Initial IDM-9520 Portable DVD Player with 4-Inch LCD and Car Kit
BEATS THE BIG BOYS
Bought the Sony 7&quot; TFT DVP-FX701, exchanged it because it was NOISY. Opened the second one, the drive spinning was less noisy - however, the top metal plate (lid/screen)had a flaw-it was chipped. Needless to say turned the unit over and it says: &quot;Made In Korea.&quot;  I felt like a surprise was in every DVP-FX701 box. And the price is no box of Cracker Jacks either.  <BR>I really didn't have a preference in monitor size because at that size 7&quot; is no different than 4&quot; to me.  I look through monitors of all shapes and sizes all day long including a $30,000 HD BVM Sony Monitor.  Anyway, I found the IDM-9520 to be unique and in a class of it's own. For one, most smaller screens are standard 4:3 aspect.  Not even Sony offers a 4.2 16:9 aspect ratio TFT screen.  The price of the IDM-9520 is 1/5th of the Sony. So at 99 bucks who can complain?  But that's not all :  The drive spinning noise the Sony made? Non-existent on the Initial Player - extremely quiet! The built-in speakers? Very crisp and loud enough to fill a 600 sqare ft. room. Turn up the Sony and it distorted. IDM-9520's Firmware includes pull-down menus with equalizer too. Sony's firmware does not even include an EQ!  This company is out of La Verne CA which is considered local to any Southern Californian so I don't see any problem if I have a problem.  Lastly, quality: No doubts when I opened the sealed plastic container that was over the entire box, everything was secure, wrapped, sealed, and the DVD drive even had a cardboard disc in it to protect the unit after leaving the factory. (Sony portable DVD did not) Professional registration card also included.  Believe it or not.  Sony does not factory seal the DVP-FX701 box, no registration card, SEL customer service is not what it used to be either. Anyway, if anyone is going to complain about this little portable they're just down right cheap. This is the best valued portable DVD player at around 100 bucks made with extreme quality. Way to go Initial !  You beat the big boys on this one.  One more last thing! - I didn't get technical about the Thin Film Trasistor LCD - it's phenomenal!  The color and brightness adjustments are digital (in the firmware) The Sony player had two cheap slide bars to adjust.  Anyway to replace this monitor alone would be more than the 100 you spent on the whole package. Outstanding product bar none.