Portable DVD Player Guide
Portable DVD players are small, lightweight DVD viewing units about the size of a thin hardback book which makes them the ideal time-killer for boring plane, train or car trips. They are a great way to keep the kids quiet on road trips or to while away your own time on business trips etc. and most can be hooked up to your television at home making them an ideal multi-use replacement to your existing standard DVD player.
These days the price of entry level handheld DVD machines has dropped dramatically to fall within the budget of most potential users. In the past 12 months, with the average price has fallen from over £600 to under £300 whilst the technology involved has improved just as dramatically. Portable DVD players under £200 are becoming increasingly more common and big discounts can be found by shopping online.
Buying Portable DVD Players Online
When shopping for portable DVD player units on the internet there are a few things to specifically look for. In particular, the essential quality features are screen size, brightness, battery life and weight. These are the things which will most impact your enjoyment of your player and are described in more detail below.
Screen Display
The display size and resolution is possibly the single most important aspect of your portable dvd player. If you are buying online, be sure to check the size is something which is going to be comfortable to you in terms of viewing area. At the very least, you need a 5 inch display but try to find larger if your budget allows. Some mini DVD players have screen sizes of 4 inches or smaller which will have you squinting at the screen and will cause fights in the back seat if two or more children are trying to look at the same tiny screen. Screen dimensions are measured by diagonal length, which means that a small change in written dimensions can make a big difference in actual viewing area. For example, a 5.8" widescreen display offers 80% more viewing area than a 4" screen.
Of course, the bigger the screen, the more you pay, the heavier it is and potentially, the larger the battery consumption rate. It's a trade-off you need to make to find the unit suitable for your needs but remember, if you are squinting at a tiny letterbox screen, you'll probably not get much enjoyment out of your choice of DVD player.
Battery Life
One of the more annoying aspects of portable DVD player units at today's level of technology is the length of battery life. Check carefully and you may be surprised at how little battery life some models offer, even on some of the more expensive models. Ask yourself whether a battery life of 1.5 hours is of any use to you? If you are intending to watch a movie on the train, plane or somewhere without a means to jack in to a wall socket then the answer will probably be "no", unless you don't mind carrying additional battery packs (which often aren't cheap!). Make sure your unit allows you to watch at least one full movie before the power runs out. Look for at least 2 hours of battery life and if you make a lot of longer trips then you might like to consider buying that spare battery pack as a back-up as well.
Lightweight DVDs Players
Remember your unit is meant to be portable! Check the weight of the unit and check the weight after the battery pack is installed as some manufacturers omit to mention their choice of battery pack doubles the weight! A lightweight portable DVD player with a lightweight, slim battery unit will typically weigh under 1kg / 2lbs, whereas a cheaper DVD player might weigh double or even three times that weight. If your choice requires carrying extra battery packs around with you, then that's more weight to add into the equation and additional batteries can add another £50 or more to the cost.
Features
Most other features of hand-held DVD players are something you can either do without, or find extremely necessary depending on personal choice. Think of things like whether you intend to hook up your player to a home TV unit or not, if so, you will need to make sure your chosen unit handles this well - if at all. Do you want to be able to play multi-region DVDs or just the Region 2 DVDs found in British stores? What about the remote control? Does it even have one! Things like that will impact your final choice of player but are not typically essential features.
Where To Buy Cheap Portable DVD Players?
Just about everywhere which stocks electrical goods now sells battery powered portable DVD player equipment and accessories. If you are looking for a handheld DVD player at discount prices then buying online is probably the best place for you to look. Most electrical stores online will offer free shipping and handling on goods of this price as well so there's no need to worry about extra delivery costs bumping up the price either. Some great places to buy portable DVD players in the UK are listed below:
|
