Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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285 of 290 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
good enough for our toddler, February 2, 2005
I purchased this portable dvd player for a trip to Maui to prevent Elmo and Wiggles withdrawl by our 19 month old. The Panasonic portable dvd players clearly had better screens when viewed side by side at a local store. The Audiovox display is acceptable. With real bad screens, I'll watch some movie and keep thinking how bad the screen is. With the Audiovox I'm able to enjoy the show.
Was the Panasonic $100-150 better? For frequent use by an adult, yes. I was actually pretty close to going for the Panasonic because the screen was so nice. I ended up going the cheap route for the following reasons:
1. No audio/video input jack for the Panasonic. I can use my Audiovox dvd player to play xbox.
2. The bonus pack that comes with the Audiovox is actually of decent quality and useful like the carrying case, ac adapter, car cigarette lighter adapter, a/v cords, and two comfy headsets. A little research showed that the car cigarette lighter adapter for the Panasonic was actually pretty expensive.
3. I'm certain my son will knock this dvd player over one day when I'm not looking. I'll feel better that it wasn't worth $100-150 more.
The Audiovox performed like a champ on the trip. My wife and I even watched a movie together with the two headsets while our son slept five feet away in his crib in our hotel room. Not sure how the quality will hold up over time but I feel good knowing that if goes kuput within a few weeks, I'll have an easier time working something out with Amazon.
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117 of 118 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just Right, May 5, 2005
I just purchased this and am thrilled. It has all the things a parent could want ie: two headsets and jacks, decent picture, good sound, the car kit and the adapters. The ability to play music and movies, the audio/video inputs and outputs to play games or hook up your video camera for a mobile slideshow will come in very handy in countless situations. We tested it out at home and found the player to be sound and I'm happy with the choice. I did notice the headphone volume doesn't go up very high. It was right where I would put it at max volume and not be blowing out the kid's ears. I think that is a plus and not a minus. I'll have to test it with road noise...I guess it depends on your car as to how this will affect you. If it is a problem, there are headsets that have their own independent volume controls and each person could boost the volume to suit their needs.
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Important design flaw in the battery system, October 18, 2005
For starters, there was a problem with the battery on this unit when I received it. The indicator wouldn't stay solid, and would instead flash; I spoke to Audiovox, they said it was a problem with the charging system, and it would need to be returned. No big deal, defective units happen. And though it was a pain, my review isn't based on that.
The bigger issues were with the design of the product itself, along with its accessories. This is simply not a well-designed product.
The number one issue is with the design of the battery/adapter interface. On most portable DVD players, like most laptops, the battery connects to the unit, and the unit then has a place to plug in the adapter. On such units, the battery has to be connected to the unit to charge, but more importantly, the unit can seamlessly switch between battery and wall power. That is, if you have the unit plugged in with the battery attached, and the adapter loses power, you can continue watching your DVD using the battery. This is important on, for example, a train, where the outlet power will occasionally cut out. With this unit, however, the unit has a single power input plug, and the battery has both an input slot and a mini power cord. To watch the unit using the battery, you plug the battery's cord into the unit; to watch the unit using the battery, you plug the adapter cord into the unit; and to charge the battery, you plug the adapter cord into the battery. However, with this setup, the unit can't switch between the battery and the adapter; if you lose adapter power, the entire unit shuts down and must be restarted.
This is a minor issue, but is intensely frustrating nonetheless. What makes it more annoying is that this is the only unit I know of that is designed in such a way; both cheaper and more expensive units manage to integrate the battery and the unit into the same power system, so that a loss of power won't completely disrupt the operation of the unit.
Beyond that, the carrying case that comes with the unit are helpful if you plan to use it in a car, but fairly useless otherwise. It's very large, designed to hold both pairs of headphones and all the various cords that come with the unit. It's too large to carry around conveniently, and takes up a great deal of space in an overnight bag.
Overall, the defect in my individual unit notwithstanding, this model is merely okay. The battery design flaw strikes me as simply inexcusable, and the accessories are less than helpful. This unit is not inexpensive enough to justify its flaws; when I returned my unit to Amazon, I opted to purchase a different model rather than exchange it for the same model.
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