DVD player recommecdations
 

I need to get a portable DVD player, any recommendations? (I don't need a laptop when travelling and prefer something smaller/lighter) any suggestions would be very helpful

ECOST has the Panasonic LA95 for a little over $500 in the countdown area. The screen is 9 inches and very bright and clear.

I'll never use another portable DVD player again... I got the Fujitsu P2120 subnotebook and it's SO much better in a package that's about the same size and weight as a portable DVD+battery. The large battery is good enough for about 3 hours so I carry two if I know I'll be on a long flight without in-seat power and the screen is GORGEOUS... bigger and better than almost all portable DVDs I've seen. Then, when I get where I'm going, I have a full function wireless notebook with everything I need.

[This message has been edited by kanebear (edited 04-29-2003).]

I presume this is not an option?

http://www.inmotionpictures.com/

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I considered them, but they charge $15 a day for the rental so it wouldn't take long to end up paying out as much as you would to actually buy something plus you have to put down a $225 deposit on the DVD player you rent. All in all it's not an option for me - maybe if I traveled every once in a while but not with my schedule.

After all the research I have it narrowed down to the Toshiba SD P200, but if the above is the about same size I may reconsider, will check it out, Thanks http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

IMHO a Notebook PC no matter how small will ever compare to the convenience and functionality of a portable DVD player. A dedicated DVD player has all the necessary buttons in one place, no need to hunt around for the keyboard equivalents of frequently used buttons. Try fast-forwarding to a particular scene on a PC, it wil inevitably be hit-or-miss, trial-and-error. Or say you want to pause the DVD and resume later. Yes, the DVD software will have this feature but it's not as seamless as on a dedicated DVD player. Now if you're one of those people who can sit through a whole movie without futzing about with the various buttons (FF, Next Chapter, Pause, Subtitle, Scene-by-scene, etc.), then maybe a Notebook PC alone will suffice. It hasn't for me so, horrors!, I bring both my 12-inch iBook AND my 7-inch Panasonic DVD player with me on long-haul trips.

I carry both a small laptop and my Panasonic DVD-LV70 portable DVD player...the LV-70 gets great battery life, and lets you turn the screen off when you're listening to audio CD's -- great in the hotel room at night when the glow of a laptop screen would keep you awake.

Personally I am in the notebook "camp" but I did notice that my local costco (Clifton, NJ) had a Audiovox 7" for about $329

Keba

WEll, my recently lost panasonic has put me back in the market.

As to the laptop vs. DVD player, dedicated DVD is better because:

-No starting up a laptop to view, just turn on and go.

-Dont need to pull down tray table to view, and the player does not get hot in your lap the way a laptop does.

-Up to 6.5 hour battery (with a dimmed screen) means two full length feature movies on a transcon even with no empower.

-As mentioned, ease of control for scene selection, ff, rwind and pausing.

-Can have open and view on the side of a FC meal tray...no need to interrupt the movie to eat.

I could go on and on.

I was very happy with the panasonic, so WOULD probably go with the Panasonic DVD-LA95 Portable DVD Player but am tempted by the higher-rated Toshiba SD-P2000.

However, I am intrigued by the sub-compact notebooks, which have similar to above except on the quick startup and about half the battery life. But with a high capacity spare battery, I'm going to follow the meatman and order a Fujitsu P2120...this will also put me finally into the WiFi world, which I've been putting off.

$1856 with the high capacity installed and the extra high capacity battery...

Just don't lose it!

Ouch... http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...um/biggrin.gif

Koko, if you find yourself needing a speed boost, you can swap the hard drive for a faster model and not lose much battery life at all. Actually, your battery life will probably be longer than mine anyway. I needed a faster write speed so I rigged a Dell 24x CD writer/DVD reader to fit in the Fujitsu carrier and also replaced the 4200RPM hard drive with a 5400 RPM model. Probably cut down my battery life but I got what I needed http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif One other tip, MAX OUT THE MEMORY! Order it with 384MB. Trust me, you'll miss the extra 128MB if you don't get it and I don't think the memory upgrade is available after the fact.

Yeah, I got pretty much all the bells and whistles except the battery booster that goes in the drive slot. I'll let you know what I think...

So fujistsu and I are starting off on the wrong foot.

I have a couple transcons this weekend and made it clear when I bought the sucker on the 9th that it would be here by 5/16 (I dont find a week unreasonable for delivery...Gateway say they can deliver 3 days after ordering).

Called today to make sure and they say it will arrive on 5/19, after I am already in LA.

What this GUARANTEES is that there will be no EMpower on my flights http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif...

*UPDATE*
For those interested, after weighing all the options I ended up getting the Toshiba SDP P2000 DVD Player - it's superb, very compact and light, easy to use, excellent picture quality and probably the right decision for me as I simply don't use a laptop when traveling. This is the first DVD player (or any kind) I've owned and can't believe I've missed out by not having one before http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif BTW, now that I have a DVD player I signed up for Netflix, they seem to have a good selection and the movies arrived within two days of ordering them.

Vaze, Netflix is great, been with them about a year. It's a flawless, mindless service - just the way I like it. I'm also looking at portable DVD players for when I'm traveling and don't want to carry the laptop or when "seat space" on the airline precludes using my Toshiba laptop with a 16" screen.

Thanks for the review, was considering the LV-70 or -95 (as AS uses the LV-70, I like it) but will look at the Toshiba. How much was it?

Paid a total of $710 which included buying the airline adapter and all taxes, shipping etc (didn't spring for the carrying case or any of the other extras) compared prices on ZDnet the unit arrived within a couple of days and really works well either on it's own or when connected to the TV (comes with all the connection cables to connect it)

I was recently able to buy the SDP2000 from 6ave.com for $530 shipped to New York. (Airplane adaptor I bought separately for $60 or so from provantage.com.) Right after I bought it, their price went up a bit, and right now their site is down, for some reason. Toshiba did say that they were an authorized mail-order outlet-- and they shipped very quick.