Initial DVD-1810 Portable DVD Player with 8-Inch Screen
Good value / performance - terrible durability
After 6 mos of use<BR>---------------------------<BR>Though it has been carefully taken care of (special DVD player case, minimal movement, low usage) the player has ceased to read most DVD discs.  At first, it had issues not being able to read the occasional widescreen DVD and now I'm lucky if it will read one disc out of 10-15 (mind you most of these discs are either rentals from Blockbuster or are brand new and all play fine in my home DVD player).  Not sure what is wrong but good luck getting in contact with Initial.  Maybe that is what the name represents - that it will work 'Initial'ly but then fall apart.  Stay away from this company and this quirky, now useless, DVD player!<br />My initial reactions<BR>---------------------------<BR>The initial 8\\" portable DVD player is a good value for the money as it's one of the least expensive 8\\" players out there.  The connection from the battery to the player is a bit odd as there is a separate wire that you need to connect from the battery to the player (as opposed to most laptops and other electronic devices where the battery has contacts which connect with the device when the battery is attached).  Also, the clips which hold the DVD in place on the spindle don't fit as one would expect since a 'normal' load of a disc will only engage two of the three clips leaving the DVD at an angle and unreadable to the player.  The last thing to note is that this is one of the louder portable DVD players out there.  It doesn't bother me at all, but it's something to note.  Lastly, but probably most importantly, wide-screen DVD's dont use the entire screen for some reason.  I tried fiddling with all permutations of the screen adjustment through setup (remote) and directly on the DVD player itself but no matter what combination of options I use I can not get the image to fill the screen without using zoom.  All in all, my gripes thus far are fairly minor and the Initial has a bright, widely viewable, screen and fairly easy to understand controls with good volume.  At the end of the day I'd still recommend it to others, but don't expect something as technically polished / well-designed as a Sony or Samsung-type product.