cdrom
[Add a New Answer in "MP3 Recording and Playback"]
Apex AD-600A FAQ : MP3 Recording and Playback :
At what bitrate and sampling frequencies should MP3s be recorded?
I have used 128bit-160bit with success.
9fingered@frodo.net
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Apex AD-600A FAQ : MP3 Recording and Playback :
How should I name MP3s on the CD-ROM for best results on the Apex?
Do not use tildes, dashes, underscores or any other such marking. The player only understands letters and numbers, and will translate these characters into letters...a dash is "M," a tilde "N," and so on.
It will read filenames in alphabetical order. Therefore, if you want a specific file to play first, a simple way to do this is to append two numbers at the beginning of each filename.
Long file names in Windows should be saved on a "Joliet" layer (don't worry...all Windows burnsofts do this automatically and most Linux burnsofts do it easily). These will not be read by the player, but make it easier to read the files on a PC. These long filenames have the difficulty of making the actual DOS filename 6 characters long with a tilde and a number after it. This is what creates the "XXXXXN2" display on all MP3s saved with long filenames.
Finally, spaces are not saved in 8.3 format, though they appear in the Joliet "long" file name. So, if you use spaces as your delimiters, the player will display less gibberish. In other words, saving a file as "01 Space Cowboy.mp3" will result in the display "01SPACN1" instead of "01PMPSN1" for "01_-_Space_Cowboy.mp3).
dasmegabyte@mindless.com
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Apex AD-600A FAQ : MP3 Recording and Playback :
Can Mac formatted CDs be used to play MP3 music?
Only if the CD is based on ISO-9660. The CD-ROM/CD-R may have extensions, but it MUST have the basic ISO-9660 format for the Apex to read the directories. It does not underestand any other file systems.
As a side note, it will only recognize files with the extension ".mp3" as a valid MP3 file.
bj2000@hotmail.com
[Append to This Answer]
Apex AD-600A FAQ : MP3 Recording and Playback :
Does the Apex AD-600A support ID3 Tag information?
As of version 1.76 of the firmware, it does not. The only thing displayed are the short filenames.
bj2000@hotmail.com
[Append to This Answer]
Apex AD-600A FAQ : MP3 Recording and Playback :
Can the Apex play my MP3.COM promotional CDs?
It doesn't appear that they can be read by the Apex AD-600A. This may be a format problem with the CD, rather than a problem with CD-ROMs in general.
bj2000@hotmail.com
[Append to This Answer]
Apex AD-600A FAQ : MP3 Recording and Playback :
Allowed files on an mp3 cdrom
Apparently you can have ONLY mp3 files on the cd-rom in order for the APEX to be
able to play it. When I included an _index.txt file in each directory explaining
what the actual titles were (I had named them trackXX.mp3 to make it easy on the
Apex :) ), it choked trying to play them. All other cd-roms that had only mp3
files played well, regardless of the directory structure.
glsom@yahoo.com
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Apex AD-600A FAQ :
VCD Recording and Playback
Questions and answers about how to properly prepare a CD-R of VCDs for optimal playback, and tricks and tips about playing VCDs on the Apex
jpenix@nerd-out.com
Subcategories:
Answers in this category:
Burning .BIN/.CUE VCDs with Adaptec Toast 4.0 for Mac OS
New Item
[Add a New Answer in "VCD Recording and Playback"]
Apex AD-600A FAQ : VCD Recording and Playback :
Burning .BIN/.CUE VCDs with Adaptec Toast 4.0 for Mac OS
Burning .BIN/.CUE VCDs downloaded off the Net couldn't be easier. Simply select Video CD from the Formats menu, drop the .BIN file into the main Toast window, hit Write Disc and it's done. The defaults properly create the necessary folders and disc layout.
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ssh@shn.nu
Apex AD-600A FAQ : VCD Recording and Playback :
New Item
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Apex AD-600A FAQ :
Buying a AD-600A
Q: I heard that you can get Circuit City to price match down to $149? However I need a store to give them in order to do the price match, do you know of one?
A: This is from a user on the mailing list(sorry, I didn't note their name). The Stevenson Ranch Circuit City near Santa Clara, CA is selling the Apex 600a for $149.
