OT: Portable DVD Players

[KerriMc]

Hello

Just had a garage sale and sold a TON of baby and toddler clothes, plus a lot of baby items, toys, etc. We have decided that we really need to invest in a DVD player for the girls when travelling in the van. Our youngest is not as good in the car as our oldest dd. We have borrowed a tv/vcr combo, but it is so big and bulky and blocks the air circulation in the back seat. So I am thinking about getting a portable I can strap onto the back of the seat or in between the two front seats.

I was hoping some of you would have some suggestions as to what we should buy or what we should avoid. Is there a brand that is good versus bad? Should we have it installed overhead or just have it attached to the seat or in b/w seats?

I dont' want to go just based on price as I am afraid the quality will be poor and it may skip or end up not working properly.

Ok ... enough rambling ! Any suggestions or helpful hints are appreciated (especially by Olivia ... she will be much happier in the car watching Barney and singing, rather than screaming ... and so will mommy and daddy )

Thanks so much
Kerri

 

[SnowWhite]

We just bought one on tigerdirect and it isn't a brand i am familiar with but it is excellent quality picture and sound. Adveau is the brand, but it is definately worth the money we spent. check out their website.....


www.tigerdirect.ca

best of luck

Rob ( snowwhite's dh)

 

[Anjiebaby]

We purchased a portable DVD player with 7" screen at Best Buy in February before our Disney trip. We wanted it for the plane trip and to hook to the tv in the room. We bought a back up battery so we could have 5-6 hours of continuous play. Our 20 month old knows how to work it she can start the video and press play when the menu comes up. We use it every day. A portable is better as you can take it on holidays with you. We purchased a soft sided case which came with straps for hanging it in the car. Altogether DVD extra battery pack and case was $350.00. We also purchased the extended warranty as we knew we would be using it alot.

 

[Albertan mom]

We got one from Best Buy. It was $199. It has been the best!!!
We strap it between our two van seats, so both kids can watch it. They can use earphones, or have it out loud. Just make sure that you plug it in AFTER the vehicle is started. If not, it gets too much of a charge when you start the vehicle, and it will wreck it. We had one that lasted 2 weeks, then broke, and we think that is why. Costco and Walmart also have the ones that include 2 screens. We bought the one like that from Walmart, ($299), opened it, and it was cheap and had tons of wires going from one to the other so we took it back and went with the one screen only.
You and your kids will LOVE it!

 

[Cass]

Our house was robbed a couple of weeks ago and the burglars took my daughters portable DVD player... so I picked up another one just last week - a Mintek MDP 1010 - it has a wonderful picture and sound - it is a 10.2 inch screen (the one that was stolen was a 7" screen) so my daughter was happy she has an improved model.

 

[CharlesTD]

My inlaws have the Polaroid 10" portable it comes with a case you can hang from the seatback or between the 2 seats. The screen is quite good not as good as say the Toshiba or one of the higher priced ones but still pretty good none the less. They picked it up at Cosco but I don't remember how much it was. It plays multiple formats and even burned disks which is a plus because you can burn a personal copy of any DVD you own for personal use so you don't have to worry about taking the originals with you and having them get scratched broken or stolen.

 

[briarberry]

I just bought one at Costco last week for our trip this summer. It is a Polaroid with a 5" screen but I only need it for my daughter who is 8 so we got a smaller screen. The picture is amazingly clear and the screen swivels. It came with a carrying case so it can hang off the seat in front of her. It was only $169 because I had a $30 off coupoun. It works really well and came with a rechargeable battery which we likely won't use but it's still nice to have.
Good luck with your purchase, I am sure we will both be glad we have them in the car! Now I just have to find some DVDs to stash away for the trip that she hasn't seen!

 

[CanadianPaco]

My inlaws have the Polaroid 10" portable it comes with a case you can hang from the seatback or between the 2 seats. The screen is quite good not as good as say the Toshiba or one of the higher priced ones but still pretty good none the less. They picked it up at Cosco but I don't remember how much it was. It plays multiple formats and even burned disks which is a plus because you can burn a personal copy of any DVD you own for personal use so you don't have to worry about taking the originals with you and having them get scratched broken or stolen.

The Polaroid is the one we bought from Costco - it was about $300 and worth every dime!! We have never had a minutes problem with it either! Good luck!

 

[CharlesTD]

I am using it for work currently but we have one in our van built in so we don't use the one they bought. They use it to put the digital pics on dvd actually I do the picture dvd's for them and then they take it to family functions to show the pics to everyone. They don't use it for anything else.