Good value but not the most durable player around

Author's Rating:

Pros: Cheap, Nice video and sound, very portable, simple controls

Cons: Poor durability. Bulky battery. Poor charging arrangement

The Bottom Line: 
All-in-all, you won't find a better portable DVD player for this price. This is a great unit for travellers, college students, etc.

Author's Review
I bought this DVD player about 6 months ago to use on a long drive with a 2-year old media junkie. I was very impressed with the picture quality and the sound was excellent through headphones or external speakers.

Construction
The player is made out of plastic and has a bit of a cheap feel to it. It looks nice, but the casing makes you feel like you have an oversized walkman. Popping open the DVD cover supports this. It's solid when closed, but seems very fragile when open. It's no worse than any of the other portable DVD players that I've looked at, but it's a bit unnerving nonetheless. Also, if the disc isn't completely snapped down onto the spindle, you can end up with a very badly scratched disc. Accidentally putting pressure on the disc door will also cause severe scratching. A layer of cloth or felt in the disc area could have prevented this, but as it is, the inside of the unit can be very hostile to the disc.

The other issue that I've had is the screen hinge. Friction is the only thing that keeps the screen angle and the hinge has loosened to the point where the screen doesn't stay up unless it's very close to 90 degrees.

Video
The screen is bigger than most DVD players in this class at 7". The screen is bright and easily viewable in daylight, though not bright enough to withstand direct sunlight. The colors are clean and accurate and there's no noticable ghosting or lag so common in many cheap DVD players. The screen is a 16:9 aspect ratio TFT at 480x234. Widescreen playback is superb. However, if you watch 4:3 and don't like stretched images or black bars, this is not a good choice for you. I used to think that the stretching would be an issue for me when watching recorded TV shows. However, I have to admit that I barely notice it.

Unfortunately, the LCD was the first major component to act up after the screen hinge. The right side of the display has a vertical band that fluctuates between .5 and 1.5 inches wide. The band goes away if you apply pressure to bottom of the display mount, but comes back after a few minutes. After taking the display apart, it appears that the screen was taped to the front and the back of the unit. With time and use, the display has been pulled apart by the pressure from both sides. A shim of cardboard behind the screen has resolved the problem for now.

Audio

The internal speakers are better that I would have expected. They're tinny and not very loud, but they're better than average. They won't keep a room full of people happy, but they're more than sufficient for a "children's matinee" at the coffee table. Sound through headphone jack is great. The audio adjustments are pretty much non-existant. So if you have crappy headphones, you won't be able to compensate for them in any way. However, with good headphones, the sound is easily as good as any consumer CD player. It's not audiophile territory, but absolutely great for something in this price range. The convenience of using this as a CD or MP3 player is great.

As a component player

While most people won't use the unit as a component in a home theatre, I thought I would try it out. It's surprisingly good quality. The colors seemed a bit washed out, until I created a custom profile for the Audiovox. Once I did that, and pumped the video through my DVDO line doubler, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the Audiovox and my Denon. Even without the line doubler, it was comparable to my $900 Toshiba player with the Progressive scan turned off.

There's a Digital output for the audio which works well. Though I had to manually tell my receiver that it was AC-3 output or it kept falling back to Digital Stereo. Audio quality was superb (though since it was digital, it's tough to expect anything less). Audio from the analog jacks was decent quality. (go with the digital out if you can!)

A nice bonus feature of the unit is that you can use the s-video input and use it as a monitor. I've got a cable running from my home theatre system so that my son can watch another channel or the VCR while we watch something on the big-screen. You could also use it as a monitor for a portable VCR in the car if you didn't want to invest in a lot of DVDs for car trips.

Disc compatibility

This is where the D1730 really shines. It read EVERYTHING that I threw at it. VCD, SuperVCD, Audio CD, CDRW, CDR, MP3, Single-layer, dual-layer, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD-R, fixed bitrate, VBR. This thing was unstoppable! The only complaint that I have here is that it was impossible to navigate a VCD menu without using the remote control. The arrow buttons on the DVD player itself can't be used to select track numbers. This was also an issue with some overseas DVDs that expected you to enter specific menu numbers rather than just pressing "play". Just don't get stranded without the remote.

Battery/Charger

Ok...here's an annoyance that might be a showstopper for some people. You can't charge the battery and watch a DVD at the same time. The way that the charging system is set up, you either have the battery plugged in or the power adapter, but not both. To charge the battery, the power adapter and the battery both have to be connected to a charging adapter. That leave you with no battery and no power adapter. Invest in a second power adapter if you're going to use the battery pack.

The life of the Lithium Ion Battery is good. I ran through two full length movies without a recharge. It also holds a charge well when unused. (something NiMH doesn't do well)

Summary

All-in-all, you won't find a better portable DVD player for this price. If you intend to use it with the battery pack, buy an extra power adapter. Also, invest in a good set of headphones if audio quality is important to you. This is a great unit for travellers, college students, etc. and it can easily serve double duty as a component player for people who don't want to invest in two players.