Customer Reviews

Coby TF-DVD7050 7-Inch TFT Portable Tablet-Style Portable DVD Player

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(26)
1 star:		(63)

 

 

Ok. First off, I have to say, I've only owned this for a few days, but I felt I had to write a review. I originally bought a DUAL XDVD-180 a couple of weeks ago. I gave that unit a really good review after only a few days as well, and it turned out to be TOTAL junk (the review has since been deleted). Never, and I mean NEVER, buy that unit. I'd go into detail, but I'd just end up getting mad over it. To make a long, painful story short, I'll just say the thing overheated and froze an hour into any DVD I tried to play.

I'm only reviewing the COBY TF-DVD7050 this early, because I can tell by the build quality, that it is obviously better. I'm glad I returned the faulty DUAL XDVD-180 to Amazon and bought the COBY. I can't even believe I'm saying I'm glad I bought a COBY, since they are usually notorious for producing junk.

This unit offers the best bang for the buck that I have ever seen in a DVD player of this sort. It feels extremely well made (with some metal parts even) and seems very durable. The unit seriously reminds me of a Panasonic Toughbook in some ways, although I doubt it's THAT well built. It is, however, the toughest portable DVD player I've ever felt.

The unit came with a headrest mounting bag. It came with two sets of headphones, and has two headphone jacks on the unit. It plays SVCD, VCD, DVD-R, DVD+R, and J-PEG. It came with a tape player adapter that allows the player to be heard through your car speakers (the unit does have its own speakers though). It also has a picture frame style, retractable stand on the back to hold it up on a table for easier viewing. The big surprise about those particular features is that, they aren't even listed in the product description. Yes, that is correct; those features are in addition to everything listed in the product description.
Everything that is listed in the product description is included, and works extremely well.

I also love how this unit comes with a battery, which makes it handy for flights. The 30 dollar more (and major piece of junk) DUAL XDVD-180 didn't even come with one.

The only possible con I can come up with is that, the LCD screen isn't the sharpest I've seen on a portable DVD player, but it's still really good.
So, unless this thing just stops working all of a sudden, like the DUAL XDVD-180 did, the COBY TF-DVD7050 is the best possible deal ever for a TABLET STYLE portable DVD player.
At a mere 150 dollars, you can't go wrong with it.

I'll update my review on this surprisingly great unit in about a month, but for now it looks like COBY has a big time winner on its hands. Who knew?

This player has an amazing image (especially for the price) and a "high quality" feel to it. It comes with everything needed to play in a car (including two pairs of heaphones, splitter, tape adapter, power adapter, etc..) great little unit! I can't get over that screen!

I spent a lot of time trying to research if this model has av input. it does not. My unit came with the battery contacts (the metal pieces inside the unit) misaligned such that i was unable to charge or use the battery. The contacts are far inside the casing, basically inaccessible without disassembly.

Otherwise, the picture looks good, the sound was reasonable. It comes with a ton of accessories which someone already detailed. The casing has a rubbery feel around it which makes it seem durable. The screen is nice and glossy.

This player is also known as PD-DVD7050 (search google) made
by Ningbo First Digital Technology Co., Ltd.

this is my 1st player and I wasn't sure what to expect from it. I read many reviews and it seemed like those that bought one were happy with it, so I decided to try it. The picture is great and the sound is also great. We took it for a car ride down some bumpy roads and had no problem with it. It seems to have all the accessories that I need anyway. I haven't tried it on the tv. It has a cd/cassette adaptor for the car, which I didn't really know what it was for. My son in law had to explain it to me. I received it in 2 days which was a surprise. All in all I'm very happy with it.

