DVD Player Can Strip Protective Coding

A bargain-priced DVD player has become an underground hit on the Net after users discovered that they can easily defeat copy protection schemes and the ''region code'' that lets Hollywood protect movies' release dates in international markets. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the DVD Copy Control Association have been in contact with Apex Digital, the Ontario, California, distributor of the Chinese-made player. ''We are contemplating what legal actions might be appropriate,'' the MPAA's Rich Taylor says. Apex Spokesman Colton Manley says the loopholes were designed for repair technicians, and the manufacturer will fix future units. Expecting such a move, techies have made Apex players hot sellers. They are sold out at many stores in the Circuit City chain, which advertises them at $179.99. Dozens are being auctioned on eBay at prices up to $280. Rather than pay a premium, shoppers can check Circuit City's Web site (www.circuitcity.com) for stores that still have players. The players handle DVD movies and recordable CDs with MP3 music files. But what makes them a must-have for techies are hidden menus for bypassing regional coding and copy protection. DVD movies carry one of six regional codes; discs designated for the USA and Canada, for example, would normally not play in European or Asian units. Apex users also can disable Macrovision copy protection and record DVD movies on VCRs. ''The vast majority of consumers could care less about (the menus),'' Circuit City's Morgan Stewart says. ''They just want a good DVD player.'' But die-hard movie fans care. For example, the US DVD of Eyes Wide Shut has digitally altered scenes (as did the theatrical release), but European discs do not. ''They did this after (director Stanley) Kubrick died, and some fans are upset. They want to watch what Kubrick originally did,'' says Michael Elliott, 19, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, a reviewer for www.dvdmaniacs.net. Apex is not the first to deliver such a DVD player. Some of Sony's early players in 1997 had internal switches that disabled regional coding and Macrovision. ''It was on the Internet and became a big issue. We immediately contacted engineering and manufacturing,'' Sony's Bill Cubellis says. ''The idea was most customers are never going to crack the lid.'' Source: USA Today