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Portable DVD players

post #1 of 18
12/6/06 at 2:00pm
Thread Starter 
Been trying to decide on a portable dvd player. I have it down to and LG and Philips. Does anyone have any recommendation? Thanks.
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post #2 of 18
12/9/06 at 5:12am
I'm interested in this topic too. I'd like to get my wife a portable DVD player but I'm not even really sure where to start.
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post #3 of 18
12/9/06 at 9:29am
Thread Starter 
There seems to be alot of cheap stuff out there. I am looking for a quality player. Looked at the LG LPA-735 model (7" screen) the other day. Wasn't totally blown away but maybe my expectations are too high. The ones getting the best reviews seem to be the Philips models. People are saying they have the best picture but have a noisy drive when discs are loading and searching for files. I haven't ruled out Panasonic (9" screen) either. Anyone have any input??
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post #4 of 18
12/10/06 at 10:03pm
Most portable dvd players have very low resolution of 480X234 or QVGA. However the Philips PET1002/37 that uses 800X480 seems to be a decent one (on sale for $240 at circiutcity).
You could read reviews for Sony DVPFX810 at Dealtime (search for DVPFX810, the review from mtl_4runner is very detailed and helpful)
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post #5 of 18
12/11/06 at 1:12pm
I am eyeing the Philips PET724 and 824...one's around $140 and the other's around $200. The latter has 6 hour battery life vs 4 hrs for the 724. Are both of these models alright, though? I saw a 724 at BB and the pic quality looked crappy compared to what the other (cheaper) players were playing, but of course BB makes it convienent and plays different material on each one. What a convenience!
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post #6 of 18
12/15/06 at 9:49am
BAH... I have yet to see a Portable DVD Player I've liked. If my laptop battery lasted longer that would really be the best option as I like the video quality there (I am not buying an ext battery pack as I do not own the laptop).

I ultimately decided to go with the Archos AV500 100 GB which I really think has stunning video albeit a tad too small for my liking. My issue is getting the DVD's onto the unit which the studios have made a grueling process. This is why ultimately I still think a PDVDP is the way to go.
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post #7 of 18
12/15/06 at 1:26pm
I went with the Panasonic LS-91 (9" screen) for our 2 1/2 yr old. The thing works great, has a good picture, and has held up to quite a bit of abuse. The battery also lasts something like 6 hours. It's just like the LS-90 but has a couple more features. CNET has some pretty good portable DVD player reviews.
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post #8 of 18
12/17/06 at 12:08pm
Thread Starter 
Does anyone know if the Philips 1002/37 screen quality is really any better than that of the Philips 824/37?
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post #9 of 18
12/17/06 at 1:15pm
Toshiba makes an excellent unit. The screen display is surprisingly good. Costco has them at a very good price.
Here's a blurb about the SD-P1850:

" The Toshiba SD-P1850 Portable DVD player features an 8" Widescreen, with invert display mode TFT LCD Display with 480x234 Pixel Resolution, that is great for viewing standard, letterbox and anamorphic DVDs. The SD-P1850 is DivX® Home Theater Certified and allows playback of DivX, AVI and MPEG4 (.ASF) compressed files downloaded from the internet from a personal computer and stored on a CD-R/RW. The convenient Audio/Video Input and Output provide connection to an external monitor or using the SD-P1850 screen and speakers as the display device. The built-in 4-In-1 Card Slot accepts Secure Digital, Memory Stick, XD Picture Card, and MultimediaCard. The SD-P1850 also features a JPEG Viewer that enables a user to display digital photographs on the LCD screen or a television set in the JPEG digital format."

We bought one for a relative and tested burned discs on it. Perfect. It really seems like a well-built machine.

One review on Cnet gave it high marks.
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post #10 of 18
12/17/06 at 1:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CJ07 View Post

Does anyone know if the Philips 1002/37 screen quality is really any better than that of the Philips 824/37?

