People frequently email
us asking "which portable DVD player
should I buy?". A difficult question
to answer! We also get a lot of questions
concerning features of the portable DVD
players. Thus we developed this section
of the site for our customers...
Below are explanations
of some of the features you will find on
portable DVD players and we hope that these
will answer some of your questions prior
to purchasing and help you make a balanced
decision.
Our suggestion is to
decide which features you would use rather
than which you "could" use (but
likley never will!!!)... set yourself a
budget and use those factors to limit yourself...
or be prepared to grow old and grey perousing
every possible option and watch your budget
grow and grow!
To go back and browse our
range of portable DVD players either click
here
or use the menu featured on the left of
this page... 'Portable DVD players' are
located under the 'TV & Video' section.
Portable DVD player
features explained:
- Multiregion
portable DVD players?
- Car
mountable / in-car portable DVD player
- Portable
DVD player video input/ output? Using it
as a games console.
- DivX
portable DVD players
- USB
ports on portable DVD players
- Portable
DVD player SD / MMC / MS card readers
- Portable
DVD player screen size
- TV
tuners on portable DVD players
- Tablet
or clamshell style portable DVD player?
- Portable
DVD player battery life
Multiregion
portable DVD players...?
Film makers globally divided
the world in to several "regions"
and numbered these... Europe / UK being
region 2, US being region 1 etc. When a
film is released on DVD it is released for
a specific region... this means that DVDs
purchases in US are then made region 1.
(Portable) DVD players are then usually
manufactured also region locked... i.e.
players in the UK are released (normally
anyway) as region 2 locked. Therefore then
the player will only play region 2 films.
In the UK you can only purchase region 2
DVDs. The player region and DVD region match
and then they play fine. However what people
often find is that purchasing DVDs in another
region is cheaper, but these wouldn't normally
be able to be played on their player as
the film region and player region dont match...
however if your portable DVD player is region
free or mulitregion you can then play DVDs
from any region!
Further information and explanations
on DVD regions can be viewed here www.epinions.com
and here en.wikipedia.org.
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 Car
mountable / in-car portable DVD player
With many of the DVD players
you find that 3wisemonkeys are supplying
them with a carry case. Quite often this
portable DVD player carry case is described
as "car mountable". This usually
means that the case comes with velcro straps...
one hooks around a front seat headrest and
one round the body of one of the front car
seats and this then allows the portable
DVD player to be supported on the rear of
one of the car seats meaning that rear seat
occupants can happily watch DVDs with out
having to worry about holding the player
(also no players accidentally tumbling out
of car when you get to a destination and
forgetfully get of the car!). Depending
on how far apart the front car seats are
quite often you can sling the carry case
using the supplied velcro straps in between
the two front seats to allow for a more
central watching position in the rear.
With clamshell style portable
DVD players you will normally find that
they come with headrest mounting straps
allowing the portable DVD player to be strapped
to one of the car headrests... please see
the section "Tablet
or clamshell style portable DVD player?".
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Portable
DVD player video input/ output? Using it
as a games console?
Many of the portable DVD players
available on our site have the ability to
accept video and audio inputs. This means
that the player has the ability for other
uses apart from playing DVDs i.e. you can
plug a video camera, digital camera, games
console or other video outputting device
in to the player and watch the video / pictures
on the screen.
Information explaining AV
connections and inputs can be reviewed here
reviews.cnet.com.
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DivX
portable DVD players
Several portable DVD players
are listed as being DivX compatible. DivX
is a form of encoding for copying films
anmd reducing the file size. Many people
"backup" their original DVDs to
a CD using DivX format and these players
will then play these CDs. Also happening
now and in the near future is that suppliers
are renting DivX encoded films downloadable
across the internet which you could then
play on your portable DVD player.
A great source of information
on DivX and converting your films to DivX
for use on your portable DVD player is here
on www.videohelp.com.
DivX themselves also release
films, programmes and music in DivX format
which is downloadable from their web site
at www.divx.com.
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 USB
ports on portable DVD players
Most of you I'm sure know
what a USB port is... if not it is generally
recongised as a computer port that peripheral
devices can be plugged in to to allow data
transfer (and also usually the USB port
supplies power to the peripheral device).