My neighbor picked one of these up over the summer at a local wholesale liquidation store. After checking his out, I went out and got one also. I've had it for about 4 months now and have to say that I am very satisfied with it. I recommend this product without hesitation. First, here are areas for imnprovement: 1) The screen does scratch kinda easily, but I think that's unavoidable since the screen's on the outside of the unit.... not a huge deal. The fine scratches are not visable when the screen is on. 2) The addition of a video input jack of some sort would make this player a perfect 10. Just a suggestion for the next model in development. Now for the positives of this player: 1) Really rugged. I dropped it (OK, threw it.. accidentaly) off the bed the other day. It was open at the time, and survived the drop (about 3-3.5 feet) onto the hardwood floor with no damage. I was impressed. It has a heavyweight/rugged feel to it without being overly heavy. 2) Picture and sound quality are good to excellent. Remember, this is a 7" screen and not a 42" plasma. Cut it some slack. The picture is as good or better than anyone could reasonably expect. I have had no problem with skipping. It also has dual headphone jacks - one on either side of the unit. It's nice to have a choice. 3) Battery - This units lithium battery stores inside the unit and is not a external battery pack like other budget priced portable DVD players. The fully-charged battery easily lasts through 1 feature length movie and the special features. It gives a "Low Battery" message on screen about 10-15 minutes before it automatically turns off. The AC adapter plugs in next to a little LED that turns green when the battery is fully charged. Also, extra batteries are available if you write to COBY. They run about a third the price of the player. An extra battery could come in handy on a longer trip. 4) You do not need the remote to use this player. Some portable players only have 2 or 3 buttons on the unit themselves, this makes the remote a necessity. Not with the 7050, however. The remote provides access to all the functions, but you can easily play/pause/skip a DVD right from the buttons on the front of the unit. There is also a button to turn the screen on/off. This is great for when pausing a DVD. Turn off the LCD screen while paused and it saves some battery time. 4) Overall performance. This player gets warm but not hot and goes for hours with no problems. Also DVD+/-R and +/- RW work in it although I don't think that COBY advertises this player as specifically compatible with those formats. A great feature is the selectable aspect ratio. This is a widescreen player and that makes some of the TV shows I record to DVD look stretched. This player allows you to change the ratio back to TV proportions (4:3 I think...)
In a nut shell, if you want a very dependable, affordable 7" widescreen tablet style player, buy this COBY DVD-7050. I bought it on a whim and for the price I paid, I am super satified. I would almost venture to say that this player is worth twice is going price.

Update (July 11,2008): Believe it or not, I still have this player and it still works well. Yes the stand snapped off the back and cannot be glued on. But it fell of the bed one too many times. Still kicking after 3 years or so. Not bad for $100. I bought a COBY clamshell/laptop style design portable DVD player in the years since I got the 7050, but I still prefer the design of the 7050, with the screen on the front. It makes watching a DVD in bed while laying on your side much more comfortable than trying to do that with one of the laptop style players.

Update (April 2009): Still going....

Uprate (November 2010): This thing still works. The battery is held in with packing tape and won't hold a charge. But if you use it plugged in, it works fine. This will be the last update as I may soon get rid of this. I don't really use it that much anymore....

looks and feels like high quality craftmanship,beautiful picture, works perfect behind the headrest, I love it! I like it better than an overhead installation, if it breaks I'll just buy a new one, if the overhead breaks then you will have to cover a headliner hole with a new oversized dvd system and possibly re-wire the system, too much trouble for delicate electronics. Winters are also brutal on a dvd system and theft is also an issue, you cant hide an overhead.

Everything you need to know about this player is addressed in the multitude of reviews on this site. The total number of reviews (almost all of which are positive) is a clear indicator that this is a great product. I hope to summarize everything I learned in my research, and now my experience, in this review.

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what DVD player(s) I wanted to purchase for an upcoming road trip. I wanted to be able to address the needs of my wife, dealing with a toddler on a daily basis, while also providing a solution for a teenager, pre-teenager and toddler on road trips. Eventually, I decided on purchasing two of these players and I am glad I did. I give the player an overall rating of 4 stars because there are some small things that Coby could have done to make the product perfect.

The Good - what set this product apart for me
*Compact and rugged design, everything feels well constructed on this player
*All accessories are included (headphones, cables, headrest mounting bag, remote, car charger, wall charger, desktop stand)
*Decent sound and image quality
*Easy to use
*Price

The Bad - what to be aware of before you buy
*Clamshell disc loading, the player must be removed from the provided case to change discs
*The headrest mounting bag does not provide a snug fit, when attached to seats, it tends to flex and bend, potentially covering buttons or connections
*The headrest mounting bag covers the IR receiver for the remote control (I was able to work around this with a hole punch)
*The desktop stand is flimsy and not very secure
*The device cannot be used as a monitor (no A/V in). This means that you cannot hook up a video game system, and you cannot connect two together to watch one video.
*The screen is relatively easy to scratch. I would recommend purchasing an adhesive screen protector (preferably one that can be reapplied). These can be found from a variety of sources on the web.

