Travel with Children - Recommendations for a DVD Player

Do you have any recommendatons for a DVD player for a 3YO? We have upcoming flight that will be 3 1/2 hr long and since there is no IFE on US Airways metal, I was thinking of getting a DVD player for our son as a back up to his coloring books, reading books and etc.

They are a commodity item now, any cheapy, normally a big box store has one on sale, should do.

I picked up this one (http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DVD-LS855-portable-display/dp/B0017DFGDA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1255827160&sr=8-1) at Costco last fall for an extended car trip. It's been great for both in the car and on planes. If you're going to use it in the car at all, I like that it came with a bracket to attach it to the headrest.

Maybe this thread would get more specific answers in the Travel tech section?

Otherwise, what they said. Any cheap, generic thing will do. But if you want it to be a bit nicer, ask the people in Travel Tech or have the mods move this thread.

Till

They are a commodity item now, any cheapy, normally a big box store has one on sale, should do. I was looking for one that is more 'sturdy' or was designed for younger children.

I've been looking for an older version PSP (Playstation Pro) as a kid's video player to replace a DVD player, but still haven't found one priced close to what I could get a cheap DVD player for. Even though I'd have to convert DVDs to play on the PSP, I think it'd be a simpler option en route than a DVD player. But I'm not (yet) willing to pay a big premium for it.

I use my old old Archos for my son 40GB of kids shows and movies is more than enough.

Before investing, you should check whether he'll tolerate the headphones. Master PVDProf (also 3YO) just won't, even to watch his favorite movie (Cars). So, we read LOTS of stories, play with his matchbox cars, talk, look out the window, and have slow-to-eat snacks (e.g, raisins, goldfish, grapes), and the next thing we know, we're at LAX!

(I'm not trying to claim any high ground here. All that play is exhausting for me, and I wish he'd watch the blasted movie so I could get a break. ;) )

I tend to find that big DJ style retro ones work best.

As noted, choosing good headphones is particularly important. See this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-children/935465-headphones-little-ones.html) for some thoughts on specific models. We found it helpful to "practice" before the trip. Don't let the kid watch anything for a couple weeks prior to the flight unless (s)he uses the headphones. That worked great with our not-quite-2yo last spring, but I would think it would work well with a 3yo too.

As for specific portable DVD players, they all seem to be crap these days, so I'd probably just get the cheapest one you can find if you really want to go that route.

But we skipped buying a DVD player and just use a laptop. On a 3.5 hour flight with other activities (coloring books, etc.) as your first line of defense, a typical laptop should work just fine for playing an hour or two of video--particularly if you've ripped them to the hard drive so you're not wasting battery spinning the optical drive.

Another option if you don't want to schlep a laptop is to get a "portable media player" (iPod Video, Archos, etc.). These are really coming down in price, and they should be smaller, less fragile and longer-lasting (battery-wise) than most portable DVD players, for not a whole heck of a lot more money. If I was going to be doing a lot of flying with my toddler, this is probably the route I'd go.

As I stated above the Archos is great, but you might ust want to get a Netbook for this purpose as well.

Great tip about putting the movies on the hard drive! It does seem to eat up batteries.

ITA about the headphones. Read that other thread. I don't recommend the "bud" style at this age.

For such a short flight, any DVD player should do. Some have a battery life as little as 1 1/2 hours so maybe one with 3 hours would make more sense (check the difference in price). You can put the screen on "night mode" to save battery life.

We do long haul flights so I had to get one with at least 5 hours but with the cheaper models, you can actually buy a second battery. In the car, you would plug it in so it's not an issue on long drives.

Be clear to him that using the speakerphones is NOT an option. Do what I did and don't even let him know that it can be done. For ages she thought that the sound only came through the headphones. There's something about the acoustics on an aircraft that makes these devices extremely annoying, even when played softly.

Having just done this, I reccomend you skip the DVD player and get a cheap "MP4" player instead, they can be had on ebay for $25-75 depending on features and capacity. Then, rip your DVD movies at home and store them. These things are really tiny, so can be handheld easily even by my 2 1/2 year old.

As to headphones, kids seem to prefer the big padded variety, we got a pair that was sized for small heads, and had some kid friendy graphics, etc.

Good luck.

I'd definitely second the mp4 route.

My husband kindly ripped and transcoded (with software freely available on the internet) a slew of Arthur and Dora dvds for my mp4 player (aka the "tiny tv") and it's brilliant. Not only do you not have to carry DVDs but the battery lasts for ages (8 hours for my player), our daughter can hold it to her liking and it's tiny so it's no big deal to bring.

I would recommend a sturdy pair of earphones though. Ear buds fall out so make sure you get onese with an adjustable over-the-head type.

Best of luck,
K

We got this one (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-DVP-FX820-8-Inch-Portable-Player/dp/B00139R1TA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1256694691&sr=8-6) a couple of years ago. It's pretty solidly built, but apparently it's been replaced with a new model. Don't know if that one is as good.

I second the comments about headphones. Try to find small ones; Target has one or two collapsible, smaller size headphones. Airline headphones were too big for my daughter at that age, but she tolerated the small ones pretty well.

We have this DVD player as well and love the fact that the battery can get up to 6 hours, which although is overkill for this flight is good if you are also planning on longer flights in the future

I picked up this one (http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DVD-LS855-portable-display/dp/B0017DFGDA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1255827160&sr=8-1) at Costco last fall for an extended car trip. It's been great for both in the car and on planes. If you're going to use it in the car at all, I like that it came with a bracket to attach it to the headrest.

How about recommendations for player to take on transpacific flight? We're heading SFO-HKG-SIN with our 3 YO. Same recommendations but just bring lots of batteries?

How about recommendations for player to take on transpacific flight? We're heading SFO-HKG-SIN with our 3 YO. Same recommendations but just bring lots of batteries?

I personally use the panasonic above with a backup battery (universal battery). However if I was going to buy a new one for long flights, I would consider the
Panasonic-DVD-LS86, it claims up to 13 hours of playback; although that is probably at a very low level of screen brightness. Still might be something to look into

How about recommendations for player to take on transpacific flight? We're heading SFO-HKG-SIN with our 3 YO. Same recommendations but just bring lots of batteries?

Get a cheap mp4 player (as suggested above) and load all your movies on it ahead of time. The battery will almost certainly last longer than any DVD player, and it'll be smaller, lighter and you won't have to worry about losing or scratching discs.

Get a cheap mp4 player (as suggested above) and load all your movies on it ahead of time. The battery will almost certainly last longer than any DVD player, and it'll be smaller, lighter and you won't have to worry about losing or scratching discs.

Our 4 year old used an ipod nano loaded with Dora, Handy Manny, and other favorite shows. He didn't mind the small screen size. And it was so nice to just put it in our pockets when we were done. But I do agree with the other posters that you'll be better with headphones. The little earphones we had occasionally fell out of his ears during the flight.

edited to add:
The one thing I didn't like about the nano was the plug for the earphones was on the bottom of the device so he couldn't set it level on the tray. He held it most of the time and when he set it on the tray we just rigged a baby blanket or sweater to hold the nano upright and level.

We made the transition from a DVD to an iTouch a few years ago. Would strongly suggest this. DVDs are dead.

Furthermore, the iTouch has a lot games as the kids get older.