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MPAA Investigates Apex DVD Player

Posted by timothy on from the opposite-day-for-legitimate-authority dept.

RiscTaker writes: "Wired reports that the MPAA is investigating the Apex DVD player because of its ability to avoid region coding, Macrovision and CSS. " I bought my Apex 600A last week at the former home of the $99 iOpener, and found that the secret-menu hack described at nerd-out worked flawlessly. Perhaps the MPAA would like to invest in a time machine to revisit the days of mercantilism, or to stuff the encryption cat back into the bag it's long since vacated.

3 of 239 comments (clear)

  1. Correct URL for hack is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5

    really here.

    Even with the link broken, enough people seem to have figured out the correct link to bring the site to its knees. The text of the description is:

    -------
    Press POWER. Turn on the unit with NO DISC in the drive, make sure that the drive is closed.

    Wait for "NO DISC" to display

    Press SETUP. You will get the setup screen.

    Press DOWN until PREFERENCES is highlighted.

    Press STEP.

    Press track BACK.|>| The "Loopholes" menu is displayed.

    Here in the loopholes menu you can change things like Region ID, CSS Encryption, Macrovision, and all those good things. Note, of course, that "you should not be here."
    ----

    The last item refers to a screen shot of the menu, with the very words "YOU SHOULD NOT BE HERE" at the bottom of the screen!

    I hope they countersue and win. I am, quite literally, a coward when it comes to the MPAA - hence the AC post.

  2. Re:Lets take this to the store.. by hedley · · Score: 5

    It's a misnomer to call it a "menu chip" the chip in question is an ESS 4308 Videodrive chip. This is a 32bit risc (MipsX) + 64bit SIMD microcoded core. The code that presents the menu in question is risc code and an OSD ciruit in the device that overlays a region of the sdram onto the main display buffer. I would never advise it of course but an inspection of the firmware shows a string -- LOOPHOLES -- in the rom. Interestingly, the feature many like (the 3/2 pulldown PALNTSC) is done totally in microcode. There are many things that chip can do in software that were not contemplated when it was designed (i.e. MP3). Cool part and really well programmed by the ESS engineers.

  3. And every other player anyone buys.... by tinla · · Score: 5

    Are they you seriously trying to claim this DVD player is unusual?

    A "very large" number of the top selling DVD players in the UK have simple handset hacks to play DVDs from other regions. The hardware reviews in some home cinema magazines actually report the hacks and their ease of use affects the player's rating. Sony players from most of the Far East regions play anything when they arrive at the shop, at least the ones I've used do.

    One of the UK's biggest supermarket chains (Tesco) recently went on record, in the national press, as saying the "all regions" capability of the cheap and cheerfull player they sell is the main reason they're selling out.

    I've never found a dvd my player won't play. And thats an official UK pioneer model.

    Damm those Japanese. Curse the Euro-swines. No respect for US law.... does anyone?

    --
    0daymeme.com: Great stuff.