Panasonic DVD-LA95 9 in. Portable DVD Player

OK, I'm a relative newcomer to the whole DVD scene. But I've made up for it very quickly. I got my first DVD player about 5 months ago - a Panasonic DVD LV-70 portable with a 7" screen. Now I have 4 DVD players.

I travel a lot by plane and being fed up with the long waits and lack of entertainment options the airlines provide, I bought my first portable DVD player to help me cope. Man, was that ever a good move! I'm having a blast on planes now!

The reason I decided to get the Panasonic LA-95 was A) to have a bigger screen (9") and B) have a player that would play DVD-R's & DVD-Ram's as well as standard DVD's. The LA-95 does both. The other part of the plan was to buy a Panasonic DMR- E30s DVD recorder so that I could tape shows off my home cable TV and play them later on a plane. These two machines work excellent together.

However, I must confess that when I first tried out my LA-95, my picture seemed darker than on my LV-70. Weird! So I happened to have 2 DVD's of the same movie (don't ask me why) and I compared them side by side. Hands down, the LV-70 looked brighter and clearer, even with its smaller screen. When I adjusted the LA-95 at its brightest setting, they looked pretty identical (the LV-70's brightness control was smack dab in the "normal", middle position).

I was disappointed because everyone knows that when the brightness is maxed out, battery life is considerably shorter on these portables. It just so happens that I have a friend who had also just bought an LA-95 a few months earlier, so I asked him one day to bring his over. I again played the same 2 DVD's of the same movie and compared both our LA-95's. With all controls exactly the same, both machines were identical. We both agreed that the picture looked much better with the brightness control maxed out on both of them.

My conclusion on the picture? Panasonic is trying to pull a fast one here by fudging on the battery life stats. These machines come from the factory with dimmed brightness controls so that they can say the battery life is longer. What a bunch of hog wash. But I suppose having a 9" screen will eat up more power than a 7" one, so what can you do?

Here's the deal on battery life. First of all, the most effective use of this DVD player requires that you purchase a 2nd (and possibly 3rd) battery. The long cylindrical Li-Ion battery supplied with the unit lasts roughly about 2-2 1/2 hrs, enough for one good movie. It fits in the hinged area where the screen lifts up. A second, flatter Li-Ion battery (H501) lasts close to 4-4 1/2 hrs. It fits nicely on the bottom of the unit and only adds about 1/2" to the thickness. Together, both batteries can give you around 6 solid hours of view time, more if you decide to dim the brightness.

I have to tell you that I personally think Panasonics have the most superior battery systems - they last longer than any other portable DVD players I've seen so far. And the H501 batteries can be used on a lot of other Panasonic VDV players including the LV-70, LV-75, LV-55 etc. But these batteries ain't cheap - $175 list, $75-100 used.

So how do DVD's play? I gotta tell ya, the LA-95 will play anything I throw at it. My old LV-70 would balk at playing some DVD's for unknown reasons. Not so with the LA-95. I also think the controls are much better on the LA-95, and laid out better as well. I really like the big omni type selector wheel. With the LV-70 I had to guess when FF or rewinding. The LA-95 makes rewinding short amounts fast & easy. It's a little harder to remove a DVD as compared to their other models. They don't give you as much room for your fingers to grab the DVD. But you get used to it.

The speakers point upwards on the LA-95, whereas the LV-70 they point outwards at you. It's a subtle but noticeable difference. I can hear the LV-70 better than the LA-95. But most of the time I use headphones. I would recommend noise cancelling headphones for plane rides.

So will I keep it? I will for now, but I'm also keeping my LV-70 for a while just in case. It's a tough cookie to beat. But I like the fact that the LA-95 will also play DVD-R's and DVD-Ram's, no small feat! I bought mine used on eBay for $580. My LV-70 was $350 used. I can't help it - I like this new technology. I don't think I would want a player much bigger than a 9 or 10" screen for traveling. (My Apple Titanium G4 has a 15" screen and plays DVD's but the battery only lasts an hour and forty-five minutes - Cuts me off before the first movie ends.) So I'm pretty happy with my LA-95 for now.