I'm getting bored of these long metro rides and all these season sets of DVDs I have are getting dusty. I'm looking for a good quality portable DVD player. Basically, I don't need top of the line, but good picture and sound and reliability. Prefer widescreen. Thanks!

I just got a laptop. You can even get widescreen ones now.

Exceedingly unhelpful response.

I've heard (though haven't used) that Initial Portable DVD players aren't too bad. Circuit $hitty sells them as the only B&M I know of. That's about all I can help you with.

That's actually quite helpful! That's one of the ones I was considering. That and an Apex. Basically, I can't see paying $400 for a Sony. It's a better picture, but I'm looking for economy as I'm going to run this thing into the ground.

I'm also looking for atleast a 7" widescreen.
As cheap as possible, but something semi-reliable.

I'm going to mostly use it for car road trips.
So having the car adapter is a plus.

I was considering the Cyberhome one at Walmart online for $218 (it's been selling elsewhere including Ebay for much higher).
Figured how can you go wrong with that price for a 7"!?

But I too have been hearing for the cheap price range players, that Initial was better for quality!?

Looking forward to more responses.

This is what I posted here back in the summer.

Target has a 7" Audiovox "Eddie Bauer" edition on sale this week for $289. Very nice and easy to use, not heavy at all. The player (without the battery) was the exact same size as a DVD case. The battery mounts on the back of the unit and increases the size by about 1". Included accesories are car & wall adapter, RCA, S-Video and sound cables-all mini plug. The battery gave me around 3 hrs.

I works for me!

I've been using it ever since for car trips (for the kids), train ride into Chicago, during lunch at work and have not had any problems.

I would NOT get an Apex. Very bad build quality.

Just a request for further suggestions--please post battery life experience. Battery life is very important for my decision. (It isn't much use if the battery dies in the middle of a moview, away from any outlet!)

I meant to say I'd just get a Laptop. Thats what I did and that way I have a nice portable DVD player and a computer. I just wish that they had the widescreen availble when I got mine. It's a lot bigger than the little portables. I am sorry if your not interested in that but it was just my opinion.

target was selling a 6.5" kawasaki dvd player that is region hackable. i got mine for 179.99. picture quality is pretty good and battery gets me about 2.5 hours. also, there's two headphone jacks which is a plus. not bad for under 200 in my opinion.

I have the Polaroid 7" portable from Best Buy. Battery life is 3.5 hrs. It is also region hackable. Price is ~180.

Thong

My brother bought the same one. Very nice for the price, and it's gotten pretty good reviews. It also comes with a car adapter, which many don't. Good battery life, also.

I just received the Polaroid 8" PV800 I believe, as a Christmas gift from my gf, and can't recommend it enough. It has a swivel screen which is sorta a cool feature I didn't see on a lot, as well as dual headphone jacks, car adaptor, cables to hook to a tv etc.

The only negatives I've noticed, in the little time I've played with it, is that text is sometimes hit or miss, which may be a prolbem with all these players, I havne't really looked into them, and can only say that text is somewhat hard to read depending upon the disc.. I'm guessing it's a problem with all small players such as this. It's not progressive I don't believe.

I ended up getting the Initial 7" DVD player from WalMart for $218. I'm pretty happy. Picture quality is the same as the Polaroid (I watched them both side by side, it may even be better) and aside from being a little heavy, the 7" is plenty big for right in front of my face. Colors are a little washed out and the headphone sound could be louder, but I am happy with my little purchase. I used it today to watch an episode of Friends on the train and it worked great. Time flew by! I can't wait to catch up on my DVD viewings to and from work, it doesn't make it seem like I'm losing 2.5 hrs a day in commute time now.

For $250 ($218 for the player, and I got the $30 service plan for two years and I guarantee you I'll use it), I think it's a great deal. I see no point in paying more for any other brand, more than likely it's Shinco anyway (Initial, Mintek, etc.).