Sony DVP-FX700 7-Inch Portable DVD Player
Good, but not spectacular
I compared the Sony with other available units costing half as much or less and bought the Sony based on picture quality alone.  I figured the Sony would be worth the additional cash.  Well, I was wrong.  The price has been steadily dropping since I bought it so if you really want it, I suggest waiting.<br />Picture quality is good, but the resolution isn't anything spectacular. I'd never seen the specs listed anywhere but the owner's manual says it's 234x480.  If you try to view JPEGs from a CD, it becomes painfully obvious the resolution isn't up to the task.  DVD's look pretty good though and ultimately that's what this thing is for. <BR> <BR>I'm content with the picture quality for DVDs but I am disappointed with this player's feature set. First, you absolutely can NOT fast forward without the remote control. I'd read that on someone else's review and couldn't believe it...well BELIEVE it. It's absurd that Sony left that feature off the console.  You can fast forward with the remote but the console only allows you to skip chapters. This becomes incredibly annoying when watching a DVD like Sex and the City where chapters are entire episodes. Want to skip the opening credits of each episode? too bad, unless you have the remote.  The remote control is nice, but why should I have to lug that around to accomplish a basic feature?  <br />Second, most home DVD players today will remember where you left off on a certain number of DVDs so you can resume later without having to skip forward to where you were.  Unfortunately, this DVD player doesn't have that feature as it remembers nothing once the DVD is removed or the unit is powered down.  <br />Also, the headphone volume is weak and further weakened by a headphone splitter which is necessary for two headphones because Sony only provides one headphone jack. On a recent flight, I had to unplug the headphones and listen with the speakers because the max volume was too low for two sets of headphones. I'll concede howeverthat a good pair of noise canceling headphones would solve this problem.  <br />One other thing, not only does this unit not come with a car adapter, Sony does NOT make one for it!  The $10-20 adapters at Circuit City/Radio Shack do NOT work. Come on Sony, what a joke!<br />Battery life is on par with compeition (2.5-3hrs). Recharge time is a respectable 2.5 hours, but you can NOT use the player while recharging.<br />Overall, picture quality and construction are better than the competition, but this is far from the perfect player.    My recommendation would be to wait for the price to continue dropping or better yet, wait for the next generation of portable DVD players. They are bound to get cheaper/better than this.