DURABRAND DUR7 7 in. Portable DVD Player

I have had the worse luck with portable DVD players. I went through 3 Minteks in less then a year and then tried a Craig brand which turned out to be not much better. On our way to Hawaii I decided to pick up another one for the plane trip and I decided I didn't want to spend that much money on it since none of have proved to be worth a dime. I eventually picked up a Durabrand 7' Portable DVD Player from Walmart for $99.99. I had never heard of this brand but I figured I would give it a try for the price.

~~Description

It has been about a month since we bought it and so far so good..(knocking on wood). The Durabrand 7' Portable DVD Player is nothing fancy, it doesn't even come with a case or headphone. You basically get the following..

**Dvd Player w/ A/V output jacks & headphone jacks.
**Remote control
**AC Adapter 110v
**Car adapter
** 2 hour Rechargeable Battery

The DVD unit itself is pretty simple to figure out with the manual. The one thing I liked about this one is the remote had volume control on which my previous ones didn't. The skip button on the player also doubles as a fast forward..you just have to push it gentler to get it going.. The screen also has two controls one for wide screen and one to adjust the contrast.


~~Usage

In the last month the Durabrand 7' Portable DVD Player has gotten much use. We live a good two hours away from town and 40 minutes away from the grocery store so I let my kids use it whenever we head out. I also drive a school bus from time to time and have taken it on trips while I am waiting and I have only found two small things that I don't like.

The first has to do with the headphones.. On the plane my daughter couldn't hear her movie that well and at first I thought it was the headphone going bad so I bought her some new ones and on the way back she had the same problem. They even complained in the car about not hearing it too well..turns out the headphone jack isn't the best.. If I have the headphones plugged all the way, the sound is somewhat muted BUT if I pull it out just a little then the volume is great..bad part is you can kind of hear it outside the DVD player.

The next problem is a charging one. My previous DVD players all charged when plugged in..even with the cars adapter. Well turns out this cars adapter will not charge the battery, it will only run the DVD player.

I have also never used anything but Region 1 DVDs in this but the manual says it will play DVDs, CDs and JPG-CD. The unit is also simple enough for a 4 year old to figure out. The only thing she problems with it opening the cover, it is much tighter on this unit the our previous ones.

The things I am very happy with is the fact that the screen doesn't go out during a movie and not once has it gone off when I start the car up. I almost forgot to mention the picture quality is great. So far this is by far my favorite portable DVD player.

I also want to note that I have never had to use it for more then an hour without a power cord so I can't really say exactly how long the battery will last fully charged..I do know you will at least get a good hour for sure.

~~Final Thoughts

So far so good..The fact that it has gone a month without any major problems is a real plus for me (knocking on wood, again). I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking for an inexpensive DVD player.