Portable DVD player suggestions

[optimus]

I am looking for an affordable and reliable portable dvd player (with LCD screen) that also supports videoCD (VCD). I would like a player that can handle playing through several movies in a row without overheating, freezing, progressively dying, blanking etc. I don't care so much about the quality because it's for my kids.

So far I have not been able to find a reliable one. From Audiovox to Mintek to Toshiba, I am seeing the same complaints about the players overheating and not being able to play movies the whole way through, or for a very long time. It also seems that a lot of people are giving postive reviews in the first few months of ownership, and then combing back and complaining a few months later when things have gotten progressively worse. With most of these only carrying a 90 day warranty, this is not good. Finally, a lot of people are also complaining that the smallets bump causes skips and freezes. This is obviously not good since many people buy these for travel in cars and planes.

I know that this is an overgeneralization, but it is the general impression that I have gotten about the portable DVD player market from all of the reviews I have read. Also, my impression is not based on one person, who happened to get that one bad player. I am seeing people complaining about the same problems over and over with respect to the same player.
Just look at the reviews at amazon.com over the Mintek MDP-1810 and MDP-1770 (especially the MDP-1770).

Is my impression wrong? Does anybody have a suggestion as to an affordable and reliable player? Maybe I missed something in my research.

[atillman]

Laptops are very reliable, most, if not all, have cooling fans. Not to mention that you can store most all of your cd music albums to the hard drive and create your own jukebox for when the kids aren't watching movies.

[flaninacupboard]

something like this http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=611920729&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN...duct_uid=55400
is probably your best bet. yes, more expensive than a normal portable dvd player, but certainly a lot better quality, and will play VCD, DVD and any other format you care to throw at it.

[optimus]

These replies seem to suggest that portable DVD players are crap.

[flaninacupboard]

yep
this is the only good one i have seen so far http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/DVDTABVAR.htm

but given the price i feel you'd be better going for that mini notebook i posted before.

[asdf]

I'm also looking for a portable dvd player thats cheap and reliable.....ive tried 2 of them out so far. The first was the mintek 1770. got it at future shop in canada for 299.99 canadian. it wasnt bad....mine played pretty good.....didnt skip in the car and played a complete movie perfectly. it plays store bought dvds, dvd+R i havent tried dvd-r yet, but the manual says it does. it also plays vcds and xvcds.....those are the only things that i have tried so far....however i do have complaints for the mintek.....reliability isnt for sure....many reviews complain of it breaking down after a couple of months......also when you are playing a widescreen dvd with the aspect ratios 2.88:1....the video goes into the middle of the screen and there are black bars all around it...not happy with that....video was so small...the quality wasnt so great either...but passable for the price...and also the volume of the sound was quiet and not great...for the price tho....its pretty good......the second one im trying now is the RCA DRC612N......excellent dvd player....i got it at zellers in canada for 399.99 but i redeemed my reward points and got 50 bucks off.....so....it was 349.99 for me......excellent price for excellent quality......im not sure if it has anti-skip but when i played a dvd on it i shook it up and no skips!....also the picture quality is excellent.....very much better than the mintek........the thing im very happy about this is that when you are watching a movie with aspect ratios 2.88:1 like pirates of the carribean (im watching it right now as we speak) it "enhances" it to fit the screen.....with black bars only on the top and bottom.....a much bigger picture now compared with the mintek......excellent quality sound through headphones and the volume is much much louder than that of the mintek....it also has s-video out and av inputs!! which was a plus......it plays vcds, xvcds, store bought dvds, dvd+rs and those are the only ones that ive tried......however the only problem was that when it loads its a bit noisy and it takes a while......right now im watching my backed up pirates of the carribean dvd on a dvd+r......it takes a real long time to load and this is the second time that the main movie has actually played......the other times that ive tried it just loads and then plays the previews....but for some reason it cant play the actual movie.....my other dvd+r work fine except this one......i have no idea....its also much quieter than the mintek when playing a movie....but the rca takes more time to load....and when it loads its a little noisy.......both the rca and the mintek are very similar.....the way to open up the cabinet is the same...the power button is in the same location (the left side)....all the inputs outputs and jacks for both dvd players are on the right. they both have pretty much the same dvd lid....buttons are a little different tho......the minteks battery lasts 4 hours! and the box only said 2.5.....im testing out the battery for the rca as we speak....the battery for the mintek snaps on the bottom of the dvd player....but the battery's bulk fits on the back....its hard to explain....but it makes it so that if you put the mintek on a flat surface its not exactly flat....its tipped a little.......the battery for the rca snaps on the bottom....completely flat.....so that when you put the dvd player on a flat surface...the battery is touching it and the dvd player is completely flat......im not sure about the reliability.....there is only a 90 day manufactureres warranty on the rca...and even the warranty has had some complaints.....but zellers has a 1 year warranty policy on all its electronics so yay!!! with the great price and quality of the rca so far......im keeping the rca......its a beautiful machine!

[kilik777]

I have a Cyberhome 700B that i absolutely love. I know when they first came out they had battery problems. But now that have fixed that problem and it plays wonderfully. It has a 7" lcd screen that is the best quality ive seen out of all the ones i tried. You can even hack it to play all region, or pal dvd's. I purchased it at walmart for $200 and i know you can get them at Target for around $218.