Philips PET724 7-Inch Portable DVD / DivX Player
its ok
I've always wanted a portable dvd player due to my large dvd collection. I waited almost 2 yrs until i finally decided to buy one, mainly because they were too expensive, and battery life only last about one movie (max at 2hrs). I saw this player reviewed by Wired magazine and it performed the best out of all the ones they've tested. What attracted me even more to this unit was:     1. price was cheap, about $150.   2. battery lasts about 4 hours   3. it plays divx and other formats.    Right out the box, the unit is beautiful, the outer shell is composed of the ipod white plastic with a slim silver plastic trim around the edges. The unit feels well built and sturdy but is probably very prone to scratches like the ipod. The battery attaches to the back of the unit and sticks out about 2 inches similar to how a large capacity battery sticks out of a laptops. So here's the bad part (keep in mind this is my first portable dvd player)    1. the screen resolution is very low. It could not display the full resolution of the dvd, everything feels scaled down and pixilated. For example: a diagonal straight line looks totally jaggered and pixilated. Each pixel on the dvd's LCD feels twice as big as the pixels you see on a LCD monitors. Maybe all portable dvd players are using low resolution LCDs and I am just being too picky.  2. After 35min of use the bottom heats up like a Intel Macbook. (very hot)  3. when starting the dvd  it makes a loud and fast spinning noise, noise is reduced after the 15secs.   4. Personally, the 7\\" wide screen is just too small for me to watch for an extended amount of time. After watching a dvd for 35min I got really dizzy and felt crossed eyed.    overall, the unit \\"looks\\" good but I am planning on returning it and either wait for a 10\\" portable dvd players with higher resolution and long battery life or when they come out with a thin and light 3lbs laptop thatz got 6hrs+ battery life under $1000.