Philips PET1010 Portable DVD Player
This is the one you've been waiting for!
After waiting and waiting and waiting some more I finally jumped into the portable DVD player market.  Believe me when I tell you that I looked at every available player on the market.  There was always a reason that stopped me from buying a portable DVD player whether it was price, bad picture quality, features, whatever.  Then it happened.  I stumbled onto this unit during one of my many internet portable DVD player research sessions.  <br /> <br />Unfortunately, no retail outlet in my area had one on display.  So I did something I've never done before: that's right, the sight-unseen purchase!  I bought this unit from Circuit City after I had to convince the sales person that, yes, you do carry this unit and, yes, you probably have one in stock.  He checked the in-store inventory and lo and behold, they had one. <br />I decided that since I had one month to return it, I'd give it a shot.  Am I ever glad I did!  What an awesome unit.  <br />  <br />First, picture quality.........It actually looks like a mini-plasma screen TV in terms of brightness, color and sharpness.  I honestly don't know how the picture could be any better.  Easily, the best I have ever seen in a portable, by far.   <br /> <br />Second, sound quality........With headphones: tremendous, incredible.  Without headphones: honestly, not too good.  But why would anyone listen to the teenie little built-in speakers on a portable instead of using headphones?  You wouldn't.  There are several sound options with different EQ configurations but I found the factory default settings to be the best.  Just keep the surround sound feature on all the time and you will get sound quality equal to your local theater. <br /> <br />Third, features...........too numerous to mention but this unit has everything you need and more and comes with a great little ultra thin remote.  Fortunately, for basic movie watching, everything can be accomplished on the console itself, no remote needed.  I guess the biggest negative about this unit is the battery life rating.  It's only rated for 2.5 hours of viewing time.  The good thing though, is that it is a Lithium-Ion and during my personal tests, it lasted for over 3.5 hours, about an hour longer than it's rating.  Not too bad really. <br /> <br />Summary........all-in-all I very, very highly recommend this unit but please don't take my word for it.  If you are fortunate enough to find one of these players on display, by all means check it out for yourself.  You will not be sorry.