Samsung DVD-L70 7 in. Portable DVD Player

1/14/06 Update - I have been without a functioning player for the past week because the dvd drive stopped spinning. Emails to Samsung have gone unanswered for a week so in a fit of desperation I pushed the slider arm that houses the laser lens into its locked position closest to the middle and... HAHA the player is working again. I'm adding this because I have onlly owned the player for 7 months and that seems a serious problem that may only get worse. The rest of the review is accurate but I am dropping my overall rating to 4 stars because of this issue and poor customer support from Samsung.


5/15/05 I have debated and debated over the purchase of a portable DVD player. Decadent and unnecessary are words that come to mind, as do fun and cool. I really want a little player so I can have another option in my studio while I work. I am an artist and am in studio for 8+ hours a day and I get so bored with radio and music and sometimes need a little distraction to get through a tough day.

I decided my budget was $200 because any more money spent and I would be cutting into a possible computer laptop purchase and any less and the quality of a player would be very suspect. I waited and researched and even plunged into an 8" screen Mintek player which went back to the store immediately after I saw how poor the image quality was. Thus began the Samsung saga... Advertised before it was officially released and based on brand recognition and quality I thought this player must be a gift from the heavens. Right price. Good brand. Must have…

Screen : A

The screen is small (7 inches) and offers no adjustability but it really performs well. The colors and contrast are very well balanced and the resolution is solid for such a tiny screen. I have never owned an LCD screen before so I don't know if this is the norm, but depending on which Y axis angle you view the screen at, the contrast will be greater or lesser. This means that you can flip the screen up and depending on how far you flip it you can actually "adjust" the contrast and brightness. I don't know if this is designed or a property of all LCD's but it works. The only caveat is a slight bright halo along the top edge of the screen that distracts slightly in TV-DVD viewing because of the black bars on the sides. The halo is particularly noticeable in blacks. Side angle viewing is fine for two people who are pretty comfortable with each other (ie - shoulder to shoulder) Overall, for such a small screen it is quite remarkable and worlds better than the Mintek player I almost bought.

Sound : B+

Its' small speakers are quite solid and clean sounding and can seem a little quiet depending on the DVD (no Bass is present, obviously) and the fact they are placed directly under the screen help them sound "bigger" than they are because the sound is directed at you. (some players put the speakers on the main body – projecting the sound up and not towards you - blah) In output to my old Bose Roomate self powered speakers the sound is very solid. The Samsung offers 2 channel playback and also 5.1 playback if you hook it up to a speaker system but doesn't decode DTS or Dolby Digital so if you hitch it up to your fancy sound system expecting great things, you're out of luck. For a portable, they sound good and to expect more for the price and size is a little silly.

Features : C

Samsung engineers had to skimp somewhere to keep the cost down and to get a solid screen and sound playback they skimped on features. As mentioned above, there is no screen adjustment and little sound adjustability. Menu's are also a little difficult to access. Most of what you would expect in a typical portable DVD player are present – different sound modes – screen "fit" for TV or DVD (4:3 or 16:9) adjustment – various pause and fast forward and such. There is even a small credit card remote that is cheap but serviceable. It does everything but its just a little hard to get there – ie you need to access a menu and scroll down to THEN access the next menu to adjust the screen "fit" for Movie or TV playback. Passable. The only real downer is lack of digital and remote volume control. The volume is only controlled with an old school walkman style wheel which is a bit difficult to access. Once things are playing you are fine but getting there is a slight hassle.

Miscellaneous : C+

Battery life is supposedly 2.5 hours (the L-75 boasts a 4.5 hour battery) but thankfully it is self charging. Charging does seem to take awhile (6 hours?) but the player doesn't seem much larger or heavier with the battery attached. The unit is in fact tiny and very light and has pretty cool looking design. The screen is surrounded with a black plastic frame which makes it seem a tad larger than it really is. Button layout is sound. The access button to open the actual player door and the volume control are a bit awkward but for such a tiny footprint I wouldn't expect perfect ease. Some DVD's may not play (one of mine didn't but it was a somewhat special DVD – (3 Games to Glory 3 for the Patriots recent Superbowl run just didn't play at all) The player also supports MP3 and WMA as well as CD playback and Jpeg CD image playback. If you hope to use this player for DVD playback on your TV (it has an AV out and included cable) it is a progressive scan player and the image and sound on my TV is good, not great. The manual is barely passable, as usual. Why do electronics, the things we buy that NEED good documentation offer such base and cryptic information? Frustrating...

Overall : B

You get a solid, no frills performer for a very good price. The Samsung DVD L-70 is feature poor but performance rich for its size and price.


* Updated note * I recently used the player for output to a projector and I kept the player closed so the LCD was off. After the movie, I noticed that the player had gotten very hot - I would thus be cautious about using the player with the screen flipped all the way down as it seems to trap in the heat. I've had a dvd player fail because of poor ventilation and heat buildup so be wary.