Customer Reviews

Azend Group Envizen Digital ED8850B Duo Box Pro 7-Inch Handheld Digital TV/DVD Player with Built-in Tuner, Carrying Case and Car Adapter

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I own several portable DVD players, but wanted one with TV reception to use in the car. When the price of the ED8850B Duo Box Pro dropped $30, it seemed like a good deal, so I picked it up. This is a pretty standard DVD player, with a 7" screen. Picture quality is good, and colors appear vibrant. The battery is internal, so the unit is compact, and has a low profile. Rated battery life is only 2.5 hours, so expect to actually get about 2 hours. Average at best.

The cover flips up, but does not swivel. The controls are pretty standard, and are easy to use, with nice positive clicking buttons. One big plus is that the volume level gets quite loud, impressive considering the unit has just a couple of small speakers. As is fairly typical, the sound is mostly treble, with just a hint of bass. There is an SD card slot, so you can play MP3 files, or view image files. When viewing photos, the unit automatically goes into a slideshow mode. Image quality is similar to most DVD players, too saturated, inaccurate colors, and not very sharp. Landscape photos look less compressed than those in portrait mode. The larger the files, the slower the images scroll.

Many DVD players have issues with playing material recorded on DVDR's. This player appears to have problems reading some Fuji and Dynex brand DVDR's. These discs were finalized, and playable on other recorders, but the Envizen could not read them. Most DVDR's by Sony, Memorex, Maxell, and Amazon Basics were found to be readable.

Overall the DVD player rates a solid B, but the results using the TV component were a major disappointment, although this is not necessarily the fault of the equipment. A short antenna with a magnetized base is plugged into the player, and if there is something metal around, you can attach the antenna to it, and hopefully improve your reception. Using the auto scan to search for channels, there are apparently about 16 channels in my area. Unfortunately less than half of them have a strong enough signal to be received reliably, and of those, maybe three or four, have programming that is of interest to me. In the car, attaching the antenna to the vehicle's metal frame, improves the signal reception slightly, but there are still many stations that do not come very well. I was hoping that this unit would have better reception than an Axion AXN-8701, but the results were pretty similar, which probably means the strength of the signals in my areas is not that great. You might want to test out the reception in your area, before you buy this.

The player comes with an AC power adapter cord, car power adapter cord, remote controller and a cheapie nylon carrying case. The remote control is pretty convenient to use, and you don't have to jam down hard on the buttons. The buttons are spaced far apart enough, so unless you have really big fingers, you don't have to worry about pressing the wrong button. There are some functions included that I find very handy, including Volume + and -, Mute, and Subtitle. For some reason the Menu button does not seem to work, although pressing the Exit button usually accomplishes the same function. The carrying case has adjustable straps, and is designed to be hung on the seat headrest. This rig works, but it is a pretty shaky setup that I don't intend on using. The car adapter cord is only about 3' long. If the only 12V outlet you have is at the driver's console, the cord may not be long enough to reach the DVD player when hanging on the headrest.

On the plus side, the Duo Box Pro is compact, lightweight, and has a decent picture, which makes it great to take on trips. Had I paid full price, I probably would have returned it, as the TV reception is poor in my area. It's not a glowing recommendation, but without good TV reception, the total package is average at best, particularly at the regular price. If you remove the TV factor, there are many better DVD players available for the same money.

I bought one for myself and love it. I have the "B". I understand the "A" had numerous problems. I've had no problems at all. The battery last a little over 2-1/2 hrs and plays DVD w/out interruption (as "A" was reviewed to have issues) I get about 30 tv stations with a fantastic picture. The photo play is great as well. I am very pleased with this item and would recommend it to anyone who wants a great portable DVD/TV/SD card player... It says you can plug in your wii but I haven't tried that...worth every penny...A friend from the office saw it and bought one for himself...

