Fun toy for DVD addicts! Audiovox D1730 Portable DVD Player is Ideal!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Price, size, widescreen format, battery life, I/O capabilities

Cons: External battery, somewhat tinny speakers

The Bottom Line: 
If you like cool, functional toys, have three or four hundred bucks, and want a portable DVD player, the Audiovox D1730 is the purchase for you.

Author's Review
At about the size of a small hardback book, the Audiovox D1730 Portable DVD Player is an excellent choice in movie enjoyment for on-the-road or on-the-go folks. Granted, it is not as cheap as most home DVD players, but it comes in way under the prices of comparable portables, and for my money, it serves its designated function as well as models that cost twice as much.

I’ve loved this little DVD player. For anyone who’s not into lugging around a heavy laptop anytime they want to watch DVD’s on the road or anywhere other than in front of the living room TV, the D1730 is really the perfect choice. My job necessitates being away from home for 24 hours at a time, and I usually have a fair amount of downtime at work. I’m not someone who can sit around with my partner and watch CMT for hours on end, so reclining at night to watch a movie or two and tune out everything else has been a wonderful way for me to keep from going insane after hearing Jo Dee Messina for the fortieth time. I work in EMS, and when we’re not laying around, my job is pretty stressful; being able to do my own thing (and I love watching movies) is a healthy way for me to de-stress after taxing calls.

Capabilities

Disc Compatibility: I’ve not tried any VCD’s on this player, but single and dual-layer Region 1 DVD’s, CD’s, audio CD-R’s, and MP3’s have all played well without exception on the D1730.

DVD Functions: The D1730 basically has everything that I ever use and a bunch of other things that I’m sure are important to someone, but not me particularly. Without the remote, playback, menu scrolling, display modes, volume, subtitles, and jumping from chapter to chapter are all possible. The IR remote, of course, affords more features, and to be honest, the remote is easier to use than the one that came with my Kenwood DV 605 DVD Changer. Basically, the unit has multi-story, multi-angle, multi-aspect, parental lock, multi-audio stream choice, multi-subtitle, subtitle on/off, frame advance play by step, slow motion playback, (1/2, ¼, 1/8, 1/16), and fast forward/backward (x2, x4, x8, x16) functions.

Some other random functions: OSD language selection, GUI menu operation, NTSC/PAL switchable, on/off switch, A/V output/input switchable, TFT display mode (16:9, 4:3, zoom).

Display: Measured diagonally, the screen is 7” across. It’s a TFT active matrix LCD wide screen (ratio 16:9) with anti-glare and anti-reflection coatings. I read this on the box and thought, “yeah, right,” but I have to give it to Audiovox. I was sitting in my favorite recliner, which is located with the back to a window, right as the sun was streaming through the aforesaid window, and there was much less glare and reflection than I expected (a lot less than your standard TV). In fact, I didn’t bother to close the drapes.

The resolution of the D1730 is 480 (RGB) x 234 (336960 pixels). The one drawback I noticed about the display was that during close-ups and action sequences the minimal 500 lines become apparent as the scene loses its normally razor-sharp clarity. A consequence of the low price tag, I suppose.

Inputs and Outputs: The D1730 has both composite video I/O and S-Video output as well as a two channel audio I/O interface and a digital audio output. There’s also a standard 1/8” headphone jack, which is how I have listened to the majority of DVD’s that I have watched. I sport the bulky yet comfortable Kenwood KPM-410 Earcup Headphones, and they actually take up a lot more space in my bag than the unit plus its accoutrements.

Size & Weight: 7.5x5.6x1.4” plus a Li-Ion battery pack that attaches with a five inch cord at 7x1.9x1.7”. Of course, if you’re using the provided AC or cigarette lighter adapter, then the battery pack isn’t needed. The unit weighs in at a very light 1.8 lbs. The battery pack is ¾ lbs.

Performance

Enough about the specs already, how does it perform? Well, in a word, great! Seriously, though, there are some less than positive things to consider before running out and purchasing the Audiovox D1730.

First, is high quality audio reproduction without headphones a priority for you in a “portable” DVD player? If it is, don’t buy this model. Get a higher-end model, upgrade your laptop’s audio system, or better yet, just stay at home with your 5.1 A/V receiver and your surround-sound speakers. I’m immensely satisfied with the performance of the unit using headphones. I like my headphones; they don’t hurt if I wear them for a few hours, and they give excellent high, mid, and low-range reproduction. However, if you want to listen through the D1730’s built-in speakers, you can do that too. I don’t like them for a couple of reasons: the sound is a little tinny and the bass is a little weak; the viewing experience is no longer private when using the speakers; everyone thinks they can talk to you if you’re not wearing headphones, and it’s so much easier to ignore them with some mamba-jamba headphones masking out external noises. When plugged into an external display and A/V receiver, the D1730 does have Dolby Digital and DTS sound.

Do you watch widescreen format movies? If you don’t, get a so-called “full-screen” model. The D1730 will play full-screen DVD’s by either stretching the image or adding vertical black strips to maintain the image ratio. It’s so much nicer to just watch WS format movies that take up the whole screen. I mean, the screen is 7”. There’s not a whole lot of room to make the image smaller. Having said that, I actually prefer using the D1730 over my home DVD player for watching movies with subtitles. This really surprised me. I figured the subtitles would be microscopic, but they’re really very reader-friendly. I’m a little near-sighted, and it’s a lot easier on my eyes to try to read a small screen a foot or two away than a 27” screen across the room.

Do you want a unit that is totally self-enclosed, i.e. no extra little thingamajigs to bring along? The Audiovox D1730 has an external battery pack. When the D1730 is on a desk, there’s no problem with the player, but if it’s on your lap, it can get a little annoying having to keep the battery pack from disconnecting itself (not a big problem, as the jack is pretty snug, but still an issue if you’re having to move around at all). I hardly ever use the remote because most of the features that I want to use are accessible via the menus and buttons provided on the unit itself, but if you’re into all the little features, then there’s the remote to lose as well.

Will this be your only DVD player? I like having a carousel DVD player for the house: Moulin Rouge, 2 discs; Lord of the Rings, 4 discs; any box set, multiple discs by definition. However, if you’re going for bang for the buck and portability and above average features, the Audiovox D1730 is a beaut. I did plug it into my receiver as the second DVD player, and it performed perfectly. Like I said, the remote was easier to initially figure out than my home model. It also seems a lot more durable. If this will be your sole DVD player, and you don’t mind plugging and unplugging every time you want to take it somewhere, then the D1730 would be an ideal purchase.

My Recommendation

With a MSRP of $400 and a street price of $300-350, the Audiovox D1730 7” Ultra “Slim-Line” 16:9 Personal DVD player is a great bargain. For folks on the go, students, commuters, travelers, etc., it’s a great way to watch movies and listen to CD’s in a package only slightly larger than the average portable CD player and only a hundred bucks more than a comparably featured stand-alone DVD player. Plus, it comes with the industry standard one year warranty. How can you go wrong, really?