CyberHome CH-LDV 712 7-Inch Portable Progressive-Scan DVD Player , Silver
Cyberhome 712 and 700B compared
BECAUSE THERE IS AN \\"EDIT\\" BUTTON, I HAVE TRIED TO \\"EDIT\\" THIS AND MAKE A FEW CORRECTIONS -- BUT EVEN THOUGH I \\"SAVE\\" MY NEW EDITS, THEY NEVER SHOW UP!<br />WHY IS THAT?<br />I know a few things to compare the Cyberhome CH-LDV 712 with another model, the Cyberhome CH-LDV 700B.  This info may be useful to some.  (I would have put this alongside the CH-LDV 700B reviews, but Amazon has no provision for it, and I don't think it's right for Amazon to print only those 3 negative reviews just because \\"Amazon\\" doesn't sell the 700B any more.)<br />As I said, I had a chance to compare the 712 and the 700B.  Here are a few of the differences, besides the $50 to $100 difference in price:<br />a) The 712 is better at playing MP3s.  On a disk of 120 MP3s a friend burned for me, only 21 would play when using the 700B.  With the 712, all 120 showed up, although I didn't have the time to play them all -- I assume they played fine, like the few I did try.  Because the 712 takes longer to load a CD disk full of MP3s, I suspect that it has more RAM memory than the 700B.<br />b) The 712 definitely has a longer-lasting battery.  Or should, anyway.  Some reviews claim it does not last 4 hrs on a charge.  I wonder if they charged it long enough.  The 700B's battery DEFINITELY lasts 2.5 hours on a full charge, but it can be diminished somewhat by skipping around a lot on the DVD's menus, playing at high speed, etc etc.  It does not get overly hot, just warm.  If the temperature is over 80 degrees it will get very warm after a while, but never hot.<br />c) The 712's screen is hard for me to get used to... it is full of lenticular lines that prevent the picture from looking its sharpest.  The 700B has lines, but they barely show at most angles, and I love the picture's sharpness.  Because of this, I rate the 700B much higher in this respect.<br />d) I wasn't able to check the 712's screen, but the 700B's screen has a problem with spotting.  Maybe all DVD screens do, I don't know.  If you happen to flick a tiny spot of water or coffee on it, there will be a stain you cannot remove.  Trying to do so will only make it worse.  It's as if the 700B has an \\"emulsion\\" for a screen -- which may explain why it comes with a piece of clear plastic covering the screen.  Do not remove this, unless you want problems with the screen getting dirty.  Remember, you cannot clean it.<br />e) I have little experience with DVD players in general, so maybe this is a common problem -- but I found that I could not \\"quickly\\" get into a movie with the 700B.  Always had to wait thru the FBI warnings and a few other images first.  Took about 60 seconds or more usually, and grew quite annoying.  I now hate the FBI.<br />f) The 712 definitely has a battery that \\"should\\" last 4 hours, as claimed, and I was unable to check on that -- HOWEVER, there is a trade-off.  The battery adds almost a pound or more to the 712's weight.  One advantage, though, is that you can charge the battery WITHOUT having the DVD player along, something the 700 cannot do.<br />g) I heard that some people returned their 700B because the screen went black and didn't return -- well, in my experience the reason for that was from STARTING THE CAR while running the 700B on the car's battery.  Starting creates a surge which will cause the screen to go black, and you'll have to re-boot afterward by waiting a minute and then starting all over.  Maybe they all do this, who knows?  But it plays just fine once the car is running.<br />h) PLAYING JPG's.  The 700B (and the 712) are both supposed to be capable of playing jpeg images, but I found that the 700B could only play a limited few files... perhaps 25 or 30 images. I discovered that the 712 could access more, but I wasn't able to discern that their quality was any better.  The images were not of the best quality with either one, in my opinion -- and if they were small, you had to work with the \\"zoom\\" on the remote to make them bigger, and you usually had to re-frame them.  A lot of bother.  But then, it's only a 7\\" screen.<br />For the $200 I paid, the 700B suits me just fine -- although I'm not too happy with its JPG and MP3 limitations and may decide to return it.  But the movies are just excellent, with brightly colored images (which you can brighten or darken) and a really high-quality stereo sound, especially with good headphones.  The tiny built-in speakers are barely adequate, and can scarcely be heard with some passages.