I started looking into buying a tv/dvd combo to take on longer trips when I heard we were moving from California to Kansas a couple of years ago. My daughter does good on trips for the most part,but we were talking about a four day trip and I knew that she was going to be cranky if all she had to entertain her was her coloring books and a couple of travel games. It was bad enough she was going to be couped up in a vehicle for 8 to 10 hours a day with no stopping other than potty and food breaks let alone her being completely bored.

I had thought about buying a personal dvd unit since I only have one child, but they have fairly small screens and those that are larger screened do not seem to have a very good picture quality to them that I have found. When I saw the Toshiba 9" tv/dvd combo online I started looking into what all it had to offer.

-TV/DVD Combo-
*10 3/4in. x 16 in.
*AC plug (5ft. cord)
*DC converter included (7ft. cord)
*Can plug in headphones, video game controllers, and video camera into front of tv combo.
*remote control

What I really liked about this tv/dvd combo was that my daughter could use headphones in it so it did not bother the rest of the people in the vehicle if we were talking or listening to music. I also liked that my daughter could hook up a game controller if she wanted to and play a game while we were on a trip. Those were not the only reason that we ended up purchasing this combo though.

My daughter had wanted a television in her room and both my husband and I wanted to see how she would do with this one before we bought her a larger combo. Since this comes with an AC and DC adaptors we could use it in the house as well as if we were going on a trip. As a television alone the picture quality is good,but unless you have cable to hook it up to you are only going to get three maybe four different channels because this has a built in antenna not one that sticks up and can be adjusted. When we used this in my daughters room she mainly used it for dvd's still because she did not like anything that she could get on the television unless it was Saturday morning cartoons of course.

We own an Xterra and though we had thought about having a dvd built in at one time as well,but it was much cheaper to go this route and it fits in between the two front seats perfectly. All I do to secure it into place so it does not move around is use either budgie cords or one of my husbands long cords and this tv does not budge. I like the fact we can take it in whenever we stop for the night if it is a super long trip and my daughter can watch what she wants and I can watch what I want and we are not arguing about what to watch. I also like the fact that if she does not want to watch a dvd she can use this strictly as a tv (though your channels are limited).

This combo has saved us many a long trips from having to listen to whining about being bored. This was one of the best investments that we have made in a long time. The picture quality is good, even when we hit a bump in the road the picture is not affected and the sound/volume is never affected either.The fact that the back of the tv has a built in handle for easy picking up and moving around is also quite nice I must say. We managed to get an amazing deal on this for only $199 with shipping and everything going on 2 1/2 years ago now. I know that this has many trips worth of use yet to come.