I received the item and started the charge of the internal battery. After 48 hrs, the battery life was 5 minutes and it went dead. I like the TV and features but the screen picture is fair quality. I have a mygotv 3.5" and that picture is 10x better. The battery life stinks. The reception on the antenna is fair and I have not hooked it to my camper outside antenna. I like it and will return it or use my extended warranty. Also the help 866-703-6275 on the warranty and owners manual is DISCONNECTED, no help from manufacture. It is a good value for the price if you can get a working , China made unit.

I bought this product for my husband for his birthday and bought another one for myself to use at work. I was very impressed with it the whole package at first. The color and sound were excellent. When the battery needed to be charged on my husband's unit he plugged it in to the wall outlet to charge it the unit started to make a clicking sound and the indicator light kept blinking from red to yellow. When he tried to turn the unit on there was no picture. He has only used it about 3 times and it should not be acting like this. I have been calling the number given for tech support in the instruction manual for five days and keep getting a busy signal no matter what time of day I call. I am going to send it back whenever I can find someone to send it to! Very disappointed in the whole process. The busy signal can only mean one of two things. 1) They are having numerous issues and complaints with the product or 2) They do not plan to honor their warranty. I did not purchase our Digital TV/DVD players at a discount price and am very unhappy with the way I am being treated. UPDATE: Called their customer service number today (6-8-10)and it has been disconnected. What does that tell you about their product and their warranty?

We were so excited to first get this product because of the variety of options we had. We could watch a movie or TV while on the go. We had it just over 30 days and everything stopped working. We sent it back for a refund. What a shame, if only the company stood behind their product, they could sell a lot of these to individuals and families on the go.

I originally bought this TV/DVD player to replace the functionality of three other units, but
so far it has failed to deliver on these three functions.

1. When it isn't being used as a mobile unit I wanted to use it as a TV for my kitchen sink being
fed signal from my entertainment system. The TV that was previously there just had to be tuned
to channel 3 and it acted like a monitor. But the Envizen unit is an ATSC only device and even
when manually tuned to channel 3, it won't recognize the signal from the Direct TV RF output.
So for this to replace the kitchen sink TV I either have to find an old VCR that will convert a
75ohm RF input to an AV output, or rewire my house with AV cable.
Maybe if I had a signal reader I might be able to figure out exactly what frequency channel 3 is
on and manually input that as the Envizen does have a way to tune by frequency and if this was
its only problem I might've considered trying that.

2. Next I tried it attached to the AV output of my entertainment system to see how well that
worked and for some reason when its set to AV, the volume goes to full and stays there no
matter what I tried to do to change it. So to adapt this to my entertainment system even if I did
rig an AV output for the Kitchen I'd also have to attach an external speaker to provide a volume
control.

3. Then I tried using it for a portable TV. I set it up in my car because I assumed that putting
its tiny magnetic antenna on the roof of my car would give it a good ground plane just like it does
for a magnetic CB antenna. But the reception wasn't that good. I only actually get a couple
channels which is likely to do with the area. I suppose I could add an amplified antenna with
bigger rabbit ears but that shoots down the portability factor.
Oh and BTW, this TV has a European style Antenna connector so if you happen to lose the
adaptor you can't plug in a standard Coaxal cable and those connectors are hard to find unless
you have a good electronics supply store in your area.

4. I put a DVD in it and it does play it. This was about the only thing it did well and the picture
was pretty good. However I only tested it on a DVD I'd recorded myself off of Direct TV so how good
of an image you'd get from say a commercially made DVD remains to be seen.

5. Next I put a memory card in it to view some photos. While the images weren't bad, they
weren't great and worse, the screen ratio stretched my images and this even after I'd set the ratio
aspect in the menu. It appears that the screen aspect control seemed to cease to function once the
unit was in Memory Card read mode. So it's not worth carrying to view my photos in the field as I'd
hoped.

6. I also wanted to be able to use it to feed my portable Video projector, but then realized that it
didn't have an AV out either. Oks for this I'll take the blame for not reading the specs more closely.

7. The Remote seems cheap and is hard to use. I'm never positive whether the unit isn't
responding because I'm not pressing those bubble-buttons just right or the unit doesn't recognize
that function in that mode.

