Toshiba SD-P2500 8.9-Inch Portable DVD Player
Great picture, once you get the hang of it.
This Toshiba unit is very impressive. I had originally purchased a bargain Mintek MDP-1810. Its picture left a lot to be desired and eventually it failed to operate after a couple of weeks. So I returned it to Amazon and spent a couple of hundred bucks more for the Toshiba. The Toshiba's picture is very good (much better than the Mintek); however, the viewing angle is critical. After experimenting with the tilt position of the screen and the picture controls (of which there are many and you can have three user-programmable settings), I've been quite happy with the results. I have not noticed any undue graininess nor any annoying motor noise during playback. My one complaint is that the blacks could be blacker. There is a faint illumination around the edge of the screen that appears in dark scenes, especially noticeable in the black bars in widescreen letterbox movies. This can be minimized by careful adjustment of the tilt of the screen. (If there's some other adjustment I could make, please let me know.) Don't expect the same kind of picture you get with a direct-view television. Still in all, most of the time this is one gorgeous picture. One other thing to be aware of: as with the Mintek, if you turn the power off, the machine will re-start at the beginning of the DVD when power is turned on. You'd think if the Toshiba can remember three video settings with the power off, it could remember where you stopped the movie.