Hopefully you can tell this to your salesperson at Ciruit City and they will
match that price for you. I haven't tried it yet because I'm still waiting for
my local Circuit City to get the player in stock again.
hbeaumont@yahoo.com
I just spoke with the Plano, TX Circuit City, where a representative advised me that Circuit City is no longer carrying the Apex Digital AD-600A. Dunno if this is truth, or a typical CC idiot salesperson response, but I do know that they have been out of stock for several weeks and that the demo unit is no longer on the shelf.
tbolin@terravirtua.com
I went to the Circuit City near the intersection of Research Boulevard and MoPac Expresssway here in Austin, Texas. When I asked them if they had a DVD player from a company called Apex, they initially told me that they did not. No one at the store knew much about them. One person said that they had sold out the day before and did not expect to receive any more shipments. However, when I sent an email to their customer service department from the Circuit City home page, a helpful person there placed a special order for the player on my behalf. I called my local store and sure enough, the order was in the system under my name. The AD-600A arrived the next day.
If you need to contact Apex Digital directly, here are their address and phone number:
Apex Digital
2919 E Philadelphia St
Ontario, CA 91761
(909) 930-0132
Regards,
Michael L.
mlowry@austin.rr.com
I did a search for the part on Circuit City's web site and found the following page:
http://www.circuitcity.com/frame1.jsp?upper=head.jsp&lower=frame2.jsp&left=leftdept.jsp&right=verity_search.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@0696119217.0949695545@@@@&BV_EngineID=lalgliifeikbemfcfkmcgcg.0&search=APX+AD-600A&x=8&y=14
If that link does not work, simply search for "APX AD-600A" at http://www.circuitcity.com/
-Michael L.
mlowry@austin.rr.com
Hey gang... I just wanted to share two things I have discovered about buying
the Apex 600A from Circuit City:
1. It seems that because of the popularity of the Apex, Circuit City has
pulled it from the shelves of their stores so that they can offer it online
for more. It's the basic rationale of supply and demand-- we all want it,
they have it, they charge us more for it. Plus, if its online, they wont
do a "price match" which is my second point:
2. Luckily, I live in a podunk-ass town and I had to drive an hour to the
nearest Circuit City. The lucky part of that is that I was the only person
interested in the Apex (they were actually somewhat puzzled when I expressed
interest in it-- like "why doesn't he want a Pioneer?"). They were nice
enough to order it for me. If you CAN get them to do this, then you can use
this info to get the price down to $149 (and thanks the first person who
posted this): Myla, a salesperson in the video dept. of the Valencia Circuit
City Store (# 3310) at (661) 260-3751 told me that they sold the Apex for
$149. I was able to use this info to get my Circuit City to give it to me
for $149.
I hope this helps.
boom_hauer@hotmail.com
When I ordered an AD-600A today I asked the salesperson to check the inventory. The inventory screen said there were 3030 units available in the Livermore, CA warehouse.
I heard from my local Circuit City store Mgr that a whole new truck load of players (15,000) were just received in the main warehouse. (2/6/00) and the new price is $179.00. I was able to buy a demo unit for $129.00. Also the newer models may not have the region-less settings. Confirmation anyone?
Picked up my new Apex AD600A last night (10 came in at the local Circuit City store from the latest batch to arrive in the U.S.A) and it definitely still has the "loopholes" menu/features and is the 1.76 ROM version. I made a VCD 2.0 compliant video disc yesterday afternoon -- it plays with no problems and looks very good on a 60 inch large screen TV. To play mp3s with it is simple -- just stick a disc full of them (CD-R or CD-RW) into the player -- it spends about 15-20 seconds deciding it is an MP3 disc, reading the directories, then displays the contents (several pages) in 8 character name format, related to the DOS 8+3 filenames. A Win 95 Joliet file name like:
Embraceable You - Joe Stafford.mp3 becomes:in the DOS 8+3 filename convention. Apex changes it further, replacing the "~" with a "N", so the name ends up:
EMBRAC~1.mp3
EMBRACN1So the names have limited use, but the songs play. I have some 32/22 mp3s of a radio program that do not play, so there is apparently a minimum acceptable play rate, or else a problem related to some specific mp3 encoder. Time will tell.
Apex AD-600A FAQ :
Apex AD-600A FAQ :