LG DP271: A portable DVD player with added twistyness
If you travel a lot you'll understand what it means to be so bored you'd consider cutting off your own ears to amuse yourself -- fortunately, LG has a portable DVD player that should help to keep your ears in
Do you often find yourself on an aeroplane bored out of your mind? We do, and usually it falls to a laptop and some DVDs to distract us. The problem with laptops is that they are often large, and drink power. So enter the LG DP271, a compact portable DVD player for all those boring journeys.
There are a few things that make the DP271 ideal for travelling, firstly, it's got two headphone jacks, essential if you want to avoid arguments with your other half while you enjoy some entertaining video while they sit looking bored and envious. The twisty 7-inch screen is also handy. It can even sit flat against the unit, which is handy for holding, or you can move it into a number of other yoga-style positions to make the most of your available space.
What makes the LG DP271 even more attractive is its ability to play back both DivX and XviD files. The movie industry frowns upon it, but if you have a DVD collection, ripping those movies in DivX means you can squeeze four films on one DVD. That makes this a very attractive option if you travel loads and need to keep the number of discs you carry to a minimum. Just remember, sharing those ripped films over the Internet would definitely be illegal, and morally wrong. Ahem.
The player can also act as a monitor for another video source -- good for viewing things you've recorded on a camcorder -- and playback files from a memory stick. If you get to a hotel room, and fancy watching a film you can hook this player up via its built-in video output, there is even digital output for hooking it up to your AV receiver.
According to the LG site, there is also another version of this player, called the DP271T, which supports digital terrestrial broadcasts. This would be useless in a plane, of course, but handy on a camping trip.
The DP271 is available from Argos, and costs a pocket pleasing £99. We assume it comes with a guarantee that it will shut anyone under the age of 10 up for at least the duration of a movie. -Ian Morris