Toshiba SD-P1200 7-Inch Portable DVD Player (Red)
Coulda Been a Contender
I'm giving this player only three stars for several reasons. The physical design of the device is certainly attractive, and it does meet my basic need for a hand-held DVD player.  However, Toshiba has made some design choices that might make sense if this were your first and only DVD player, but which hamper its utility as a portable player. I think for most buyers a portable will a second, third, or even fourth DVD player that will rarely be plugged into a TV.<br />The most annoying thing by far it the player's inability to remember where you left off watching a DVD. If you don't watch a film all the way through in one sitting, you have to find your way back to the point you left off each time you re-start the player (This is not, by the way, a flaw unique to this Toshiba product; I have a Toshiba 9\\" TV/DVD combo with the same failing).<br />This lack of memory is especially irritating because, as some others have noted, the player can easily lose tracking and then has the re-load the disc (I've found that keeping my thumb on the disc cover while moving seems to help prevent this; perhaps if the disc cover locked down more securely, it might not happen at all). Maybe this lack of shock resistance is a reflection of Toshiba's apparent assumption that the unit would usually be used while connected to a TV.<br />My other main complaint is that there are separate fast forward and reverse buttons on the remote, but not on the player itself. You can get up to 32X from the remote, but only 2X on the player (by holding down the Skip buttons). This probably would not be so much of an issue if the player could remember where it left off when you stopped or it lost tracking. This seems to be another decision made assuming it would be used as a set-top player as least as much as a portable.<br />Finally, there is the matter of the latch, which has the problems of being both flimsy and hard to operate.  This is just poor ergonomics.<br />Having said all of that, however, I have to admit I do like the unit. I wanted a portable player about the size of a book that I could use in bed when I don't feel like reading, and this is an adequate solution. It's too bad Toshiba did not put more attention into making this a really great portable DVD player instead of just a great-looking portable and set-top DVD playerve to admit I do like the unit. I wanted a portable player about the size of a book that I could use in bed when I don't feel like reading, and this is an adequate solution. It's too bad Toshiba did not put more attention into making this a really great portable DVD player instead of just a great-looking portable and set-top DVD player