Toshiba SD-P1200 Portable DVD Player with Screen

Author's Rating:

Pros: Decent picture, easy to use, good battery life, hours of enjoyment.

Cons: Sometimes have to play with the plug to get it to charge.

The Bottom Line: 
This has a decent picture, with average sound. It is easily portable and makes it a breeze to take movies and music along on road trips.

Author's Review
I got the Toshiba SD-P1200 Portable DVD Player with Screen as a gift and although I have only been using it for a couple of months, I have had no problems with it so far.

I like that this unit is easily portable. It measures about 1 1/4 inches, by 8 inches, by 7 inches. It weighs in at just under 2 pounds (without battery), which makes it really easy for anyone to carry. It has a 7-inch screen. This screen is not a bad size to watch although I wouldn’t want it to be much smaller. It comes in a red rubberized carrying case and comes with a remote control that is about the size of a credit card.

Because I have had other Toshiba products, I know that I can generally expect quality from them. This product was no exception. It appears to be well built, and fairly sturdy, although as with any electronic product care should be taken to avoid exposing to excessive dust, moisture or dropping the unit.

The Toshiba SD-P1200 Portable DVD Player with Screen plays the following formats:

MP3, CD-RW, CD-R, CD, DVD, VCD, DVD-R, JPEG

It features virtual surround sound, which is not really all that great, but then what kind of sound do you expect from a unit of this size? It does come with RCA audio outputs, so if you need better sound, you are able to plug this into an additional speaker. Dual headphone jacks are also available in case you want to watch a movie with a friend. Headphones are not included, but readily available at most stores. I usually use the headphones while listening to music. One thing I like is that this unit plays the MP3s that I’ve burned onto CDs for trips. I can burn well over 100 songs onto each CD and bring along hours of music without the hassle of dragging along an entire case full of CDs.

It also comes with additional video outputs for S-Video, although I haven’t used this since I mostly use this unit for while traveling. I’m satisfied with the image on the screen. It is clear and fairly sharp, having a 7-inch widescreen, active-matrix LCD with 480 x 234 resolution. If you want though, you can connect this unit to either a computer monitor or a television set and display your images on a larger screen.

Included with this unit was a Lithium Ion battery which gives me at least 3 hours of use before recharging. I generally watch only one movie at a time, so this is adequate for me. I have only once or twice watched 2 movies consecutively on this and had no problems with those either. I generally recharge when I finish one movie, and have not run my battery dead yet by doing this. It seldom gets that much use at one time anyway.

Other features include title/chapter search, repeat mode, forward and reverse, high-speed scan in forward and reverse, chapter preview, and skip in forward and reverse. The controls on both the DVD player and on the remote are easy to understand, and should be simple for most people to operate.

In the box, you will find:

DVD player
Remote control
Lithium Ion battery
User's manual
Warranty information (1 year parts and labor)

A 12-volt charger is not included with the unit, but is sold separately, and may be useful if traveling a lot. When used while traveling, I would recommend that it be isolated from bumps and shakes. Otherwise, the picture will reset often. It does not handle being jarred around very well. I don’t generally have a problem with this since I don’t watch too many movies while driving though.

My only complaint about this unit is that every once in a while, I have to play with the plug to get it to charge. It isn’t a big issue because it does always end up charging, but maybe that is just because I am more stubborn than it is.