Sharp DV-L70U 7" Portable DVD Player
Sharp DV-L70U vs. Sony DVP-FX1
Hi !  gooddog here ! <br />What a terrible choice to have tomake ! <br />Sharp vs.  Sony  <br />I played the amazing  documentary WALKING WITH DINOSAURS; The Exorcist; Apocalypse Now; Madonna's  93...99 Video Collection; and Blade Runner; on each player.<br />Both units  have amazing 7&quot; DIAGONAL images _:* ]<br />Both have thin but functional  disk covers.<br />TRAGICALLY, the Sharp is a &quot;wolf in cheap  clothing&quot; . But it really hunts ! More below.<br />The Sony has MUCH  better fit and finish and a superior industrial design. <br />But the picture  is not PROCESSED as much. Nor is there any color &amp; tint adjustment  provided. One is stuck with a SLIGHTLY more &quot;sepia&quot; look to  images (like watching the Sharp through 1/4 inch of bottled iced tea: more  later). Sony DID provide a brightness wheel and aspect ratio button AT the  right side of the elegantly off-set LCD screen.<br />Dark, low-contrast scenes  show a very fine-grain, sand-like noise on the Sony (like frosted glass in  motion) that was almost eliminated with a clip-on, ferrite cable  filter like the ones INCLUDED with the Sharp.  <br />Also the sound from the  Sony built-in speakers is apparently mono and &quot;tinny&quot; compared to  the Sharp's built-in's which can actually image some sounds into adjacent  hallways and fool me into checking for prowlers!<br />The Sony built-in's are  louder than the Sharp's for Madonna but much quieter than the Sharp's for  film VOICES -- even a quiet electric fan can drown out some  dialogues.<br />With headphones, both units were equally excellent and when  connected to my 9-year-old Sony KV-extra bright , 27-inch trinitron with  sub-woofer, both units rocked. Maybe an &quot;audiophile&quot; could detect  some difference -- not I.  <br />*****************************************<br />   The Sony is built more like a fine old German camera: <br />*magnesium  die-cast body with matte , no-slip  finish  <br />*solid feel to hinges on LCD  screen (screws too)<br />*NOT A SINGLE defective pixel !  Although I was    alarmed to learn from Sony Customer Relations   that they hold to 15 bad  pixels as the limit    before considering a display &quot;defective&quot;  !    (Better play it before walking out of the store   with it !  )<br />*perfect fit and finish<br />*twin steel latches (nicely hinged) for the  screen <br />*with solid click and center-activated release<br />*pumpkin-hue,lit  display window for various status        readouts while on ac power (a real  beauty! - not    illuminated when using the battery pack)<br />*variously  shaped buttons &amp; dials well placed for     convenience and easy  identification<br />*essentially the same output and input jacks as     the  Sharp (but must buy your own S-video cable        and snap-on, ferrite,  cable noise filters)<br />*no ridiculous cable from battery to unit<br />*runs no  warmer than your forehead (maybe with a   very slight fever) with or  without battery (maybe  because the magnesium alloy radiates away excess   heat better than the Sharp's cheap plastic body?)<br />*possibly why the  battery pack lasts over 4 1/2   hours !  with full screen display at  lowered   brightness (very slight difference) and built-in   speakers at  full whisper :)<br />*******************************************<br />The Sharp  is sadly built like a cheap disposable camera:<br />:( rubbery, single latch  for the screen that      represents most of the outrageous price of      these units !      Will it last without flopping open ? <br />:( LCD hinges  cheaply pressed in place with caved-    in plastic tabs on back side of  hinges --      ONE, ON MY *SECOND* UNIT, FAILED TO CAVE IN SO     MY  LCD SAT CROOKED ON THE HINGES @#%&amp;*@ !      AND THIS IS A  &quot;COSMETIC&quot; FLAW THAT IS NOT     COVERED BY THE WARRANTY from  SHARP NOR FRY'S.<br />:( open or uneven seams on plastic body<br />:( first unit  had ding on disk cover and a sticky    single-laser head drive(Sony has  dual-head)<br />:( second unit (bad hinge) blacked out twice so,    fearing a  wounded diode , I traded for the Sony<br />:( second Sharp had one bad pixel  (not so bad!)<br />:( Sharp's grid of identical buttons is confusing<br />:(  Sharp runs alarmingly hot --- I almost pulled    my hand away! But, leaving  it on, was not     burned --- more like a fairly hot &quot;water          bottle&quot; applied to a fractured wallet :)<br />:( maybe the reason why  both Sharp units' battery    lasted 2.9 hours regardless of speaker or      headphone use ! ( 4.5 + for the Sony ! )<br />:( maybe the total life of the  battery will be     shortened by the excess heat as  well<br />-------------------------------------------<br />I have mixed feelings  about the more adjustable and more PROCESSED image on the Sharp. It's auto  gamma control does help the washed-out white shirt problem typical of LCD  displays. And the edge-definition &quot;super picture&quot; is usually a  good thing to have on. The tint control is good too but it doesn't go far  enough to let you make purple Smurfs out of debating presidential  candidates --- you may have to choose one by some means other than  &quot;cutest Smurf&quot;  :)<br />The Sony's fixed colors were just like those  on an ACTUAL MOVIE SCREEN. And, infrequently, one sees the film blemishes  and scratches too ! Why these are not filtered out at the DVD factory I  don't know --- but I kinda like it. (No, these are not LCD flaws --- they  are FILM flaws).<br />The Sharp seems to process these out but it has a  slightly more &quot;video tape&quot; look to it. So the army drab fatigues  on the soldiers (Predator and Apocalypse Now) look as if they are BRAND NEW  and FREE OF DUST! <br />I feel that SOME things ought not to be processed out  any more than I would colorize the first scene of The Wizard of  Oz.<br />Still, having a CHOICE to toggle the Sharp processing features on or  off on a beauty like the Sony would be ideal. And Sony has much to learn  from Sharp when it comes to the sound of the built-in speakers. There,  Sharp wins hands down.<br />As with all LCD displays, a slow camera pan over,  say, a stand of trees with small leaves, results in a strobe-like flashing  of these leaf and tree edges --- very distracting. This was true for both  Sony and Sharp...now there's something to process!<br />In the end, Sharp's  decision to insult the buyer with an unforgivably cheap plastic body --- on  such an over-priced toy caused me to go with the Sony and a cute pair of  stereo ear buds.<br />For the price, they could at least throw in a modular,  cable-ready, high-quality, digitally tuned,(not that horrible creeping bar)   TV receiver/AM-FM/DUAL RAMP-UP ALARM CLOCK/COFFEE MAKER/BACK MASSAGE  attachment. GGGRRrrrrr  ! <br />Arrff ! <br />---gooddog   __: *  ]<br />==================================================