Philips PET710 7-Inch Widescreen Portable DVD Player
Good quality dvd player
I'm a picky consumer with regards to electronics. <br /> <br />This is the 3rd player I purchased - returned 2 and kept this one.  One of the players I returned was the Kawasaki 9\\" player - decided I'd rather sacrafice larger screen for quality.  Using the Kawasaki for a week before returning it - I felt it woudl break within a year b/c DVD casing didn't snapped awkwardly into position and the locking mechanism for screen to base snapped into place placing a sheering force on the hinge and screen everytime you opened and closed the unit <br /> <br />My opinion is that these portable DVD player mfr's have for the most part focused totally on keeping them cheap to manufacture and it's getting harder to find a quality product that will give you a good life of use. I settled on the Phillips over the other 2 b/c of the way the Philips was designed / manufactured it felt like a real electronic component rather than a cheap portable plastic player that didn't fit together well.  <br /> <br />* Volume - It has the loudest volume compared to about 10 other 7\\" DVD players I was looking at in this sized screen.  The Kawasaki 10\\" had a slightly louder volume - but not by much.  The quality of sound is also a bit nicer than most of it's competitors which feature brassy sound to them. It's still a  portable DVD player though - and don't expect a hi fi system out of the player. <br /> <br />* picture screen - it's very sharp and can be viewed from any side angles and lower - loses some quality when viewed from a sharp angle above the screen - but you can adjust the screen to compensate against that.   <br /> <br />* The machine is definitely mechanicly a bit louder than others when starting up and skipping from track to track - but I was aware of it when I purchased the machine so it doesn't bother me.   <br /> <br />* Remote - is typical credit card style - had all the features you could need including digital zoom - display keys - etc. <br /> <br />* Controls - more versatile and user friendly ( intuitive ) than many of it's competitors in the 7\\" units. I never felt like they were trying to pack too many menus into one button and it was easy to access all the features like wide / regular screen viewing / picture adjustments / sound choice without any deep thinking. <br /> <br />* screen and base are held securely together with a pretty strong magnet.  Strong enough to firmly hold the machine closed shut - but not so much that it would be difficult to open.  I really liked this. <br /> <br />* Casing of the portable DVD unit still has plastic - but it's coated with a sheet of brushed aluminum on the outside which gives it a durabilty and fit that's very nice. The DVD door fits perfectly and soothely locks into place and the release button opens the door nicely - you will never feel like you have a chinsy player with this unit - very well engineered. <br /> <br />I'd recommend purchasing this unit over most others - and am very happy with this purchase.  I expect it to last for a good long time without troubles - If I have any problems I'll be sure to update this review. So far I've watched about 20 DVD's with it to date. <br /> <br />re: battery life - No opinions - It wasn't a feature that was going to be used in my application - so I haven't used the battery yet - but I did notice walmart sells a 3 hour battery for this unit if you ever need a spare. <br /> <br />Jake