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What portable dvd player is really great for a good decent price?

The Panasonic Portable Dvd Player

There was a time shortly after they hit the market that a Panasonic portable DVD player was considered among the best you could get. They were reliable, durable and frankly they didn't have a whole lot of competition from other brands. A lot has changes since those early days and there are many more players in the game. Top honors are shared by several manufacturers and features and function have improved across the board. Although they may not be alone at the top as they once were, Panasonic still makes a very solid, high-quality portable.

These days, their portable DVD players inhabit the middle range on the price spectrum but the overall quality is very good. Purchased new, nearly all models in the Panasonic line up vary in price between $100 and $250. Consumer ratings for picture quality are always postitive. This is in part due to Panasonic's versatile brightness control. This unique feature allows the user more flexibility to to adjust brightness to compensate for environmental light beyond just about anything offered by their competitors..

I've always found the sound quality to be pretty good on the Panasonic portables I've tested, however a small number of buyer reviewers would appear to dispute this. We must keep in mind that portable DVD sound is often a delicate thing to assess by means of purchaser ratings because you just don’t know what people are attempting to play or what their expectations were. To be honest, no portable will give you home theater quality sound from the on-board speakers, and they are really meant to be used with headphones, so that's what I base my evaluations on. Simply put, with a decent set of buds, Panasonic has always provided me with excellent sound.

A number of customers complain that the controls are poorly laid out on the face of the unit, and I tend to agree. This takes little effort to adapt to and as such is only a minor fault as far as I'm concerned. What annoys me more is that some models don't include a remote control. There is no reason that a remote control shouldn't be included given the average price of these machines and I have no idea why they would exclude this basic feature. Be that as it may, if you want a portable with a remote, check the specs before buying a Panasonic and make sure the model you are focused on includes one.

Battery life is one thing that the majority of customer reviews see eye to eye on. Every  Panasonic portable DVD player boasts impressive battery life from 5 hours to over thirteen hours. Now before you take these figures at face value understand that actual battery life is greatly influenced by the user's viewing habits, and that is regardless of brand. While manufacturers report battery life in terms of the optimum possible environment, the batteries will not last as long as they claim if you typically use a higher screen brightness setting or make use of the speakers vs. headset for sound.

Hence models advertised as having thirteen hours of battery capacity may only realize 6 or 7 hours under different usage circumstances. Nevertheless, six or seven hours is really very good for a portable DVD player.

About the Author

Sid Brill is a freelance independent author, web master and head gadget junkie at Best Portable DVD Players, where you can get more information about portable DVD players for travel, the car and personal use. Find everything you need to select the best rated portable DVD player, including consumer reviews, pricing research and detailed product model reviews.