Panasonic DVD-LV55 Portable DVD Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This little unit, while being on the small side in terms of screen size, is great.I travel cross-country on planes at least twice/week and have never been able to sleep while sitting in the ever-shrinking, upright, rigid airline seats; this device has made these sardine-can trips bearable!
Pros: better than expected sound out of little speakers; ease of hookup to full size monitor; easy-to-operate controls on both remote and unit top; bright picture, even in bright light conditions; electronic brightness and color adjustment controls; battery life (3.5 hours with a "0" brightness setting on a -5 to 5 scale) that averages better than listed in the specifications (2.5-3 hours); stands up to jostling and bumping of airline travel well (skip-free play sideways and inverted); extended electronic sound processing features (simulates theatre surround modes while using headset); healthy substitute for full-size DVD player in the home
Cons: battery cannot charge while unit is plugged in and in use (i.e., must be turned off to charge); remote cannot be used while unit is operating on battery power; manual is poorly organized, but after a couple of times through, the technically-challenged can operate this unit; no carrying case or headphones packaged with unit; lack of dynamic range dampening feature requires a quick finger on the volume control when using a headset; (not completely sure about this but) optical output jack on the back of the unit is not truly optical-cable compatible
Suggestions: for successful audio during air travel, get a noise-dampening headset that either covers the ear completely or some headphones/earbuds that insert into the ear canal; if you connect to external monitors routinely, invest in an S-video cable as well (not included with model, but RCA style video and audio cables are).
I compared this 5" model to the larger screen Panasonic model and found that the extra money for the latter wasn't warranted.With this unit roughly 15 inches from my eyes, the picture is crisp, but not too grainy ("liney") and I have yet to come across a movie where something wasn't resolved well enough on the screen to see it.
I give it 5 stars for overall quality and ease of use minus a star for not including a case and headphones.Bottom line: pros far outweigh cons, great bang for the buck.

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Product Description:
The Panasonic DVD-LV55 portable DVD player sports a 5-inch LCD screen and optical output for both DTS and Dolby Digital surround sound. Additional built-in features include stereo speakers, a battery recharger, and a headphone jack. This player offers S-video and composite-video outputs as well as a 24-bit, 96 kHz audio digital-to-analog converter and 10-bit video conversion.
The zoom screen selector allows you to watch movies in the standard 16:9 widescreen format or conventional formats such as letterbox and pan and scan. Additional features include icon-based onscreen programming, virtual surround sound, a slim remote, frame advance, chapter preview, auto off, five-speed smooth scan, and title/chapter search with marker function.
The player measures 7.25 by 0.9 by 5.5 inches and comes with a remote control, rechargeable battery pack, audio/video cables, and an AC adapter. You can expect up to 3.5 hours of playback time with the battery pack.
Panasonic offers a one-year warranty on parts, 90 days on labor.