Now some of the higher end portable DVD
players offer as one of their features a
USB port. What this means is that you can
take your USB key / USB stroage device,
load it with your photographs from your
computer and then plug this in to your portable
DVD player to display the photo's on the
portable DVD players screen. If you have
a digital camcorder or something similar
you can download the MPEG4 video from your
PC on to the USB key and then this will
also play on your portable DVD player. USB
devices will need to be OTG (on the go)
compliant USB devices i.e. this invariably
means they can work with out having to load
any drivers or software.
For further information about
USB OTG devices and help with compatibility
etc please check this site www.usb.org.
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Portable
DVD player SD / MMC / MS card readers
As with the USB ports what
we are seeing more and more on the higher
end portable DVD players is that manufacturers
are incorporating memory card readers on
to the player. What this means is that the
memory card used by your digital camera
or camcorder can be popped in to the card
reader on the portable DVD player and played
back on screen. So you can quickly and easily
view your photos or video camera movies
that are stored on SD card.
Further information about
memory cards, the types availabel and differences
is expplained further here www.compukiss.com.
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Portable
DVD player screen size
Currently portble DVD players
come with an industry standard of 7 inch
LCD screen. 7 inch is a good screen size
for most people to watch. The screens on
the portable DVD players is usually the
most expensive part of the player. So making
the screen larger is an expensive luxury....
but a nice one! The move from 7 inch to
8 or 8.5 inch is a good one... but the biggest
change in our eyes is going up to the 10
inch portable DVD player screens..!
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 TV
tuners on portable DVD players
On some of our portable DVD
players you can find that they incorporate
either analogue or digital TV tuners. An
anaologue tuner gives you the ability to
receive standard analogue channels (i.e.
BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5)
and a digital receiver gives you the ability
to receive Freeview channels... of which
there are many! However be aware if you
are thinking of going for a digital tuner
please check your area at www.freeview.co.uk
to confirm that you can receive freeview
TV in your area. Secondly the quality and
number of channels that are received is
affected by the quality and strength of
the signal in your area. The aerial that
comes with these players are of course mini
portable aerials... a larger aerial can
improve reception... a house aerial can
greatly improve reception... most of these
portable DVD players with TV tuners can
be plugged in to a standard house aerial
(which is very useful especially when setting
the player up!). You can then also plug
the portable DVD player in to your TV and
use it in essence as a Freeview tuner for
a TV whilst you're at home! Please also
be aware that currently through out the
UK analogue TV has a vastly superior reception
through out the country in comparison to
digital signals.
To check whether you can access
freeview TV prior to purchasing a freeview
DVD player please check your postcode here
www.freeview.co.uk.
There is also good information
on freeview TV from the BBC here www.bbc.co.uk.
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 Tablet
or clamshell style portable DVD player
Tablet style portable DVD
players are a flat DVD player that sits
on a flat surface, a little like a picture
frame, with a rear stand. Which one you
choose really depends on personal preference....
however when you are going to use your portable
DVD player can influnce this decision. Tablet
portable DVD players are very handy for
the car... the reason being that normally
these come with a headrest mounting strap
or case that fastens the portable DVD player
to the rear of the headrests of the front
seats. This is clean, tidy and takes the
least amount of room in a car. A perfect
removeable solution to in car entertainment...
especialy if you want a twin screen setup.
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Portable
DVD player battery life
Generally you will find that
most players batteries lasts inbetween 2
to 3 hours... the battery life is approximate
as it depends mainly on 2 factors... the
first being the screen brightness. As with
laptops, the screen on a portable DVD player
is a big drain on the battery, the brighter
the screen is turned up the more power is
used and the shorter the battery life. The
second factor being whether you use the
in-built speakers or headphones. Headphones
saves battery life in comparison to using
the ni built speakers. One option of using
loud speakers and saving battery life is
to use a set of wlakman battery powered
speakers and plug these in to the headphone
jack... then the speakers use their own
power and teh portable DVD player gets to
use most of the battery on powering the
screen.
Information on maximising
your battery life and other useful information
can be found here - www.intelligentbatteries.com
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