Overall, I am very happy with my purchase and hope to get quite a lot of use out of these. I purchased a two year extended warranty for each, just in case.

I purchased two of the Coby TF-DVD7050 in July 2006 for our vacation because I have 4 children and figured they could pair up, since each unit comes with two sets of headphones. I have to say we've been very pleased with both units. Even after using them extensively during our summer vacation, we've continued to use both units as our main DVD player (switching off every few weeks to keep the batteries "healthy")because our home unit stopped working right after we bought these for our trip.

Everything has gone well until this past week, when one of them simply started saying "wrong disc" after trying to load for a minute or so. From reading many other reviews, this appears to be the predominant failure mode on this and other similar portable DVD players. Fortunately, I purchased the replacement plan and have just called the replacement plan provider (NEW Products) to get the product return label for repair/replacement. I'll probably provide a review on that product as well once I find out how well getting a replacement or refund goes...

I do highly recommend at least a 1-year replacement (I bought the 2-year). Many have commented that the price of this unit (I paid $120 and it's now $108) doesn't justify spending another $20-$25 for a replacement plan, but hey, as Geddy Lee says on Bob and Doug Mackenzie's album "The Great White North"......"a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks!"). Looks like I'll probably get my money's worth for having the replacement plan.

Anyway, besides this sudden failure (which I expected to eventually happen--thus the replacement plan), I've been very happy with the DVD7050...the only complaint is that there are virtually NO good products for mounting a tablet-style DVD Player between two seats (especially the included headrest bag), which in our minivan is the only way we can mount the DVD7050 such that each kid can see the screen equally well. I recommend the Targus Messenger DVD213 travel bag for carrying/mounting this unit between seats in your car/van. I found it at Best Buy.

I did a lot of research before buying this item and determined that this was the right product for me- I simply wanted a good, inexpensive dvd player for the car to entertain my 1 1/2 year old. Just received this item, so can't rate it's longevity yet, but wanted to share a couple of tips! #1- BUY the warranty! Sure it's another $20-something on top of the price of this thing, but if you read the reviews, these tend to die early on- with the warranty you can have it replaced for free when that happens. #2- The screen does look like it will scratch pretty easily (as the reviews state)- I looked online for those film screen protectors people are writing about in reviews- the only item I found specifically for the Coby was on ebay and they wanted $10 plus $5 shipping for it- a piece of sticky plastic! I had a box of "laminating sheets" laying around that I picked up at my local Marc's store (closeouts/discount)- the box says the stuff is for self laminating photos, id cards and the like- it's just sheets of sticky plastic that you cut to size and stick on whatever you want to protect- sound familiar? I paid $1.99 for a box of 50 9x12 sheets- a lot less than what they want on the internet! I cut one to size and seems like it will work perfect to protect that easily scratched screen! I'm guessing you can pick up this stuff at your local WalMart... So between my warranty and my screen being protected, I'm crossing my fingers that we will be happy with this unit for a long, long time!

I LOVE the fact that this player is a tablet style. I have no idea why someone would buy a "mini laptop" style for use in a car. My child would kick the part that hangs down. And I don't want the player to hang between the 2 front seats.

This comes with the headrest mount and all the plugs. The battery has lasted about 3 hours for us. The unit seems to charge while playing in the car (although the manual doesn't confirm it.)

My one complaint is the placement of the clasps on the mounting kit. You wrap the straps around the headrest and the clips are RIGHT UNDER the front passenger's head. It's not just my car, the clip would land right on the front of the headrest on almost any headrest. So, as a passenger, I just spread the straps apart and carefully position my head between the clips.
The only other complaint would be that it's easy to tip the player over when using the kickstand (out of the car.) Neither of these things rate taking away a star.

I highly recommend this player and the price is great!