Customer Reviews

Polaroid PDV-0820 8" Swivel Widescreen Portable DVD Player

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Bought one of these puppies for a car trip - very nice screen in the store, nice feature set, reasonable price. Weird controls - volume is via a wheel on the main unit; can't be adjusted using the remote control. Worked great for the first few hours, and then the screen went haywire - everything (including setup screens) gets awful ghost images, all of the colors except yellow disappeared, etc. Tried checking all the setup screens, and reset everything to factory defaults, but it appears to be a hardware failure. Very disappointing to the kids, and to the drivers when it didn't act as a pacifier...

The price was reasonable compared to other products in this space, but the quality was awful.

Pros:

The swivel screen is very handy. It gives you lots of options for hanging it your vehicle. The player comes with a case specifically designed for hanging on the back of a headrest. Unlike other cases, this one is not bulky, and holds the DVD player flat. I have mine hanging upside down from the sun visor. You can press a button to rotate the image 180.

The unit also plays music CDs and MP3 CDs.

The battery back attaches to the bottom, so it doesn't interfere with the hinges of the screen. Most other DVD players have the batter in the rear, so you can't open the screen flat.

CONS:
The 8" screen looks great, but only from a certain angle. It's not the best for sharing. There were other players in this price range that had better viewing angles, but the convenience of swivel screen made me choose this model.

Reliability:

So far, everything works.

I have taken this on many trips and it has worked well every time. No complaints at all

I had all but given up hope for the piece of junk that Polaroid made when I came across my original receipt. I paid $337.23 for this DVD player on Christmas Eve almost 2 years ago. The plastic clasp that keeps the lid closed broke almost immediately. Then the swivel mechanism broke. It no longer stands up perpendicular to the base. It just lays down flat. Nearly impossible to watch a movie that way. Which is just as well because soon after the input where the power cord goes broke. It played for awhile if you got it in just the right position and didn't touch it at all. Not very good for viewing in the moving car. Now you can barely get a movie started and it shorts out. I knew full well that it was out of warranty but wanted to call Polaroid to tell them that I was disappointed that a product that costs over $300 only lasted less than a year. They said what they would do is send me a replacement for $135. This replacement, and actually any new Polaroid DVD player that you buy only has a 90 day warranty. So now I am trying to decide if it is a really great bargain for me to send them $135 for another poor quality player. Or should I put that money towards another brand?

Have been using this unit for only a month now (since xmas, its January 28th now). On our very first trip with it, the main reason it was bought, the backlight went out on the screen. You can only barely see it when directly in the sun. What gets me now is after reading the poor reviews on this item that so many other people are having problems with it, when this afternoon I was on the phone with the people from Polaroid and they said they never have problems with these dvd players. To think, I thought i would pay the extra ammount for a namebrand I was familiar with.

I bought this unit because of the great features and the Polariod name...well, I have learned my lesson. I watched one movie on it on the way to the airport. Once we got on the plane and I turned it on, the screen lit up, but the disc would not spin. Checked the unit when I got home, the battery was fully charged and the player still wouldn't work plugged into direct power...I will be returning this and buying a new one, and not a Polariod.

I guess this is the updated model for the dvd player that I have from polaroid the pdv-0800, but it looks like the same crap to me. I had 2 of these dvd players so far, the first one had problems so I sent it back expecting a well functioning product, but instead i recieved another dvd player that worked under par. They both had trouble doing what they are made to do , which is play dvd's. Most of the time the movies I were watching would freeze up during viewing for no apparent reason, and just other problems like a loud clicking noise during fast forwarding. I do not recommend polaroid dvd products at all, they should stick with film.

I got this for Christmas two years ago and haven't had any issues. I'm amazed at what I read below. Could it be carelessness on the part of the users? I wish the battery would last longer for really long plane flights. That is my only complaint. But I believe you can buy an extended battery for it.