8. Finally the instructions state in several places about accessing functions that when I call them
up on the menu the unit requests a password to use. The instructions give what is supposed to
be the generic passcode but every time I've tried to use that it's not accepted.
From the way it was packaged when I first opened it, I got the feeling that it may have been an
previously opened unit. Someone might have already reset the password and then returned it.
Of course there's the possibility that these are functions only a technician is supposed to use, but
if that's the case why does the instructions direct me to access those functions?

Bottom line here is I'm frustrated, I'm sending it back and my advice to people who are
considering this, if the only thing you really want it for is to watch DVD's in your car it'd likely
work fine. But then I've only owned it for a couple of days so I can't say if it'll crash and burn
the day after the warranty runs out. Although somehow that wouldn't surprise me at all.

I purchased this dvd/tv to watch while I am on my boat. I live on my boat at a marina in the summer. It's tight quarters (30ft) but good for the summer months. I got tired of getting movies all the time and/or watching the same movies over again. I spent a few hours researching for this portable tv. I am able to get three to four channels while in a bottom bunk that bearly gets radio reception. I put the attenna on the porthole by using the magnet to attach to a metal wine cork screw. It stays on nicely and helps get the reception. Some times the reception goes out but if I just move around the attena or hold the wire (put it under my body/ acting as a giant attena) the reception comes in clear. Considering the spot I'm in, it does a descent job. Nice picture quality, too. I also like the carrying case, even though it's made for a carseat, I have been able to use it in all kinds of viewing positions, just by adding a couple of small bundge cords. Boat Girl.

Bought this because I wanted to get a small digital tv and also dvd player. Great price and saves room being two in one, the price for both was as much as most individual costs. Use it when on trips with my grandson so he can watch movies, great that the carry case doubles as holder in car. It does skip if hit hard bumps, and the only bad thing is reception on tv is only good if hooked up to a better antena, although once I hooked it up to a better antena and ran channel capture there are some channels it will pick up on its antena in my house. It was worth the price paid.

The portable DVD/TV player is pretty good value for the money. The first one I received had a technical issue where the o.s.d. menu kept appearing on the screen erractically. I believed the "menu" button on the device had a short in it that acted like it was being pressed continuously. But Amazon easily and without hassle gave me a replacement and the 2nd one has worked fine for months. The picture is pretty good and the DVD response is smooth and quick...no long load times, no unreadable discs.

I only wish the antenna could receive my NBC affiliate here in Richmond, VA but that station is hard to pull in even on a regular TV with rabbit ears. But it receives all other stations great.

Even though I got a flawed device on my first order, I still would buy this product again if I needed a second one.

I travel a lot, and am always subject to the mess on TV. Yes, there are good programs, but they are far outweighed by shows that have little or no entertainment value of interest to you. The small and compact DVD player is just the right size to deliver excellent picture quality, and "LOUD" output for the small speakers. No "room-rockers," but enough output for the lowest initial recorded signal on every medium offered. I especially like the ability to play .avi files of many types. I can put 3 or 4 movies/shows on one DVD and get flawless playback. This feature alone sets this player above much of the competition. The TV is an added bonus. I live in a low signal strength area, and with the included mono-pole magnetically mounted antenna, I can get only 2 stations. However, I purchased an AN2 antenna for $12.00 which is a 7"X4" foam plate with a handy suction mount. Attaching this to a window provided 15 channels with rock-solid reception. This antenna fits in the included carry case with no problem. I also purchased a small FM radio, and can use the amp-speakers to listen to local stations at reasonable volume levels. If you insert the memory card from your digital camera, the unit will present a nice slide show of your photos with the instant ability to re-orient the images so they are all vertical. I showed the Envizen 8850B to a friend, and he ordered 4 of these for Christmas gifts for his children. I set up all of these units and they all perform flawlessly, so initial quality appears to be good. The picture is just big enough to be easy to see, yet small enough to be truly portable. At less than $110.00 It's hard to find anything to complain about. It does not come with headphones, but any decent headphone/earbud will sound great. Also, there is no audio/video out for connection to other displays/tv's. Hopefully the next generation will include this as well. A REAL BARGAIN!