Need recommendations for a portable DVD player

[Dopey Sharon]

I'm thinking about getting one, but I don't know anything about them. I don't want to spend a lot of money, but I don't want a real small screen or one that will fall apart after our first trip, either. Can anyone help me?

 

[TLinden16]

I have one with a small screen, and I really love it for travelling. I have a 5 inch Mintek that I paid $200 (and are now onsale at best buy for $150). My main reason for choosing this particular one is that I wanted something small and light. Some of the bigger ones have huge batteries, which can be pretty heavy. Mine fits into a portable CD case.

Karen

 

[swea_pea1]

I was just at Target last night and they have one for $180 that includes a travel bag. I'm not sure how good it is, but it sounded like the right price.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

I asked this same question on the boards before xmas. Thanks to Chuck in PA , I ended up taking back our target one, the same one he got and we got one at circuit city. Make sure you get one where you have seen a display of the sound and screen quality, that is the 2 most important features. We bought it for ds to take on the bus (1 hr. each way trip) and joint 16th b day present. We got the initial brand, the battery life is 2 1/2 hours and the screen is widescreen 7.5 inches with great sound and picture, car adapter and remote. Its was like $275 plus tax with $50 rebate. He loves it. He hasnt found a good case yet, so he uses another ds lunchbox that has 1 hard side. If you want 2 to look at it you need the splitter cable(? for 2 sets of headphones, heard you can get this at radio shack. We used it for a 2 1/2 hour road trip and the 3 ds were all quiet, amazing. We are bringing it on the plane to disney in april.

 

[Towncrier]

If you want a portable 9" television set with a built in DVD player, Best Buy has them on sale this week for $200. The TV also has A/V inputs so that you can hook up a video game console as well.

Unlike the truly "portable" devices, this one uses a traditional picture tube TV for the display.

Another alternative (albeit pricey) is to purchase a laptop/notebook computer with a DVD drive. This way you can not only use it to watch movies, but you can also access the DIS boards while on vacation.

 

[floridafam]

We have the Panasonic DVDLA95 and LOVE IT! It runs about $579 now. It's worth every penny.

I also looked at the smaller Panasonic one and was very happy with that. They seem to have a sharp picture and great audio.

Sometimes, I wish we would have waited on our purchase. We hardly use it now that we have a DVD player in our vehicle.

It certainly made our 2 trips to Florida with it more enjoyable.

 

[Dopey Sharon]

Thanks for the replies! I was looking, at different sites, this afternoon, and found a Polaroid PDV 0700 at Best Buy for $250. It comes with the splitter for two earphones. The battery lasts between 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Also comes with the adapter for the car. It has a 7" screen. Anyone know anything about this one?

I also saw an Initial one at Circuit City, with a 5.8" screen for $170

 

[AspiringCindy]

Santa brought us the Disney Portable DVD player from Sears! I hear he paid $250 for it cause the elves were on strike!

 

[Rock'n Robin]

We have a nice panasonic we bought for our first (and last!) driving to NC/Florida trip this last December. You can plug it into the car outlet so the battery was not an issue. It had a nice 7" screen. We put it on the console so all 3 kids in back could watch it, plus it anchored on the back of our truck seats w/ straps. (I think, DH and DD#1 took care of the setup). It was very nice to have on such a long trip, and now I can hook it up to my TV/VCR combo upstairs and finally watch DVDs in my room.
WARNING--we tested DH's laptop (2 years old) a few weeks before we left to see how it played DVDs--a couple of discs later something inside burned up and he had to get the thing fixed--I am not sure if it was the DVD drive and he isn't here, it may have been a heat related item inside the computer. But don't count on using a laptop for movies on long trips.
Robin M.