Page 1 of Portable DVD players under £300 - my findings

I have been looking for a reasonably priced multi region portable DVD player for use when travelling. I cant afford the £1000 models (I think I would buy a PC instead at that price) but do want a 100-240 volt mains adapter and also a car adapter.

Sorry if you dont like what I write, below, but reviews of products in this price bracket are difficult to find !

The models I have looked at include;
Bush PDVD 1000 (£300) (Argos), similar to the Musted PL-207 and the Goodmans GdVD67
Bush PDVD 2000 (£200) (Aldi and Richer Sounds)
Cyberhome CH-LDV710 (£267) (www.novatech.co.uk)

I bought the Bush PDVD 1000 but found the unit had been `sold` twice before, was dirty and also had some damage. It is made from plastic and comes with a 240v adapter. The screen is not so good with muddy colours and not very good at resolving detail - you cant clearly see the setup menu for example. You can adjust colour and brightness - thats about it !. It is multi region and the code is widely available. In the November issue of `DVD Monthly` they gave the player a score of 4/10 `Cheap not Cheerful`. I think that the Goodmans GDVD67 and Mustek PL-207 are very similar units (from the same kit) although the Mustek is supplied with a world mains adapter.

So reading comments about the Bush PDVD 2000 on this website, I bought this model from Aldi. It went back because again the mains supply is only 240v, but what a different unit ! it looks very chunky (plastic case again) and has a 6.5" screen not 7" like the others. The unit is also very thick with the battery attached although this is supposed to last 3hrs (compared with 2.5hrs of the others). This time you can adjust colour, brightness and contrast, but the screen is as bad as the PDVD 1000 and has a red tint. Also, no one has found the multi region code YET (Richer Sounds advertise this unit as region free, so the code must exist !)

Finally I have bought the Cyberhome CH-LDV 710 from Novatech, This unit is smaller than the rest, comes with a 100-240v mains adapter, is multi region (code on this website) and is made of METAL ! The big Big difference is the screen. It may only be a TFT but the sharpness, and colours are so very much better. There are many adjustments including colour, brightness, contrast and Gamma. It is just a much more sophisticated and solid unit. I am (so far impressed. The battery lasts 2.5hrs (tested) so this will be a problem on 10hr flights but this is the one to go for at the moment (In my personal view)!

Sound from all these units is not so good ! so dont look for hifi quality.

Hope this helps

NB the Dec issue of Home Cinema Choice reviews a few portables (KIngs KD46 and Mustek PL-205) but I have never seen these models advertised.

Russ.

This item was edited on Friday, 24th October 2003, 12:33