Customer Reviews

Samsung DVD-L70 7-Inch Portable DVD Player

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I bought the nearly-identical Samsung DVD-L75 at Best Buy a month ago and I LOVE it! As far as I can tell, the DVD-L75 is the same same unit as this DVD-L70 but even better - with a STANDARD 4.2 hour battery...so you can watch two movies on a cross-country flight! The unit has a very nice picture and it's super slim and lightweight. I looked at MANY units (at about 10 stores) over a week or so, and this is the first one in the under $300 range that caught my attention.

The only problem I found, like other reviewers mentioned, was that the maximum volume was too low under some circumstances (e.g., on an airplane). I solved that problem with a headphone booster from Radio Shack for about $20: an added bonus is that it has 3 outputs, so you can share with your traveling companion.

I purchased the Samsung DVD-L75 at Best Buy, along with a 2 year extended warranty (always a good idea with portable DVD players.) We purchased it for use on long car trips and the first time we used it, the player stopped and restarted itself from the beginning of the movie. My children complained after the 2nd or 3rd time it did this but I assumed it was due to my son jostling it or even from it getting overheated since he held it on his lap. A month later on our next car trip, it did it again. This time we tested it on a stable surface at home and it did it again. I took it back to Best Buy and they sent it off to be serviced (it was after the 30 day return period), but of course found nothing wrong with it after having it for 4 weeks. We took it out to the parking lot to test it and 5 minutes into the movie, it stopped and restarted itself. I took it back into the store and since they didn't actually see it happen, they refused to do anything about it. I will try again tomorrow to take it back and get some sort of resolution but my advice is DO NOT BUY THIS DVD PLAYER! I wish I had read these reviews first.

We just bought a cheapie Target brand DVD player (TruTech) and it works great - it may not look as cool or have the brand name but hey, it works and that's what counts! At the price of the TruTech ($99), we can buy two for the same price as the Samsung. And Target has a 90 day return policy (keep original packaging) which is far better than Best Buy's 30 day policy.

Moral of the story - I am through with Samsung and with Best Buy.

I loved the price and value of the player. The picture is nice and feature set just right.

The main problem is that when I sit in a bus, the jerks often stop the playback. Annoyingly, I have to turn the player off and on again, suffer through copyright notices, etc.

Now looking for a better model!

I bought the newer DVD-L75 at Best Buy for use on airplanes (I travel a lot). I took it with me on a trip to Kansas City but could hardly ear the audio when in flight, even through my amplified, noise-cancelling headphones. With the volume control turned all the way up, the sound level through headphones is acceptable in a quiet room, but not in a moving car or airplane.

Even in a crowded airport terminal the sound is too low to hear and understand voices reliably. I tried several different headphones, all had similar results.

The picture quality is great, even though no contrast or brightness controls are provided, and I'd keep the player if only I could hear it! Samsung really missed the boat on this product--it's simply unacceptable for use while traveling.

Works fine on a stable, non moving surface. In the car it stops unpredictably. Very, very unsatisfied with the product. I would not recommend this. Told that this can not be fixed.

I was really impressed when I bought this portable dvd player. I actually have the DVD-L75 model which has a 4 hour battery life, but is probably the same other than that. The sound is so much better than I thought it would be. It is crisp and clear and much louder than others claim it to be. It has surround sound which is great. The picture is also very good. The only complaint that I have is that when I played this in the car for my son when we took a long road trip, the picture kept going out and I had to keep powering it off and then on again to start the dvd all over again. I couldn't believe it! This happed constantly and it just got too frustrating to use. I had really wanted to entertain my son and it was such a let down. We didn't even have to hit a big bump for it to go out. It would just go out if we were just driving normally and met an ounce of resistance or less! I loved this dvd player up until that point. I see another reader mentioned this same problem. I'm going to see about returning it. I like it enough to try another one. Maybe it was a fluke. If it happens with the second one, I'll have to switch models. I did a bunch of research for weeks and decided on this one, so I'm really disappointed. It plays great in the house, but what's the point in having it if you can't play it in the car too? This alone will cause this model to lose two stars.

I just bought the Samsung DVD-L70 this week at Best Buy in Canada. I had decided to get this player over the Toshiba SDP16000 because in the store this screen quality looked much better.

Airplane Use: The dvd player is really good for airplanes. I shared it with my brother sitting next to me and he had no problem seeing the screen. It views really well during day flights and night flights in terms of the sun reflection but of course its best visually in the dark. It didn't skip at all in any plane and at one flight we were in a little express plane which is more turbulant because of size. It's also good when you are waiting in the terminal and want to watch because they usually have plugs around and you can just plug it in to watch and save battery life. The only problem I was a little frustrated with was that the volume is hard to hear in the plane. But honestly what do you expect when the engines of the plane are super loud in the first place? The noise reducing headphones didn't work so well so I'm going to return them. However, I found that using the ipod headphones that go right into your ears work better. Also I put on the subtitles so I could catch some dialogue in case I missed it. I don't have a problem doing that though I'm sure some people might. All and all it is very good in the plane you just might want to put forward some extra money and get really good headphones with volume adjusters on them.

Car Use: The dvd player is really good in the car. It didn't skip at all with the bumps and jolts of highway driving. The car adapter is a great function also. The volume is much easier to hear in the car than in the airplane. The only problems are that if you get a bit nausiated in the car watching then obviously don't watch in the car cuz you're focusing on it the whole time on your lap. What I suggest is getting one of those cases that it can hang from on the seat in front of you so you don't have to hold anything.

