Price Paid:  $559.00 from eCost

Summary:
Truly a nice unit. Seems to play anything I give it: CDR, VCD, SVCD (in the right format), DVDR, CD,etc. Seems very similar to the highly rated home units RV31, etc. And with a 5 hour battery life, nothing comes close.

Strengths:
BATTERY LIFE, screen size, menus, CDR/VCD playback, outputs, weight, charge battery easily, configuration options.

Weaknesses:
Almost none. Could be better if it played MP3s. Buttons OK, also could be better.

Price Paid:  $559.00 from eCost

Summary:
Truly a nice unit. Seems to play anything I give it: CDR, VCD, SVCD (in the right format), DVDR, CD,etc. Seems very similar to the highly rated home units RV31, etc. And with a 5 hour battery life, nothing comes close.

Strengths:
BATTERY LIFE, screen size, menus, CDR/VCD playback, outputs, weight, charge battery easily, configuration options.

Weaknesses:
Almost none. Could be better if it played MP3s. Buttons OK, also could be better.

Price Paid:  $649.00 from Sears

Summary:
I think this is a very cool product. I chose the DVD-LV70 because the screen isn't too small or too big. I found that the units with the bigger LCD's get a bit more pixelated looking unless you hold them further away from your eyes. The 7 inch LCD feels "just right" and while it may not sound like much, but once the movie starts, you get sucked right in. I just took mine on a 3 week snowboarding road trip in Canada, and being able to watch movies in the back seat of the car while driving from place to place really makes the time go by. I've got a decent sized DVD collection, and being able to bring them with me and watch them whenever we I like was great, especially for those days when the snow wasn't so good. We stayed at several condos, and hooking up the player to the TV's is a piece of cake. I did a lot of shopping around for this unit, most of it online before finally getting mine at Sears. Sears will price match some online dealers, but they are pretty picky about who. In my case, I spoke to a Sears salesperson who quoted my $649 for the unit, even though their web site says $799. I'm not sure why he quoted that price, but when I picked up the unit, he said $699. I told him he had quoted me $649, and he honored it. Go figure. One item I would suggest you get along with this product is the Xtend Airplane and Auto Power adapter for Panasonic DVD's. It's a great unit for powering your player on the road or in a plane. Check them out at http://www.portabledvdstore.com.

Strengths:
Portable movies are great for travel. Plays any DVD I throw at it (DTS, Dolby Digital, Enhanced, etc). Easy to hook up to TV's in hotels, condos. The remote works great.

Weaknesses:
Turning the unit on/off is a bit goofy on the unit, so I usually just use the remote. LCD is a little pixelated looking at times, but I only notice it in certain scenes, and only when I'm really "looking" for it. The built-in speakers sound okay, but personally I'd always use headphones.

Similar Products Used:
Looked at other Panasonic portables with larger and smaller LCD's and the Sony.

Price Paid:  $428.00 from Sears

Summary:
I had been wanting a portable DVD player for a while now, but since I don't really travel that much I wasn't sure I would get much use out of one. However for $428 plus the rebate for free headphones and case, it was just such a good deal I couldn't pass it up.

It has also been very nice to have this for the holidays to bring over to relative's homes that still do not have DVD. Its very easy to hook it up to any TV through S-Video or Composite Video inputs so we can watch DVDs while visting.

Build quality is sturdier than I had anticipated and the sound through headphones is very good (I haven't received the noise canceling headphones yet to try them). Overall I'm very satisfied with this unit.

Strengths:
Fantastic picture, great price (Internet price match at Sears), free noise canceling headphones and storage case.

Weaknesses:
None so far.

Similar Products Used:
None.