Price price price!
Good image quality

Smallest screen among current class of portable DVD players

Like the previous reviewer, I picked this up from Costco.com, intending to use Costco's $100 rebate, and Panasonic's $100 rebate, bringing the price down to $299.

My enthusiasm for the product is only tempered by the fact that Toshiba has a better looking player in its SDP-1000. Holy - that thing is awesome. Its progressive scan circuitry makes the picture so smooth and so rich, I'm almost tempted to return my new Panasonic player.

Don't get me wrong, though, this little puppy is awesome. The picture is very good, although not THE BEST in the market.

At $299 net price, it's a no brainer. Get it before Costco runs out!

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Viewed the new Toshiba SDP-1000

5" Screen is amazing, plays cd-r, Portable(2lbs w/battery),
Looks impressive

Battery is a little bulky, Gets hot(but not that bad)

This player will only be $299 after rebates, and I couldn't pass it up for that price. I had a choice between the DVD-L50 and the newer DVD-LV55. After I compared the two, I decided on the L50. The L50 has a much better screen than the newer model as other posts indicate, plus the LV55 is 7 inches wide making the screen look really small. This player has been 10x better than I thought, it has alot more options than I imagined. I like how the AV inputs/outputs are layed out, and the output quality is great (even with AV cords and not S-Video which it has also). This has to be the neatest toy I have ever owned. Even if you aren't gonna use it, buy it to impress the ladies. LOL

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Panasonic DVD-LV55

Just picked this up!
It sells for $440.00 at www.overstock.com and Panasonic has a $100 rebate till July 01 2001 bringing the price down to $340.00

how can you go wrong?

Video quality. Portability.

Audio quality. Expensive power supply (extra batteries run about $175 each, though can be found for less)

First, go to www.discountmart2.com. I got mine there for $759, plus 5 free DVDs and 13 free rentals from Blockbusters.

This is the airplane machine. I agree with the first observer that it totally takes the other onlookers by storm. When travelling with a companion, a radio shack splitter permits two listeners.

Picture quality is about as good as it gets, probably because it's so small; it's expensive as DVD players go, but, if you travel enough, it's a worthwhile investment. You can use it as your main DVD player at home, the only drawback being an optical/digital output as opposed to a coax. I don't think anyone'll know the difference. With that in mind, however, and with it's lack of component outputs, it should not be thought of in conjunction with a high-end home theater system.

You'll love it. But I think it's going to have a limited shelf life. I just got a new computer with a DVD-Rom Drive, and it plays DVDs as well. For those in the market for a good laptop, get one with a DVD-Rom drive, and you've got your palm theater plus.

Although, at present, it deserves a 5 star rating in terms of sheer performance, its expense, its expensive extra batteries, and its inevitable obsolescence (due to DVD-Rom Laptops) have to drive the rating down a peg. All that said, if you've got the moolah for it, and do a lot of air travel, it's almost a must buy.

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Have several DVDs, though none in a portable application. Will probably acquire one day a laptop (see my review summary) which will make this product obsolete.

Excellent video and audio from a tiny unit

Very costly, short battery life

Overall, great for travellers but not for ordinary folk. Most of us are better served by a stadard component-size player, but it's great for gadget lovers. Battery life is a bit short, and the unit has a very high operating temperature. Nevertheless, superb video and suprising sound from a small package. Wish Panasonic would supply a custom case for it.

Great picture for such a small size; S-VHS, DD and DTS support for home theater; cool mini-remote; extended battery life; many of the nicer features of the Panasonic X20 home DVD player line (fast start, dialogue enhancer, VSS, etc.)

Some artifacting when using zoom feature to expand non-anamorphic titles framed at greater than 1.85:1; runs a bit hot on the bottom of the unit

A gadget lover's gadget plain and simple. There's nothing video/audiophile about this player save for the ability to pass DTS/DD and 96kHz/24bit signals, it's just a really really really cool toy. But if you've got the money...

I debated between this player and the slightly larger Pioneer for some time. Truth is, for just slightly more screen space, the Pioneer was going to cost about as much as a laptop with a DVD drive, so why not just spend the money for a full-fledged computer with a MUCH larger LCD screen? And while I was willing to shell out for some kind of portable player, a mere 2" added to what was already a viewable screen wasn't worth another $550 over the Panasonic's price. Finally, the Pioneer wasn't quite as portable as the Panasonic because it's a bit larger and wider than most portable CD players (the Panasonic fits perfectly in a Case Logic digital camera or CD player bag). For the price ($749), I figure this unit can't be beat.

Hooked up to a real TV and HT setup, the L50 is on par with the Pioneer and Panasonic home players, and it sounds about like any other portable CD player for audio CDs; but for travel, this player really shines. Battery life hovers around 3-3.5 hours on a single charge so you can get through virtually any disc (I even watched all of Dances With Wolves without changing the battery). The screen is sharp and colors are vivid, especially on anamorphic titles where the entire screen width is used.

The zoom feature is nice for non-anamorphic titles, and for those matted at about a 16x9 aspect ratio, you almost can't tell the picture is expanded (the "zoomed" full-screen Battlestar Galactica looked virtually identical to the non-anamorphic transfer taking up just a portion of the screen). But true to some of the other reviews I've seen here, VERY heavily matted non-anamorphic discs (Hunt For Red October, Last of the Mohicans, Entrapment, etc.) do show some visible enlargement artifacts, distortion, and banding--not enough to make the movie unwatchable, but certainly noticeable. Of course, I didn't expect the performance of a $1000 line doubler in a player equipped with a 5" screen.

The unit does run a bit hot on the bottom, so use on a book or tray table rather than a blanket or your lap. Build quality feels pretty good (this unit is a bit thicker and feels more solid than the Pioneer IMHO). But the sound is actually surprisingly good, especially when hooked up to some portable CD/computer speakers or headphones. I watched Aliens and the Mummy during my office's all-night Y2K watch and was amazed how well the virtual surround sound worked with just some crappy little computer speakers, definitely enhanced the experience and ALMOST made me forget there were just 2 little speakers at work!

The L50 is clearly aimed at the high-end gadget/world traveler market, though the S-VHS and DD/DTS outputs do make it usable for HT (it's hooked up to our bedroom TV and mini Pro-Logic system right now); but if you're an avid movie fan and would just love to have some DVDs on the road (or even in the car), this is definitely the toy you've been looking for!

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No portables really, though I own 3 other players (Panasonic, Pioneer and Denon) so I've got some video/audio benchmarks to compare.