Regular Use: When using the dvd player as normal in a quiet room hearing it is not a problem at all. So far with all the movies i've played on it (most of them being dvd-r) it only had a problem skipping with one of them. I didn't mind because i think it is just a problem with the dvd itself.

Battery Life: The player on full volume with stopping, pausing, rewinding etc, lasts for about a movie and a half. I was able to get through The Bourne Idendity (which is fairly long) and half of One Hour Photo before it shut off. The only thing that is a bit frustrating is how when it's plugged in you can't charge it while you're watching a movie, the power has to be shut off. Over all i'd say it lasts for about 2.5-3 hrs on battery with use of features. If you leave the buttons alone I'm sure it'll last a bit longer.

Amenities: I really like the two headphone jacks. It's really benifitial for use in the airplane or in general. The screen quality is very sharp and good from most angles. I find the remote a little pointless becuase you're sitting right infront of it anyway and are most likely going to use the touch buttons. The buttons can get a little annoying because the fastforward/rewind buttons are not the first funtion if you press >> that first then it skips to the next chapter so in order to ff you have to hold it down so you might end up skipping your scene by accident. It's not that bad though you get used to the right ammount of pressure that's needed. The menu/title buttons are also easy to use and figure out. The quality of the text on the screen for subtitles is also easy to read.

All and all it's a great player to have with minimal faults. I recommend it to everyone since it's cheaper than most other players and comes attached with the reputable samsung name.

----------------------
I just wanted to add that after owning the dvd player for almost 6 months i still love it. I never have problems playing any dvds and it's great in the airports..sure makes time go by quickly when you're waiting to board. The screen quality is awesome and i still use subtitles to hear in busy places like planes and airports but that's not a big deal to me because i like reading it often anyway. if i could increase my rating, i'd give it 5/5 stars. it's good to have your own selection of movies so you don't have to watch the ones on the airplanes that they stop every so often for information updates from the pilots.
so i highly highly recommend this dvd player for teens/adults/children...it's simple to use and one of the best out there!

These comments refer to the L75, which is similar to the L70. I bought the L75 from another retailer because of a good rebate and long battery time. The next day I returned it and purchased a Toshiba SD-P1600, of which I like very much.

As many reviewers have said, the worst part of this player is the low volume with both the speakers and headphones. I didn't care much about the speakers, but the volume with the headphones is still much too low to overcome ambient noise such as in an airplane. In my quiet house, with the volume up all the way, it was about the right volume with the headphones. But not nearly enough for locations with background noise. Although I generally like Samsung products, I'm truly amazed this one ever reached production due to the volume issue.

The player felt cheaply made and fragile. After pressing the stop button several times it didn't always work unless I pressed it just right. The remote was a cheap credit card style.

There is no video input, so you can't connect a camera or videocamera to the player. Most players will do both in and out.

There is no dolby or dtx passthrough, which means if you connect this player to your home theater, your audio will suffer with 2 channel low grade audio.

The picture quality was good. The big draw with this player is the advertised 4+ hours of battery time. I didn't test the battery time so I don't know if it lives up to the spec. Some have said the player skips easily, but when I bumped it side to side or up and down I didn't notice any skipping. I didn't bother testing it in a car.

If you're looking for a portable DVD player, look at the the Toshiba unit I mentioned earlier. It has the features that I mentioned above that the Samsung didn't have, and it's well built. Its battery time is about 3 hours. Picture quality is very good. With the very same DVD and headphones, I lowered the volume about 25% from maximum to hear it well. This level corresponded to maximum volume with the Samsung.

I really liked this player!

It has many good features and I've only one minor negative comment...let me elaborate.

The pros;

1.)light weight and small (but appears to be solidly built); easily portable for travel.

2.)comes with car plug adapter so it can be used in your vehicle.

3.)has 2 ports so you have the option of using one port for headphones with the main speaker on, or the second port for use with the main speakers muted. (Really useful in the car or motel room when you want to watch or listen to something while someone else uses the radio or tv)

4.)comes with an a/v connecter cord so you can hook this unit up to a TV set.

5.)LCD image is very clear...screen angle is adjustable (by tilting forward or back) to give the best picture.

6.)There is a menu button that gives you control over such things as type of stereo output, subtitles and the ability to go directly to any cut on the DVD.

7.)It also comes with a fully functioning remote.

8.)Comes with a lithium rechargable battery that reportedly will give you about 2-3 hours of use.

The con; (singular)

The only negative point I've come across with this unit is the fast forward or rewind function (using the >> keys); the key is small and must be held down it order to fast forward/rewind, making it easy to misjudge how far forward or back you wish to go. However, that being said, this is only a small annoyance in a otherwise well made product.

All in all, a compact, portable DVD player and, as with most Samsung products I've purchased before, a well built, reliable piece of electronics.

This is a great player. I use it in flights and the size, design and image quality are perfect. It plays all media promised, including DVD-RW movies and MP3 music.

The sound is very good, though if you don't have noise canceling headphones you could find the volume a little low for noisy areas.

The battery life is shorter than 2.5 hours promised, but not less than 2 hours. The card adapter is useful (also works in airplanes)

Overall is a great player and I'm very happy with it.