Toshiba SD-P1600 Portable DVD Player with 7-Inch LCD
Good Price - Hope it Lasts
I have been looking for a portable DVD player for over a year now and I finally bought the SDP1600.  I looked at maybe 30 different models before purchasing this unit.  I have been following the downward price trend, hoping to get a good price on a name brand player. Finally, a Toshiba dropped below $200 and I finally got one.  The main concern I had after reading all of the reviews from many different sources was player quality.  Apparently, many people end up with dead players after only a few months use.  I have no breakdown information on the SDP1600 since it is relatively new on the market, but I hope the name brand will assure me of some level of quality--  We will see.  So far, the player worked well out of the box and for the last few weeks running almost continuously during the daylight hours.  The manual is well written and the player has a good mechanical feel.   I agree with other reviewers, the speakers are very poor (no bass) and not really useable in a noisy car (low sound output) .  The sound via the headphones is very good and I plan to purchase an external speaker.  There appears to be a trend in the portable DVD player market for the battery to be a separate unit.  The SDP1600 has a Li-ion battery that attaches to the unit in a fairly solid fashion.  On a full battery charge (4 hours) I got about 3 hours of DVD play with OEM battery.  The battery cannot be charged while the unit is playing, a drawback in my opinion.  Also, the battery is not suppose to be charged using the 12V car adapter (page 62 of manual), another drawback.  A spare battery designed to be attached as an OEM battery is about $60 at discount websites.  I found an after-market universal battery (Power Runner PR2E: ~ $50) that seems to work but the proper DC coaxial power plugs that come with the battery kit do not work.  I bought a type 'D' adaptaplug (EIAJ-04 type 4: 5.5 mm OD, 3.3 mm ID, 1 mm pin) for $5 at a local electronics store that works. I have tested the PR2E and it ranfor about 2 hours on a full charge playing a DVD.  If one considers that a Toshiba battery designed to work with the player will last 3 hours, the PR2E is not a good value.  I have tested the player with DVD-R (variety of manufacturers), DVD+R (manual says DVD-R only, but it seems to work with Dynex and TDK 8X DVD+R, it may work with other DVD+R manufacturers), DVD movies with success.  The unit played a fully load CD with MP3 files with no problem and I was able to use the unit to view a collection of pictures from my digital camera that were recorded on a CD.  The picture quality is good for a 7 inch display.  Two people sitting close together can watch a movie with no trouble.  My main use will be on airplane flights instead of my PC, which is too big and has a battery life problem.