Portable DVD Players

[dbarker]

I am looking into buying a portable DVD player for long trips. We will be in the car for 8 1/2 hours to our "vacation destination" this summer (not WDW ). Anyway, I know nothing about the portable DVD players. I appreciate all responses, reviews and advice.

What features should I look for? What should I stay away from?

Family: DH, Me, DS9.

BTW I get so bored riding in the car. (and flying is really not an option for this trip).

Thanks for all your help.

 

[darimom]

I just bought mine off of ebay. It's an Audiovox dual system with a 9" screen that plays one movie or two different movies. For DI9 and RI8 that was the best option especially for a 14 hr. drive from TX. You can also purchase a warranty through square trade for all electronics sold through ebay. I paid about $200 incl. the warranty. I looked through all the reviews on all the dvd players and it didn't matter what the brand was there were pros and cons to all of them. I best suggestion to you is to decide on which one is best for you regardless of what the reviews are. I would probably go ahead and purchase a warranty with it as well just in case. I hope this was helpful.

 

[DevilDuckie]

Brief soapbox moment first:

Daylight hours should be spent looking at the country you're driving through or reading a book! Vacation is no time to be buried in the TV!

(Okay, I'm done now...)

That said, when we took weeklong (or longer) car trips when I was a kid there was always a chunk of time when it was too dark to read or to see anything out the windows and God would we have loved a movie in the backseat of that Honda!

I strongly recommend paying for the extended warranty on an item like this if children will be handling it. Even careful children are prone to breaking stuff and MAN am I glad I bought the warranty on my digital camera, KWIM?

 

[SarahKate]

We just downsized from our Odyssey that had a built-in DVD player to an Accord without one. DH did a lot of research and found Sony to have best pic quality. We just bought one today for 179.99. Definitely NOT the cheapest, but they're definitely high quality. Also, the screen swivels and you can actually fold it all the way back so it's like a "tablet". We bought at Best Buy and purchased the 4-year extended warranty for $40......we don't always buy the warranties but for something like this it is not a bad buy.

 

[ADKSPiette]

We got a Sony based on the battery life. We got it directly through Sony - if you have an EBates account, I think you get 3% back with this purchase.
Product Description
Sony's DVP-FX810 8 Widescreen LCD boasts a rugged design with sophisticated features! The swivel and flip screen offers multiple viewing angle options whether you are in a car, train or plane, or at the beach. Watch a regular full-length movie with its up to 5 1/2 hour battery capacity (battery life may vary depending on usage conditions) or plug in the supplied car adapter for extended viewing. Includes remote control, batteries for remote, owners manual, AV cable, rechargeable battery pack, AC cdaptor, car battery charger, AV cable.

 

[Alison_in_Wonderland]

I just bought a Panasonic LS82. It got great reviews and has a really long battery life (12 hours in optimal conditions and 8 hours using the daylight screen.) This was important to us because we'll be taking some longer flights and I don't want to have to carry an extra battery. It retails for about $200 - but I got ours on E-bay (new) for $125. It comes with the headrest adapter too.

 

[syko]

Another vote for sony.

 

[dbarker]

Does anyone know if you can play games on these, or just movies?

Or, is there a portable game system (that plugs into the car) that you can watch movies on???

Again, thanks for all the info.

 

[syko]

If it is a DVD game then yes, and you can plug a games console also.

 

[dbarker]

I have a few DVD games that have come w/ the movies. I was hoping they could play those.

 

[syko]

You will be able to.