Portable DVD Players

[Nebsky]

If any of you are looking for a portable DVD player for Car trip or Airplane rides, you might want to run to Circuit City sometime this week.

I saw a Panasonic Palm Theater LA95 for $519.99 after a $75.00 rebate. It has a 9 inch LCD screen and plays DVD, MP3, CDs and also comes with Dolby Digital DTS, surround sound, etc.

I purchased this exact same product 28 days ago at Circuit City for $699.00 after doing about 2 weeks worth of research on the portable DVD's. This one offered the best value for me. One of the values I consider is how well it is put together. Panasonic is a leader in small electronics and has great warranty and product reputation. Sure some others have a cheaper price and almost the same qualities, but I would rather go name brand on something like this.

I walked into Circuit City today and saw it for that price. Went to customer service and they refunded me the difference plus 10%. No hassles, no arguing. Just refunding the money.

This a great deal for the price.

We already used ours last week. Went to get taxes done. Gave it to my son to watch in the car and then once we got there he just watched Toy Story and was quiet. He didnt even notice when we were in the other room having our taxes done. Dont worry, we kept an eye on him. He wasnt neglected...
These things are a life saver and Im sure its going to come in very handy in 24 more days on the way to Disney....

 

[Nebsky]

In regards to my post above, I realize this is the budget board and normally such a purchase is not a bargan or budget. While Im usually looking to cut costs, I did buy this "extravagant" toy help the car ride go better.
We do shop for bargans and this purchase was one at the time and now its even better.
I hope I havent offended anyone...

 

[mudnuri]

Jeff I have to agree with you to what a sanity saver is with the protable DVD players!

DH and I purchased 2 cybermedia 7" lcd dvd/cd/mp3 players last week at Wal-Mart.

I too did a ton of research, and we decided that we would go with a 7" screen, and get 2, versus the larger 9" screen and get one. This one comes with a case that unzips, and then is strapped to the rear of a seat, it also comes with the S cable, audio/video cables, car charger, house charger, head phones etc. It was $218.00

When we went to Wal-Mart you could not see the actual picture, and I was very nervous, based on peoples comments etc... on different brands. We decided to bite the bullet and purchase 2 of them that night, after reading Wal-Marts electronics policy. Which states that returns can be made up to 90 days with a receipt....We were confident after speaking to the general manager of the store, that if we were not happy with the sound or picture quality we could bring it back. Well, let me just tell you THEY ARE NOT GOING BACK! DD's used them Saturday when we went to the mall (2 hours away) and they worked perfectly. DH and I watched parts of a movie Friday night after we purchased them to set the picture etc....

I can't wait to take them to Florida!

Brandy

 

[Nebsky]

Wow, thats a pretty good price too.

When I was looking around, I found several brands that I had heard of, then some I hadnt.

Initial...Heard they overheated alot...
Apex....bad picture screens
Memorex...a little of both of the above.

I saw one that was at Sams Club. It was Gear2Gear or G2G.
It was dual 7 inch screens for 499 or so, with the travel kit adapters for car and plane.
I couldnt find anything about them even going on thier website.
No reviews no nothing.

I might have gone with them if I could have found something about them.

A friend called us about a week after buying it and said something about some at Walmart and the price. Said they looked good. I liked mine too much to give it up..Ill keep it.

Im glad you got one you like. They will come in very handy.
Im looking forward to the trips.....

 

[Selket]

We found a small 9" tv/vcr combo last year at Target for about $70 and it is a lifesaver in the car. Certainly not as portable as the little DVD players (would love to have one of those!) but we take it on long trips and it works well in the hotel room for them to watch tapes. I highly recommend something like this for those that take long car trips!

 

[hyzdufan]

Might as well just buy a laptop with a DVD drive...
That's what I use mine for...

 

[Nebsky]

I thought of the lap top, but then its more money and the picture quality isnt as good unless you get a good Video Card in it.

Dvd Player is lighter and more compact too..

But your right...They both meet the purpose...My wife would probably like to have the Laptop...
It could be a 1500 DVD player and Solataire game machine..

 

[floridafam]

We have the Panasonic DVD LA95 and LOVE IT.

I'm glad Circuit City did the price adjustment. I always keep my eye on sales, etc. even after I buy something. Most stores will credit you the difference if you purchased within the last 2 weeks.

Enjoy the DVD player. Our children just love it and it makes our trips so much more enjoyable.



May I ask if you purchased the Panasonic car adapter?

 

[AirForceRocks]

Originally posted by mudnuri
Jeff I have to agree with you to what a sanity saver is with the protable DVD players!

DH and I purchased 2 cybermedia 7" lcd dvd/cd/mp3 players last week at Wal-Mart.

I too did a ton of research, and we decided that we would go with a 7" screen, and get 2, versus the larger 9" screen and get one. This one comes with a case that unzips, and then is strapped to the rear of a seat, it also comes with the S cable, audio/video cables, car charger, house charger, head phones etc. It was $218.00

When we went to Wal-Mart you could not see the actual picture, and I was very nervous, based on peoples comments etc... on different brands. We decided to bite the bullet and purchase 2 of them that night, after reading Wal-Marts electronics policy. Which states that returns can be made up to 90 days with a receipt....We were confident after speaking to the general manager of the store, that if we were not happy with the sound or picture quality we could bring it back. Well, let me just tell you THEY ARE NOT GOING BACK! DD's used them Saturday when we went to the mall (2 hours away) and they worked perfectly. DH and I watched parts of a movie Friday night after we purchased them to set the picture etc....

