Good Older Generation Portable DVD Player
Written: Jun 05 '01
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Pros: Compact, CDR compatible, plays DVD/VCD/CDs
Cons: Heavy, Non-Standard power plug, low max volume, No International Power Brick
The Bottom Line: If you want a portable DVD, this is a good baseline unit. If you can get it for $500 or less, you'll get your money's worth.
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| timdunn's Full Review: Aiwa XD-DW1 5.8 in. Portable DVD Player |
This unit has very few surprises. Not many hidden features, but also not many flaws and gotchas that come up after the return period is over. The specs are available easily online, so let's not belabor them.
Firstly, the unit is thick. without the battery, it is about the size of 5 or 6 jewel cases stacked atop one another. It's not lightweight either, nor are the batteries. I don't have a scale handy, but I suspect the whole kit weighs almost 4 pounds.
Note batteries. Yes, you can watch one movie on a battery, but only if it's fully charged. Given that these are NiMH batteries, they're possibly affected by "memory", shortening battery life further.
The power brick is also another pound, and essential for use away from home. It charges the battery or powers the unit. Not both. It claims to be a "smart charger" and the LED turns off after about 3 hours of charging. The plug is a mini-DIN 8, so there's no telling what voltage / polarity is where.
We've owned ours over a year now, and it's gone many miles. The power brick went out on us within a few months, and we found out that a replacement costs $100 (all figures are USD). Seeing that we were considering buying replacement batteries as well, we decided to consolidate shipping and order 2 more batteries (each $100). Ouch.
Nits and Hits:
Hit: The screen has 4 modes (if you count 'off' as a mode.) Either 1:1, maximum aspect, or just fill the screen and aspect ratio be damned. I generally like the 1:1 so there's a nice black field on which the subtitles rest.
Hit: Play's CDRs. Thanks to NT-I's CD-Creator Pro and Dazzle, I can create CDRs of my kid's favorite videotapes for travel. Beats those "VCRs in a bag" for size and weight.
Hit: RCA audio/video jacks can be switched to be inputs as well. This means the unit can serve as a mini video monitor.
Nit: It's heavy & bulky. My wife and I frequent a combo DVD rental / sandwich shop on our dates with this unit. Including 2 headphones, it fills up a backpack.
Nit: Whatever happened to tip-negative coax plugs? Are they that hard to make? Why a DIN-8? My first (and only) guess is to lock us into buying their $100 adapter.
Nit: With a pair of fairly decent headphones, I can't make my ears bleed (figuratively) when watching a special effects extravaganza, even at max volume. I'd like it if I never had to touch the "max" side of the dial, but with this unit, it's cranked there and I still have to press the headphones into my ears to hear the dialog. Maybe it's the mix.
Nit: This unit has been to England and back. The power brick is (obviously) 120V/60HZ. England is 220V/50HZ. Using a voltage converter helps half the equation, but not the other half. The brick was able to charge the batteries, but not able to power the unit itself. Thank goodness for the two spare batteries.
Nit: Unable to seek forward w/o the remote. I can chapter search, but many VCDs aren't mastered with chapters. I'd love to be able to skip ahead to where I left off, but w/o the remote, that's not possible.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 800+300
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Epinions.com ID:
timdunn
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Member: Tim Dunn
Location: San Jose, CA USA
Reviews written: 35
Trusted by: 16 members
About Me:
I guess it's official: I'm no longer a newbie!
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