How is the 824? I saw the 724 and the colors seem good, but it's very pixelated and there's black what looks like scanlines...
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post #11 of 18
12/17/06 at 2:54pm
Thread Starter 
The screen qualiity seems good on the 824. Better than others that I saw. I only purchased mine a couple of days ago here in Canada. The price was good at Costco at 169.99 cdn thats with a $30 off rebate. The Pet 1002/37 was $299cdn and I wasn't sure I could justify the extra cash for the bigger screen. It was sort of a guessing game when I bought as there were none on display to see how good it was. I picked it up based on reviews and the guy working the electronics department.
But compared to other models I looked at; LG and Samsung; I think that the philips does have the better picture and I wanted bigger than a 7". The guy at Future Shop was pushing the samsung.Never got a chance to see Toshiba or Panasonic. I was close to purchasing the LG LPA-735. It played almost any format. The speakers were ok but with headphone did not even come close to the philips (with headphones).
AS far as the Philips goes the noisy disk drive did not seem as bad as I anticipated based on lots of reviews. Seems like a nice sturdy unit except for the disk drawer seems a little flimsy; but thats minor stuff to me. I would recommend it based on my short usage.
Believe me I am not expert when it comes to these players as I have/had been only looking at them for a short while. My first impressions were that they didn't blow me away. Anyone own a 1002/37?
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post #12 of 18
12/21/06 at 4:35pm
Yes...I bought a Phillips 1002/37 for my dad after returning a Toshiba 2800 due to an unbelievably noisy disk drive. I am convinced that the Toshiba was defective because I could hear the disk noise even through headphones at decent volume.

I am quite pleased with the Phillips. The screen is bright and a nice size. The disk drive is quiet. The only complaint is one that I saw repeatedly at the Circuit City comment section: the maximum volume is too low. This is not an issue when using headphones but would be a real problem for me otherwise. I would recommend this unit since it was the best of all of the ones that I either saw in person or read reviews about.
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post #13 of 18
12/21/06 at 4:55pm
I have a Polaroid PDM-0711 Portable one. It has a 7" Screen (you really don't want to go lower than that) and what I like about it is that it's very good with dark scenes.

From what I have heard, some Portables are washed out looking during any scene in a given video that is dark (like if someone is walking down a dim lit hallway), but the Polaroid I have is great with that.

Also, just on a side note, I wanted to tell everyone something in here that really impressed me about it. I bought it for Christmas of 2005 (last year), and when I got it I was using it mostly with the A/C Power adapter. Then I charged the battery and disconnected it and put the battery in the box it came in and stored it in the attic (because I wasn't using it for a while). Recently, back in November (this year, 2006) I lost power in my house for several hours. I went in the attic, got the battery for the Portable, attached it (fully expecting it to be dead as I charged it a year ago) and it worked long enough to watch a whole movie on.

I didn't even run it until it died, so it might very well STILL have juice in it.
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post #14 of 18
12/30/06 at 9:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CJ07 View Post

The screen qualiity seems good on the 824. Better than others that I saw. I only purchased mine a couple of days ago here in Canada. The price was good at Costco at 169.99 cdn thats with a $30 off rebate. The Pet 1002/37 was $299cdn and I wasn't sure I could justify the extra cash for the bigger screen. It was sort of a guessing game when I bought as there were none on display to see how good it was. I picked it up based on reviews and the guy working the electronics department.

CJ07 - at which Costco location did you find the PET1002 in stock?

Ray
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post #15 of 18
1/15/07 at 5:14pm
I finally picked up a player. Philips PET1002 at Circuit City. It's on sale for $249.99 online, but of course can be pricematched in the store, no problems. PQ is EXTREMELY GOOD and I could easily tell that it has a higher resolution than most of the other players I've seen. Only complaint is that the max volume could be louder.
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post #16 of 18
2/13/07 at 4:14am
I'm thinking about getting this portable player also. Did you notice if it was loud on spin-up?
When you plug in the headphones, does the external sound shut off?
I heard it didn't, which makes no sense.
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post #17 of 18
2/13/07 at 7:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by marcheseg View Post

I'm thinking about getting this portable player also. Did you notice if it was loud on spin-up?
When you plug in the headphones, does the external sound shut off?
I heard it didn't, which makes no sense.


sound on the unit DOES shut off when a headphone jack is inserted. yes, what you were told does not make sense.

as far as this unit, my only complaints are:

-doesn't go loud enough at max setting on the unit
-the picture settings don't allow enough changes. i tried to run THX optimizer on it and because there's only an adjustment range of 32 for 'brightness' when you'd think it'd have a range of 100. i am not sure of what other models offer in this regard. at least the colors are accurate, unlike many of the others i've seen where the blacks look purply.
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post #18 of 18
2/13/07 at 11:08pm
We have the Phillips PET 1002 also. Yes, the DVD spin-up is a little noisy, but it's quiet when running. We only use earphones with it (in the van - on trips) so the maximum volume doesn't matter. It was the only one that had a decent sized screen and very good picture quality. I got it at CC on a "managers sale" (last one in stock) for under $200, including tax. Anything under 9" is too small, IMHO (I'll use my laptop instead).

The battery lasts longer (4 - 6 hours) than the laptop's (2 hours). In the Van, I have a DC to AC inverter (300W) - I got it as a Christmas present several years ago. We use it when I'm driving, so we don't have to depend on the battey, except at rest stops, etc.
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