Panasonic DVD-LV75 7 in. Portable DVD Player

One of the conveniences afforded by the DVD format?s small size is portability. Panasonic has exploited this attribute with their DVD-LV75 which features a flip-up 7-inch LCD monitor with wide screen capability for viewing DVD movies without picture distortion. Having dimensions, with battery, of approximately 5.5?x7.28?x1.56?, 3.2 lbs. the DVD-LV75 resembles a very small laptop computer and while obviously designed for travel, can be also used as a DVD Player in your home. This is Panasonic?s third generation of portable DVD player and thus carries forth two generations of Panasonic?s experience in the evolution of portable DVD technology.

Picture
The LV75 employs a 27 MHz10-bit D/A converter to achieve its DVD picture quality. This seems to drive the 7-inch (337,000 pixel) LCD screen quite adequately which is what you?d be viewing during travel. The unit supports 16:9 screen formatting to 4:3 normal screen formatting with a Zoom Screen Selector to adjust the picture size allowing 16:9 zoom or 16:9 stretched. For use in the home the LV75 has S-Video out (cables included) which will effectively allow you to substitute the 7? LCD with a TV. Some experimentation is required with setting both the Zoom Screen and the TV Aspect selector when viewing DVDs which are non-anamorphoric (not enhanced for widescreen TV) as some pixel resolution degradation is present on the 7? LCD when zoomed to 16:9. This is not a problem with output to TV.

Along with all of the above features geared towards quality, the DVD-LV75 comes with the full set of picture controls which Panasonic features on its component DVD players. Among these scan, search and special effects features are scan search, slow motion, frame-by-frame which all function in forward or reverse. Chapter Preview which allows you to preview the first 3 seconds of each ?chapter? for ease in locating sections of video.

The LCD screen has controls for brightness and color saturation. Even in bright light the LCD?s image appears bright and clear making the brightness control primarily useful for brightening the screen in darker settings.

Another feature of this unit is that it can be used to reproduce audio and video from an external feed such as a camcorder which could prove to be quite a useful feature for the traveling home movie enthusiasts or more serious amateur filmmaker.

Audio
With 96khz/24 bit audio D/A conversion, built-in Dolby Digital and DTS decoding and full 5.1 channel audio support (choice of speakers, loudness effects, etc.) for output through the systems Digital/Optical Outs to a surround sound system. AVSS (Advanced Virtual Surround Sound) simulates a surround sound system for 2 speakers for use when relying on the units built in set of stereo speakers. VSS (Virtual Surround Sound) option offers an enhanced surround sound experience when using headphones. All of these audio features allow the unit to function as a CD player as well providing excellent audio reproduction whether at home or on the road.

Battery
The lithium Ion battery used by the LV75 is the same battery technology used in laptop computers and although rated for 3 hours will probably power this unit for about 4 to 4 ? hours on a single charge depending of course on what volume setting is used, speakers or headphones, brightness etc. To recharge the battery the unit must be left powered off with the AC adapter plugged in and charging takes about four hours.

Other Features
A remote comes with the DVD-LV75 which allows control of everything except the LCD screen settings. Logically any time you?d be sitting far enough away to make the remote useful, you?d presumably by viewing something other than the 7? LCD. The remote is credit card size in keeping with convenience of portability.

Some other features not mentioned above include:
-Program, random and repeat functions.
-On screen menu icons
-Bookmarking of up to 5 positions
-Parental Lock
-Auto Power-Off
-Play Resume, which picks up viewing where you left off whether the power stays on or off.

Conclusion
Panasonic has again shown itself to be on the cutting edge of advancements in DVD technology and with the DVD-LV75 has evolved a product which is very in tune with the consumer shift towards portability without sacrificing features. The price of this unit puts it in the category of a luxury item which for many will be enough reason to wait until the technology develops further and the price level comes down. However for those for whom money is not a real object or for those whom travel and overnight hotel accommodations are quite frequent, this is an ideal product with great entertainment value which is could be worth the price.