Street price: $239.99

 

If you're looking for a Father's day gift idea for the dad who has all the gadgets, you might want to check out the Insignia 10.2" 16:9 Widescreen TFT Portable DVD Player.  That is, assuming he doesn't already have a portable DVD player.  It's small, light and very easy to use.  You can take it anywhere using the included rechargeable battery, which will give you about 2 1/2 hours of playback.  To recharge, or watch while not on the go you plug it in with the AC power adapter.  The player also includes a car power adapter so the unit can be used as an auto entertainment system.  Unfortunately, you can't use the car power adapter to charge the battery.

 

The Insignia player supports all of the standard formats: DVD, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3 and Picture CD.  Nothing out of the ordinary there.  But there are a couple of cool aspects to the player that we really liked.  The screen swivels a full 180 degrees, allowing you to set the player on any surface an adjust the screen for optimum viewing.  It's also made of a rubbery feeling plastic material that makes you think, whether or not it's true is yet to be determined, that the player can withstand a little more abuse than other similar units.  It does include an anti-shock system to stabilize playback.  One thing is for sure, being black it could have been a fingerprint magnet, but because of the case material it certainly isn't.  Connection options are great as well.  It has two headphone jacks, so you don't need to go to Radio Shack to buy a splitter to share the player with someone, and it includes A/V inputs and outputs and a power output to power an external TV tuner.

On the negative side, you get a bunch of accessories, but nothing to carry them all in.  A case would have been really handy, especially considering how small the remote is.  And the DVD player itself spins a little loud, making you turn up the volume to overcome it.  One last thing that annoyed us a little was how long it to to switch input modes.  You would change the input, the screen would go dark, but you'd have no idea what was actually happening.  It got a little frustrating at times.

What we liked:

• Very easy to use
• Looked and sounded good 
• Design an material 
• Dual headphone jacks 
• Rechargable battery 
• Car A/C adapter included
  

What we disliked:

• No case
• DVD spin noise
• Slow input switching
  

 

• Quick easy way to archive all the video I have of my kids (this device does it with one button)
• It can record to and play back DVD-R/-RW/-RAM/+R/+RW discs    * It can also playback DVD-Audio
• It up converts your DVDs to 720p or 1080i
• It has a DV input for dubbing right of your Digital Video Camera