Panasonic DVD-L50 Portable DVD Player
Surprisingly good sound & picture for its size, but...
A couple years back, I was considering whether or not to get one of these when a friend of mine got one and started showin' it off to everybody in sight. One day I became one of the fortunate few to experience his new portable entertainment gadget as he popped in a fave platter and we watched the show together. It had amazingly crisp & clear stereo sound for its size, as well as really good picture quality for such a small screen, though the detail was somewhat limited by the screen's small size. It even came with a little clicker, complete with most of the functions & buttons you'd expect on a DVD player remote. I discovered that it can play music CDs as well, with sound quality that surpassed most portable Walkman-type CD players I've ever used or tried out.    But there were a few drawbacks that put me off purchasing this. First and foremost is the price; although it's significantly less expensive now than it was when I first looked at it, the PalmTheater is still a bit too pricey for me to consider it a good entertainment investment. For what's being asked, I'd at least like to see this machine be able to pick up the local broadcast TV and/or radio stations, which would be a great thing to have when I'm out in the boonies and I need my Monday Night Football fix during the season. Also, I noticed that this little guy got a bit warm after about an hour of continuous play. Although I probably shouldn't've worried about this as much as I did, I do know that heat is one of the big killers of electronic devices, especially something as small and undoubtedly delicate as this. Finally, this particular model being at least two years old as of my writing this, it's no longer as up-to-date or top-of-the-line as subsequent Panasonic (or other brands of) personal DVD player/viewers. If I do buy one, I'll probably go for a more recent model.    `Late