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490 of 503 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not too shabby!, June 14, 2006
Review for the Sony DVP-FX810. Primary use: Aboard our boat and used
with second 13" flat screen.
Well, like most people we've all been looking at these portable DVD
players for years. Remember when they were 400-500 dollars or more? Now
we have a large selection available for far less. The Sony weighs in at
a bit under 200 dollars. If you read the reviews on these players,
you'll generally see some happy users and an almost universal amount of
folks whose units went belly up fairly soon.
Here's the bottom line. Just about ALL of these players are built
cheaply. Speaking to a friend and a large retailer, I learned that
almost all see a fair amount of returns, including the pricier units.
No matter which unit you buy BE SURE to buy an extended warranty so you
can get a replacement if it dies.
Now....on to the Sony. This unit appears to be better built than most
of the others. It has a solid feel and the screen hinge is more robust
than others. The unit is slim, black and looks more like a 400 dollar
unit when sitting next to entries from Toshiba or Magnavox. The screen
rotates 180 degrees in one direction and will fold back flat against
the unit creating a tablet type player/viewer. This is perfect for
headrest or wall hanging, but Sony has made no provision for this so
you'll need to improvise.
Screen quality: Well....here's the meat and potatoes. Based on my many
years of audio and video usage on the higher end of the market, I'd say
the FX810 has average video quality, which is to say less than
stunning. Viewing the screen dead on makes for poor viewing. Tilt the
screen a bit and you get a more contrasty effect. Resolution is
passable, but nothing to write home about. Frankly, none of the small
screens are very impressive and offer less detail than a good notebook
computer. Still, the image is "just fine" for it's intended purpose and
watching a movie is no problem. Color and hue have that less than
accurate LCD look, but again, quite passable as entertainment.
Sound quality: Pretty weak, as on every one of these units without
exception. A pair of headphones or even cheap external powered speakers
will help a lot. This is not a flaw, but a limitation due to the size
of the player. Sony did what they could with some very tiny speakers.
Battery life: WOW! Sony's battery is a killer and ran my unit for two
whole movies, well beyond 4 hours and had power to spare. This may be
the best on the market in this regard. Charge times are somewhat long,
taking nearly five hours. The unit will charge while playing as well
and will work off the included AC adapter or 12 volt cigarette lighter
plug.
Feature set: This is a pretty basic unit. It won't play DTS tracks and
it has only composite out. I feel that without S-Video and progressive
scan, Sony has focused on making this a more solid unit in other areas,
such as overall build quality. The FX810 ships with a remote that is
full size. It's a bit odd to have such a clunky remote for a portable
DVD player, but it's easier to use and won't have you hunting for
little odd batteries used by the credit card remotes. Video in/out
plugs are included with RCA's to connect to a TV. You can also send in
a video game or video camera signal in. A single switch toggles between
AV in/out.
Another Bottom Line: Do YOU really need one of these? I have a DVD
player with 7.1 dolby in my van, but I wanted a small player for my 35
foot sailboat that could also feed a larger 13" screen. This fits the
bill. Features like progressive scan would be a waste on something like
this. The long battery life is nice and folks who fly a lot will
certainly appreciate that. If Sony makes a version with a 10" screen,
higher resolution and keeps the battery life they'll see quite a few
sales. In the end I still feel this is one of the better units, if not
the biggest, around. For under 200.00 it's fun and cheap, but looks
pricey. Just spend a few dollars more on the warranty and you'll be
good to go!
Capt RB
35s5
NY
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168 of 171 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good new entry in this price range, July 17, 2006
As I write this, Amazon still has the player listed as "not yet available" even though it's been available from other vendors for several weeks now. I've had mine for about three weeks.
As much as I like this player, there are a few reasons I'm only giving it four stars. First and foremost, the player has no screen mode for accommodating older wide-screen DVD's. When you watch one, you'll get black bands on all four sides. If you switch the LCD mode to Full, it only stretches the picture horizontally. It does a great job, however, on more recent "enhanced for 16x9" discs.
I'm not sold on the idea that glossy screens are a good idea on laptops or DVD players. A glossy finish supposedly makes the colors more vibrant, but it also means that, unless you're in a very dark room, you're always going to get reflections, particularly in scenes that are darkly lit.
The player is heavier than I expected. It is heavier without a battery than my older 7" Toshiba player is with a battery attached. While this gives the impression of a solid, well-made product, it also makes me worry about how severely it could be damaged if dropped on a hard surface.
On the plus side, the twist and flip tablet mode is well thought out with all of the controls running along the bottom of the screen. This could be improved by having a way to differentiate the buttons by touch. The picture quality is as good as you're going to find in an under-$200 player. The battery life is impressively long; I'm getting 5-6 hours per charge. Both AC and car adapters are included. Unlike my older player, when you turn the DVPFX810 off, it remembers where you stopped watching and resumes play at the same point. For me, this player is well worth what I paid for it.
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78 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'd recomment it!, September 9, 2006
The main reasons why I bought this DVD player is because: 1) I loved the way it looked (very sleek and stylish), 2) it was in my price range, 3) it said it had a 6 hour battery life, and 4) it has two headphone jacks.
Cons:
--The glossy screen makes for a lot of glares. to fix this problem, I hold up something dark in front of the screen!
--If you like to watch old movies on DVDs in wide screen, you're out of luck. It can only play those movies in full screen mode, which means you have a tiny screen (however, I don't know of any other DVD player that has fixed this problem)
--I think the screen is pixely, in other words, the pixels are quite large. It bothered me because it makes the picture less defined. However, an advantage to this is that your kids won't be tempted to keep their faces inches away from the screen and ruin their eyes. The farther away you hold the screen, the better the picture looks!
--The twist screen only twists in one direction. I sometimes forget which direction that is, and risk breaking the thing.
--the sleek remote isn't very sleek; it's about 1/3 the size of the player itself, and maybe 1/2 as thick. I found that quite amusing.
PROS!
--It's a beautifl design. The speakers and buttons are all on the screen which makes the tablet design wonderful.
--you really do get 6 hours of battery life. Of course, this is on the dimmest screen setting; but I've been able to watch at least 2 movies in good lighting on one charge.
--You don't need the remote to watch a movie. there are some settings that you can only make with the remote, but i've actually never needed to change those settings.
--the speakers are loud enough...for a quiet room. If you decide to watch a movie in a loud restaurant or (as I did once) in a car while it's being hailed on, you won't hear much. But overall, i'm happy with the noise they can put out.
--the package comes with everything you'll need! a battery, a remote, audio/video cables, a car charger and a regular charger.
--it saves your movie for you. if you turn it off in the middle of a movie, you can turn it on and resume it right where you left off!
--it automatically selects the right screen mode for the screen size (wide screen or full screen)...unless of course it's an old movie.
--there's an IR reciever on the screen as well as the front of the player. So whether you have it in tablet setup or regular dvd player setup, you can use the remote.
The dimesions for the player are:
9 in x 6 in x 1.75 in (with the batery on)
the remote is:
5.5 in x 2.5 in x 0.75 in.
Also good to know:
--the "open" button on the front of the player is not to open the screen (the screen has no latches or buttons holding it closed), it's to open the place where you put the DVD in.
--Charge the batter completely before you use it for the first time. I charged mine for about 5 hours the first time; but i think it was done after 3.
--I'm very picky about protecting this thing, so I chose the Targus hard-shell 10" case (model #TDC004US) and the icon dvd player neoprene sleeve (total cost ~$60). I put the player in the sleeve and then i put that inside the targus case, and pile all my cords and remote around it. I find this gives a lot of protection.
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