Here’s the problem with portable DVD players: most of them suck.
Sorry, but it’s true. The vast majority give you poor image quality (even by the normal standards for smaller screens), low resolution, they overheat, and they break a couple weeks after you get them out of the box.
It’s tempting to just grab the cheapest one on the market when you’re shopping for a portable DVD player, but it’s a lot smarter to do a little research first, because honestly, most of them are junk. Below are a few that tend to get great user reviews
And bear in mind, the best portable DVD players aren’t necessarily the priciest. Around $150-$250, and sometimes lower, is generally a fair price to pay for one of the best DVD players. There are just as many $350 DVD players that’ll break in a day as there are $75 one day wonders. The price tag doesn’t always correlate with quality or durability.
Toshiba SD-P2900
The Toshiba SD-P2900 features a big, 10.2 inch screen with very good image quality. It also has dual headphone jacks, allowing a pair of travel partners to watch a DVD together without disturbing the others on their plane, train, or automobile of choice.
If there’s one big downside, it’s that the battery only lasts for 3.5 hours. That’s not much worse than the average DVD player, but you might expect a little more considering that this one is a little pricier than most (averaging around $250). However, using headphones rather than the built in speakers, and adjusting the brightness to be bright, but no brighter than necessary, you can easily squeeze an extra hour or two out of the battery. Other than the battery issue, this is one of the very best reviewed portable DVD players out there.
LG DP781
Rated best overall, the LG DP781 is often considered the very best in the 100-200 dollar price range. The screen is a little on the small size at just 8 inches, but that should be no problem when you consider that most portable DVD viewing is done with the player planted right on your lap or desk. The screen can swivel and rotate and fold backwards, so you can position the DVD player in just about any way you like.
One of the real boosts to this DVD player’s user ratings is the five hour battery life. If you use one of the two headphone jacks and turn the brightness down a little, you could even squeeze a little more time out of the battery.
Philips PET824/87
The PET824/87 has an 8.5 inch LCD display with great picture quality, and up to six hours of battery life. The battery is rechargeable, it has built in stereo and headphone jacks, and plays DVD, DVDR and DVDRW, is compatible with MPEG4, MP3, WMA-CD, and even doubles as a CD and CDRW player. It really packs a punch for its size.
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