Initial DVD-1810 Portable DVD Player with 8-Inch Screen
Great Value
For the price, this player is a very good value.  Manufactured in China and featuring the same firmware as other players (just with different name plates - check out the Mintek DVD-1810 - including full-size home players) right down to the menus, it plays many disc formats.<br />Speaking of formats, all those listed work great.  I've confirmed it will not play WMA files.  This wasn't listed on this page but neither was an S-Video output and the player has it.  JPEG pictures can be rotated easily with the left/right arrow keys on the remote or unit itself if needed.  As far as HDCD is concerned, I'm not sure how much can be achieved using just the player's built-in speakers.  Unfortunately, at least for me, the player does not support DTS in anyway.  So forget about selecting the DTS audio option on movies are playing DTS-CDs.<br />Something most sites and \\"re-badge manufactures\\" of these Chinese players fail to mention (but should) is their use of computer type DVD-ROM drives.  They may be a little nosier than standard DVD player transports but they are incredibly fast.  Navigating menus is quick with minimal load times.  Fast forward and fast rewind searches, while not ultra-smooth, are still much smoother than other players and act more like a computer's DVD-ROM drive.  More importantly, layer changes are so quick that they are almost unnoticed, especially if you don't know where they are beforehand.  The player runs very hot and will need proper ventilation.<br />I think everyone should know about the audio/video output: it's reversible.  I mean it can be made to input signals as well as output them.  Think about it.  With a RF modulator and a RCA patch cord (supplied with the player) this can be a small screen television.  Also, the player could be used as a small screen display for video game consoles like X-Box, PS2 and Gamecube.  I've had it hooked up to a VCD/CDG Karaoke player and it worked great.<br />As for the display, I do wish it was higher resolution but for the price it is quite good.  The display surface is quite \\"rippled\\" when compared to more expensive portable players and laptop computers which are truly flat (this mostly disappears when a movie is actually playing however).  The image quality looks closer to 480i instead of 480p.  Sharp diagonal lines produce stair-stepping, there is much pixilation in some scenes, etc.  The screen's brightness is excellent but it is so bright, even on the lowest setting, an accurate black-level will never be obtained.  Overall though; the image is quite pleasing, particularly when you remember you didn't pay $700+ to get it.<br />The sound from the speakers is quite good in my opinion.  If you plan on setting the volume high enough to fill an entire room then of course they will fall short.  Set at an adequate level though, they are quite nice.  The headphone jack is always available and works great too.  I haven't tried the optical digital out despite having the proper connection and theater system for it.  That's one feature I personally will probable never use having stand alone home DVD players.<br />The remote control is awesome.  It is very small and wafer thin yet has all the controls you need.<br />One final thing, a friend of mine from Cambodia let me borrow one of his Region 3 PAL DVDs he could not play and it played in this player!  I can not confirm the disc's Region 3 coding (it is listed as such on the packaging which is mostly in Khmer) but I can confirm that it is in the PAL video format.  So add PAL/NTSC conversion to this player's list of \\"hidden\\" features too.but for the price it is quite good.  The display surface is quite \\"rippled\\" when compared to more expensive portable players and laptop computers which are truly flat (this mostly disappears when a movie is actually playing however).  The image quality looks closer to 480i instead of 480p.  Sharp diagonal lines produce stair-stepping, there is much pixilation in some scenes, etc.  The screen's brightness is excellent but it is so bright, even on the lowest setting, an accurate black-level will never be obtained.  Overall though; the image is quite pleasing, particularly when you remember you didn't pay $700+ to get it.<br />The sound from the speakers is quite good in my opinion.  If you plan on setting the volume high enough to fill an entire room then of course they will fall short.  Set at an adequate level though, they are quite nice.  The headphone jack is always available and works great too.  I haven't tried the optical digital out despite having the proper connection and theater system for it.  That's one feature I personally will probable never use having stand alone home DVD players.<br />The remote control is awesome.  It is very small and wafer thin yet has all the controls you need.<br />One final thing, a friend of mine from Cambodia let me borrow one of his Region 3 PAL DVDs he could not play and it played in this player!  I can not confirm the disc's Region 3 coding (it is listed as such on the packaging which is mostly in Khmer) but I can confirm that it is in the PAL video format.  So add PAL/NTSC conversion to this player's list of \\"hidden\\" features too.