Sony DVP-FX700 7-Inch Portable DVD Player

by Sony

Product Details

Product Manual [2.70mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000DGA9Z
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,304 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Put those travel hours on planes, trains, and even automobiles to good use with this convenient and attractive portable DVD player. Sony's stylish, slender DVP-FX700 offers a seven-inch widescreen TFT liquid-crystal display whose 16:9 aspect ratio matches that of your favorite feature films. Built-in stereo speakers offer virtual surround for a more spacious effect, and the unit plays CDs, too--leave the screen down, plug headphones in, and crank it up (but not too loud). A handy remote control affords ready access to the device from up to several feet away, and its brushed-aluminum finish lends an air of refined elegance.

The DVP-FX700's three-hour lithium-ion battery ensures uninterrupted viewing of all but the longest movies, and an included AC power adapter lets you watch from the hotel room--you can even plug it into a TV on the road or at home through the unit's minijack S-video and composite-video outputs.

Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's digital-audio output (through a .125-inch minijack-to-Toslink optical cable, not supplied) for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver. The outputs are switchable as AV inputs, too, in case you want to use the screen as a monitor for a camcorder or video-game device.

The model measures a mere 7.4 inches in length and 5.9 inches wide and a mere inch thick (without the battery). Headphones are not included.

What's in the Box
DVD player, remote control (RM-D163A), two AA batteries, one 7.4V lithium-ion battery, an RCA-to-minijack analog audio/composite-video interconnect, an AC adapter, and a user's manual.

Product Description

A DVD movie theater and a CD player in the palm of your hands. Perfect entertainment for business trips or family getaways. Authentic cinema dimensions, 7" screen has 16:9 aspect ratio. Relax to an entire movie and more with 3 hour battery life. Enjoy home movies too with A/V mini-pin inputs for camcorders. Optical digital outputs easily connect to a large television.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quality Product, December 14, 2003

By 

Ultimate Realist (Sugar Land, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony DVP-FX700 7-Inch Portable DVD Player (Electronics)

I bought this unit 3 weeks ago from Best Buy. I had previously purchased a Mintek 1710 (7 inch screen) from Best Buy in August 2002. The Mintek had a sharp picture but its build quality and its battery were exceedingly poor. I had two Mintek's go bad on me until Best Buy simply asked me to apply my initial investment towards any new DVD player.

Next, I acquired a Toshiba SD-P2500 with an 8.9 inch sceen. This unit has fine build quality and the sound is superb. However, after 2 days of fiddling with its controls, I could never get a good picture in lowlight scenes. The blacks were too milky. I watched the DVD of TWISTER and was really disappointed with the experience. Finally, I took it back to Best Buy and got the Sony.

The Sony is a beautiful unit with a 7 inch screen. It lacks the progressive scan feature (no use on the built-in screen) of the Toshiba and the component video outputs - it does have an S video out. The sound from the tiny speakers is nearly as good as the Toshiba. However, this unit has the finest build quality (quite unlike the Mintek which would get dented with the slightest bump) of all the portable DVD players that I have seen. It is made in Korea and not China (not sure if that has anything to do with it).

The picture quality is simply superb with deep blacks. It has two buttons right on the LCD that allow you to adjust the brightness and contrast - very convenient. I also love the tiny blue LCD display that gives you information on the track number etc. So far the battery appears to perform well. It has only one headphone out unlike the Toshiba (which had two) but this can be rectified with a $5 split cord from Radio Shack if you need it. I have had no problems with DVD's slipping in my car over road bumps. The manual is well written as you might expect from Sony.

I must confess that I miss the 8.9 inch screen of the Toshiba and also the ability of the Mintek to play PAL DVD's. (Neither the Toshiba or the Sony will play PAL DVD's).

Finally, I would highly recommend that one get a product replacement plan with these players. Although, I am so far very happy with the Sony, I just have a feeling that portable DVD players are still not quite robust enough for the use that our children subject them to in the course of travel.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not spectacular, March 7, 2004

By 

J. L. Roberts "jon_missouri" (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony DVP-FX700 7-Inch Portable DVD Player (Electronics)

I compared the Sony with other available units costing half as much or less and bought the Sony based on picture quality alone. I figured the Sony would be worth the additional cash. Well, I was wrong. The price has been steadily dropping since I bought it so if you really want it, I suggest waiting.

