 | Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years. Thanks, CNET Support |
Can anyone tell me what is the largest screen size that I could buy in a portable DVD player, and who makes/sells such a player. Thank you very much. user 470
Discussion is locked
But I think a 19" widescreen laptop would be reasonable answer to your needs. I found one with Dell, but I'm sure there are others. And the advantage of a laptop: when you finished looking at the DVD, you can do other useful things with it.
Kees
There is simply so much more utility (and esp. hardware/software flexibility) in an inexpensive $399 windows laptop it's silly to spend $500+ on one of the somewhat hard-to-find larger portable DVD players. It's pretty easy to find one that's around 9-10" from the major retailers/etailers, but anything larger will set you back some $$$ if you can even find a seller. In the 9-10" size range I've looked at the Phillips PET100, Toshiba SD P2700 and also a Panasonic LX(?)9. Some of the smaller sized players like Sony & LG had better picture quality IMHO.
I'll be straight forward- most of the models w/ 10-11" screens sold @ Best Buy/equivalents are on the junky side for the most part. Their house brand esp. I didn't care for the Audiovox or the Mustek either in the 10" range. Buying them w/o an extended warranty that has a generous return clause would be a massive mistake since failures are so great. Anyway, when I did the research I opted for a somewhat less expensive LG which, although only has a 8.5" screen, I find actually outperforms some of the players w/ larger screens. The picture quality is really good. Built in speaker on the unit could be better, but really, you should be using headphones in either a car or airplane for proper sound experience. Battery life is still an issue on practically all of these players. I ended up finding a Lenmar external battery from vanns.com which extends the life greatly, making it essential on flights/longer car trips. Heck, we made it through four-five 90 minute DVDs until it finally ran out of juice 
. Here's the model I ended up with if you can sacrifice size for quality. It's an LG DP781-
http://www.amazon.com/LG-DP781-8-Inch-Portable-Player/dp/B000RWG2JY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1247255025&sr=1-1
Not only does it handle PAL/NTSC, but you can also make it region free with a simple firmware fix via CD (read the customer reviews). Not sure about availability though since it's an older model.
have fun,
Pedro
Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic