Making the 500W Region Free and Macrovision Off is as easy as pulling the original firmware chip out of it's socket and replacing it with another pre-programmed chip. More on how to get a pre-programmed chip later. The firmware is stored on the rectangle shaped chip with the sticker on it as shown here:

As can be seen by the picture this main board has APE-500W-2 firmware. Since this original page was created updated firmware is now supplied in new 500W players. Even though your sticker may not say "APE-500W-2" the procedure is the same for your chip.

Removal of the chip is easy but be careful as you can damage the pins of the chip or damage the socket if you are not careful. You do not need a special chip removal tool and a small flat screwdriver will do the job but the key word here is CAREFULLY!
Gently insert the blade of the screwdriver in the small gap between the socket and the chip where the notch is. Gently lever the chip a little out of the socket and then do the same thing on the other end of the chip. After levering carefully on both sides a few times the chip will become loose and you can wiggle it out of the socket.

Not clearly visible from the top is the socket the chip sits in.
Here is another shot of the circuit board with the chip removed:

Now with the chip removed it is time to replace it with another chip pre-programmed with the modified firmware. BEWARE!!! The chip can go in either way around *BUT* only one way works and putting it in the wrong way may damage your player. Refer to the top picture - You must line up the notch in the chip to point down towards the bottom edge of the circuit board (or right-hand side of player when looking from the front of the player).

Here is a shot of the circuit board with the modified chip installed.

I have slightly over-brightened this picture to show the notch in the chip. It is just visible if you look really close. Note the new chip has a glass window because this chip is re-writable and the window is used to let UV light in which blanks the chip. This type of chip is called an EPROM which stands for Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. Normally there is a sticker over the window once the chip is programmed to prevent accidental erasure but I have not put the sticker on to show what an EPROM looks like. The letters/numbers on this EPROM say FM27C040Q120 which means it is a 27C040 type chip with a speed rating of 120 nanoseconds and this is just right for our needs.

And that is it. Power up your player again and verify everything is working OK.

For firmware and region/macrovision patches please visit the "Firmware And Patches" part of this web site. There you will find the necessary files to program your own chips.