Very much worth the price*
Written: Aug 22 '01
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Pros: Compact, Easy to use, a very cool toy overall
Cons: Slightly faded Image in "brighter" scenes
The Bottom Line: I highly recommend this DVD player, and if you can pick one up for less than $700 (and you can), grab one.
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| hagfish's Full Review: Panasonic DVD-LA85 7 in. Portable DVD Player |
*Price paid: $ 650.00 on Ebay
I wanted a portable DVD player, but did not want to pay $1000+, period. I took a road trip with a pal last month, and he had the Panasonic model LA-75 which I took full advantage of while he slaved away behind the wheel.
After that trip, I did a fair amount of online research (including the reviews written on this very site) and decided that the Panasonic LA-85 was the one I wanted. I sniped Ebay for about 2 weeks until I was able to pick one up (brand new)at the price I was prepared to pay.
Size & Weight- I have absolutely no problem with either the size or the weight. This unit fits in a cigar box perfectly (trust me, that's where I keep mine). The weight even with the battery is negligible and I'm surprised that others find it worth mentioning.
Sound- Amazing with headphones. I have an old pair of Sony MDR-V1's and the audio was incredible. I travel quite a bit so I will follow the suggestion of roobin below and pick up a pair of those Aiwa noise canceling headphones.
I found the speakers built into the system to be adequate.
Image- OK, I'll be a little bit critical here. The image quality ranges from superb to mediocre from one scene to the next. The very first DVD I ran through this machine was Hannibal, which I chose for it's rich images and atmosphere. There were scenes that were so crisp and clear, it felt like I was in the movie. Stunning. But then there were other scenes (generally "brighter" shots with a lot of sunlight) that seemed washed out and not very sharp. Keep in mind that I was watching this at night with minimal background light. While a did a bit of playing around with the brightness and color settings, I cannot say that I have perfected this by any means. I may find that I can eliminate some of the "washed out" effect with further tinkering.
Misc- There are many other features of this unit that have been covered by others below that I will not delve into, but I do appreciate the ease of use very much. It took me about 20 minutes to read the manual and pretty much perfect the features that I knew would apply to what I want to use the player for. Hooking the unit up to a TV is a snap. There are a few screen viewing options, but frankly the default "widescreen" setting is probably the only setting I will use. There are plenty of neat features for those people who like to get the maximum amount of use out of their hi-tech toys.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 650.00
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Epinions.com ID:
hagfish
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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