Panasonic DVD-LS86 8.5-Inch Portable DVD Player Review

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(More customer reviews)I picked this up after briefly reviewing the competition's specs. When you are shopping for a portable DVD player, the features you essentially want to pay attention to are screen size, picture quality, and battery life. If you are burning your own DVDs or playing certain styles of downloaded content you'll also want to pay attention to the format capabilities.

I finally decided on this device because it advertised 13 hour battery life andI was flying to Europe (a 9 hour flight from WA State). I was also going to be tossing it in a backpack and going. The folding design seemed like a logical choice to protect the screen with the applicable rough use.

Here's what I found, hope it helps you make an informed decision!

Pros:

- Design is elegant and fairly durable.
- Sound quality was surprisingly great.
- Controls were pretty intuitive.
- A/V cable was included accessory.
- Saves your place and starts up right from where you left off.

Cons:

- Though I didn't expect the full 13hrs battery life, it's more like 5-6 with a reasonable backlight level. Less without headphones.
- Picture quality is not comparable to competing devices like Sony DVP-FX930 9-Inch Portable DVD Player, Black.
- The buttons are awkwardly placed and easy to accidentally press when lifting or resituating the device.

Preference:

- I don't really think a remote is necessary for this style of electronic but some may find the lack of remote a drawback.
- The folding design can be a bit bulky for coach seating on a plane. It would have been nice if the screen could flip all the way over into a tablet design like this device does: Sony DVPFX810 8-Inch Portable DVD Player, Black

About Traveling with Portable DVD Players:

If you are traveling internationally and plan on buying DVDs when you arrive instead of bringing them with you... you'll want to remember that this device only plays Region 1 DVDs. DVDs from Europe are Region 2. Mexico, Central and South America, Australia and New Zelandare Region 4. Russia, much of Asia, and South Africa are region 5. In all, this means that you can only play DVDs from the region you buy the device from. There are some ways around this to my understanding but as a matter of convenience you may just want to purchase a player from the region you'll use content from. You can find more about DVD regions at:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=3193231

Looking back on this purchase, I'll probably opt for my iPhone/iPod or one of the following devices in the future...

Sony DVPFX810 8-Inch Portable DVD Player, Black
Sony DVP-FX930 9-Inch Portable DVD Player, Black

And Panasonic also offers a portable Blu Ray Disc Player for those of you who have gone Blu. Battery life is a bit limited and to be honest when I saw it I was thinking that Blu Ray wasn't really meant for a screen this small. That being said, it works in a pinch if your library is now primarily BRD...

Panasonic DMP-B15 Portable Bluray Player

This review was made August 2009 so check for newer options if you're reading this in the future =).

Hope this helps!

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Product Description:
8.5" P DVD Player - 12 hour battery,car cord

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