Picture quality is good, but the resolution isn't anything spectacular. I'd never seen the specs listed anywhere but the owner's manual says it's 234x480. If you try to view JPEGs from a CD, it becomes painfully obvious the resolution isn't up to the task. DVD's look pretty good though and ultimately that's what this thing is for.

I'm content with the picture quality for DVDs but I am disappointed with this player's feature set. First, you absolutely can NOT fast forward without the remote control. I'd read that on someone else's review and couldn't believe it...well BELIEVE it. It's absurd that Sony left that feature off the console. You can fast forward with the remote but the console only allows you to skip chapters. This becomes incredibly annoying when watching a DVD like Sex and the City where chapters are entire episodes. Want to skip the opening credits of each episode? too bad, unless you have the remote. The remote control is nice, but why should I have to lug that around to accomplish a basic feature?

Second, most home DVD players today will remember where you left off on a certain number of DVDs so you can resume later without having to skip forward to where you were. Unfortunately, this DVD player doesn't have that feature as it remembers nothing once the DVD is removed or the unit is powered down.

Also, the headphone volume is weak and further weakened by a headphone splitter which is necessary for two headphones because Sony only provides one headphone jack. On a recent flight, I had to unplug the headphones and listen with the speakers because the max volume was too low for two sets of headphones. I'll concede however that a good pair of noise canceling headphones would solve this problem.

One other thing, not only does this unit not come with a car adapter, Sony does NOT make one for it! The $10-20 adapters at Circuit City/Radio Shack do NOT work. Come on Sony, what a joke!

Battery life is on par with compeition (2.5-3hrs). Recharge time is a respectable 2.5 hours, but you can NOT use the player while recharging.

Overall, picture quality and construction are better than the competition, but this is far from the perfect player. My recommendation would be to wait for the price to continue dropping or better yet, wait for the next generation of portable DVD players. They are bound to get cheaper/better than this.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars DISSATISFIED WITH THE AUDIO GAIN? I HAVE A SOLUTION!, May 10, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Sony DVP-FX700 7-Inch Portable DVD Player (Electronics)

I recently purchased two of FX700's for a long flight to New Zealand from L.A. Like many other reviewers here, I was "wow'd" by the great display; there isn't another unit on the market that looks this good. Side-by-side, any other portable looks terrible in comparison.

I thought that the combination of this unit and Sony's NC-20 Noise Cancelling Headphones (the over-the-ear model, not the ear-bud type) would be an unbeatable.

WRONG.

When we set these up on the plane, the weak audio gain from the headphone jack was immediately apparent. At full volume, even with the NC-20's, movie dialog was virtually inaudible. "Unbelievable", I thought. "How could Sony screw up like this?" We stored the players away and I spent the next ten hours grumbling under my breath at Sony.

When we returned, I read thru the reviews here and found that many expressed the same disappointment.

One of the units was a birthday present for the teenager, so it was an unfortunate keeper, but the other was returned for credit. It had developed the anomaly of freezing up the video about half way thru a movie (the other unit works fine). I wasn't sorry to see it go, but I lamented the purchase price of the remaining unit as wasted money.

Then, I happened upon a product by UpBeat Audio called a "Boostaroo". (...)
It's a small, 2-AA battery powered portable amplifier, specifically designed to boost headphone audio (it even has three headphone jacks). Upon receipt of the Boostaroo, I plugged it in with some trepidation, expecting my NC-20's to sound like an AM radio.

VOILA! The headphones lit up like I've never heard them before. The audio quality of the Boostaroo is amazing. I just wish I had this little darling on that long flight back.

I was so impressed that, especially not knowing anything about UpBeat Audio's long-term financial viability, I bought another one in case I lose or damage the first one. I figure the Boostaroo is a steal at twenty bucks, and this little sucker may come in handy in future portable applications.

10/18/2004 UPDATE: Amazon has the Boostaroo listed from directly from Upbeat Audio; you can now see it by typing "boostaroo" in the Search function above. However, I still recommend Cyberguys as the place to buy it; they charge a lower price for it.

I am in concurrence with all of the other points made here about the FX-700's drawbacks, especially the lack of foresight to design FF function keys on the unit.

However, with the Boostaroo, I no longer feel like I'm out hundreds of dollars for a dud. And, the display on the -700 really is top notch. Hopefully Sony will fix all of the inadequacies of this model in their next generation unit. Hey, maybe they'll license the Boosteroo from UpBeat and pack it with each DVD player.

BTW: Looking for an auto/airline power adaptor for this unit? See my previous review above.