I can't wait to take them to Florida!

Brandy

Thanks so much for posting this!! I was just at Wal-Mart yesterday, and I put two of these on layaway! Our kids (9 & 7) travel MUCH better if they are in separate rows in the SUV, and we felt that two players would work better for us than one. One thing I'm curious about though, and I haven't checked it out...can the players hook together so that the kids can both watch the same movie at the same time?

TIA!!

 

[mudnuri]

geez I dont know if they can or not, never thought of that. We do have a headphone splitter, so both of our DDs can hear/watch together, however they work best strapped to the seat.....I was very worried about the quality, but figured we'd check it and see....sure enough they were very good quality, and for the 450.00 it cost us for 2 we couldnt go wrong.

To the laptop idea--here's why we are not bringing ours (we have 2, so we could have)..1st off where are they going to put it? On their lap? That's pretty close to their face...and how are we to secure it? I would hate to see the laptop become a projectile in an accident. 3rd- I'd much rather break a $200 dvd player than a 1500 laptop!...4th- I'm thinking security, again, if we lose the dvd player- someone steals it outta the truck- or hotel or whatever, again I'm only out 450.00 not 3000.00

Brandy

 

[Nebsky]

Regarding the car/airplane adapter...
I thought about buying the Panasonic Car/Plane Adapter but went against it....Price is high...$149.00
I also looked at the Converters that they sell at Best Buy/Circuit City. You plug it into the cigarette lighter and it converts to the power to normal a/c power then you use you wall plug to plug into that. That was like 40.00 but its kinda bulky looking and has alot of extra cords...

I went on EBAY and purchased one off there.
I did a search for Panasonic DVD LA95 and it saw an adapter come up for 36.00. I didnt bid on it. I did the purchase now.I did and and it works great!! It was my first ebay purchase and I had no problems at all..
The company I bought it from was based out of Brooklyn. Name is Eplushopper.. EBAY info right below

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I dont think they can be hooked together. You would need to have an "input video" connection on it. If its not too late, you stop the layaway and then get the one that has the two screens and one unit that I mentioned I saw at SAMS. That one is pretty cool in that one kiddo could watch a DVD, the other could be playing Playstaion or Xbox. That is a great feature...

Hope this helps!!

 

[floridafam]

I was just curious because we did not buy the Panasonic adapter and sometimes the DVC player would work with the one we purchased at Best Buy and sometimes it would not. We did end up buying the Panasonic one. Then we bought a vehicle with a DVD player in it and now we hardly use the adapter.

 

[Nebsky]

I tried those ones at bestbuy that you are talking about.
Mine wouldnt even turn on. Thats when I turned to Ebay.
Maybe you could sell it here or on ebay..

We are looking at new SUV now (Mitsubishi Endeavor) and are considering the DVD player in it. Son is 5 1/2 yrs old and it would come in handy. Since wife and I work for airline and travel alot, we would still get good use out of the portable one.

Im a gadget geek. I love all sorts of stuff. I dont buy it full price and usually wait until the newness has worn off then pounce.

 

[floridafam]

Yes, the DVD players in vehicles are worth it.

We just bought a Chevy Tahoe and it came with a "safe and sound" package which were some extra safety features and the DVD player.

We will still use our portable one. We are also gadget geeks.

I priced ours at the local Circuit City and was able to call JandR and get them to come way down on price.

Our kids were SILENT on the first trip we took with it. They just loved watching movies. My 4 yr old even asked me if I could "keep it down" because she wanted to watch Monsters Inc.

 

[taylor1293]

Just wanted to share our personal experience with the product you purchased.

The first one we purchased at Walmart didn't work at all. After we brought it home we realized that it had obviously been opened and returned prior (even after they told us they had no returns on the product).

The second one worked great...at first. However, after watching movies for quite a few hours (down to Florida from Illinois) it started skipping. So we'd have to turn it off and let it cool down for a couple of hours. We had this problem continuously and ended up returning the cybermedia to Walmart (which they took back with no hassle).

I hope they work better for you all, but definitely hold on to those reciepts!

Teresa

Originally posted by mudnuri
Jeff I have to agree with you to what a sanity saver is with the protable DVD players!

DH and I purchased 2 cybermedia 7" lcd dvd/cd/mp3 players last week at Wal-Mart.

I too did a ton of research, and we decided that we would go with a 7" screen, and get 2, versus the larger 9" screen and get one. This one comes with a case that unzips, and then is strapped to the rear of a seat, it also comes with the S cable, audio/video cables, car charger, house charger, head phones etc. It was $218.00

When we went to Wal-Mart you could not see the actual picture, and I was very nervous, based on peoples comments etc... on different brands. We decided to bite the bullet and purchase 2 of them that night, after reading Wal-Marts electronics policy. Which states that returns can be made up to 90 days with a receipt....We were confident after speaking to the general manager of the store, that if we were not happy with the sound or picture quality we could bring it back. Well, let me just tell you THEY ARE NOT GOING BACK! DD's used them Saturday when we went to the mall (2 hours away) and they worked perfectly. DH and I watched parts of a movie Friday night after we purchased them to set the picture etc....

I can't wait to take them to Florida!

Brandy