Toshiba SDP2600 8.90 in. Portable DVD Player

My first experience with a portable DVD was at an airport last year when I rented one during a long layover. I rented a good movie and before I knew it, it was time to board my flight. It took me a while but I finally broke down and decided to buy one for future trips and vacations.

My original purchase was the Mintek MDP-1810 which was on sale at Costco for $250. I did some on-line research and read reviews regarding the Mintek. The chief complaint with it was the low screen resolution (i.e. poor picture quality). But, for an 8" screen, it was cheaper than just about anything else I could find, on-line or otherwise. My initial thought was that I'd be able to overlook the screen quality issue- I just wanted something to pass the time on the plane or in the airport. Besides, I've been a dedicated shopper at Costco for years and have yet to find a product that wasn't a reasonably good value....until that purchase. I brought it home, watched one movie and took it back for a refund. The picture quality really was horrible and I thought the sound quality was equally as bad.

I resigned myself to the reality that if I wanted a decent portable DVD player with something larger than a 5" screen, I was going to have to pay a bit more money. After some lengthy research that included on-line reviews and in-store testing, I finally chose the Toshiba SD-P2600 for it's relatively large (8.9 inch) screen size, picture quality (excellent) and price (I paid $372 at BuyDig.com).

Before buying, I checked out the Toshiba at a local Fry's store. I was really pleased with the picture quality. Toshiba's specs say it has 540 lines of resolution with 1024 x 600 pixel resolution. Basically, this adds up to a clear, crisp movie picture. You have the ability to store up to 3 customized "picture settings" (contrast, brightness, color, tint levels) for better viewing in say dark surroundings vs. well-lit areas.

The sound comes from two, forward-facing titanium speakers mounted on either side of the screen. The sound quality produced by these two small speakers is quite good although the output level is a little lacking. With headphones, the quality is excellent and there is plenty of volume to overcome surrounding noises. But, when listening through the built-in speakers, I find myself setting the output level almost to the maximum level when there is ambient noise to contend with.

The SD-P2600 comes with two built-in headphone jacks; no need for a splitter. The cell phone sized (but thin) remote works well but you'll find that all the functions on the remote can be accessed with the control buttons on the player itself. I do everything from the controls on the player but I would definitely use the remote if I had the DVD player connected to a TV set.

Speaking of TV connections, this player is equipped to serve as a temporary DVD player in your home. It has a component video outlet, an S-Video outlet, and a digital PCM audio stream outlet on the back. Essentially, it can deliver a HD quality picture and Dolby Surround sound to a home theater set up. (A little side note- I tried to hook it up to the TV in my hotel room last week and found that the TV was configured in a way that it would not accept the incoming signal from my DVD player). The SD-P2600 also serves as a digital picture viewer with an SD/MMC card slot built into the front. (Unfortunately, it won't play music that is stored on a SD chip; it only displays photos). The unit plays audio CD's including ones formatted in MP3 & WMA. It has played all the CD's I've tried in it including CD-R's recorded on my computer.

The Toshiba player came with a battery charger, car power adapter, remote, and connection cables for a TV but it does not come with a case or headphones. Please take this into consideration if you're planning on using this player in a vehicle. I was able to purchase a case that fit it through BuyDig but it's not set up for securing the player in a car. Regarding the battery life, Toshiba claims that the battery supplied with the unit is good for 3.5 hours. So far, I have watched one movie that lasted a little over 3 hours and had battery life to spare.

My previous electronics purchases include two Toshiba TV's and a DVD player. So far, I have had no reliability problems with any of them. This DVD player seems to be well built and the controls are laid out logically. One minor complaint though- I found it a little difficult to raise the top. The hinges are quite tight and the base tends to lift up with the screen when you try to open it. On the other hand, maybe that's a plus since it's less prone to accidental opening...

So, why not choose some other players out there? I could not find a comparable portable DVD player for anything less than about $400+. There are some good smaller players for about the same price or a little less but when you look at 8" screens (or bigger) the price jumps significantly. Overall, I found the SD-P2600 to be the BEST value. Take your favorite DVD down to a store that carries it and see for yourself. You won't be disappointed.