Panasonic DVD-LS80 8.5 in. Portable DVD Player

Video Quality:

With an 8.5" width screen it's a very good size for viewing your DVDs. It's neither too small nor too large (at least not in my eyes). Unlike a lot of portable DVD players that I've seen, the screen is not glossy. There's nothing worse then a bad glossy screen. When sunlight hits the screen the picture cannot be seen, the reflective covering on it, is also very annoying. Luckily this Panasonic model does not have a glossy screen. It's sharp and clear and has no reflective qualities.

The screen does not have the popular swivel screen but you can bend the screen almost down flat and mount it on the back of your car seat for viewing. It could also be tilted forward and back for viewing. It comes with a car charger but you would need a mounting bracket. The car kit is sold separately.

The monitor can be adjusted to your own preference or automatic such as "daylight" or "moonlight" brightness.


Sound Quality:

The sound is left to be desired. In a loud setting it's hard to hear even with the headphones on. I needed to pump up the volume on an airplane, with the engine running in the background. Just hope that you don't sit in the back. Usually the sound is pretty good on speakers and can be heard with headphones on medium setting if your surroundings are moderately noisy.

There are 2 headphone jacks, which is good for 2 people to watch simultaneously without having to put it on speakers. This is especially good if you have 2 children, they can share while watching a movie and you enjoying peace and quiet.


Battery Life:

Panasonic banks this product on it's battery life of lasting up to 6 hours, but then you read the fine print on the box and it says: "with use of headphones and lowest level of brightness." Needless to say I was disappointed with that. On brightness mode of "0" it lasted for approx. 3 hours.

But it does last up to 5.5 hours if you're on the lowest level of brightness on the screen which is good if your environment is fairly dark. I watch it when the plane has a low light setting or when I'm flying over different time zones and its night time. As for using headphones to conserve battery life that was no problem since I can't pump up the volume on the speakers or else other passengers would be shooting daggers at me. To compensate if the screen seems very dark on the lowest setting, I would just adjust it 3 levels down only, from "0" to "-3". I still get 4.5 hours of battery life, which is not bad considering other portable DVD batteries last 3 hours but usually far less then advertised.

The battery easily detaches and slides out. You can take it out and plug the adapter in for power. The yellow light indicates when it's charging and turns red when it's full.

Recharging to full capacity takes up to 2-3 hours.

Features:

It can save your place during the middle of a movie by just pressing and holding the stop button, but it cannot save your place if you just close the monitor.

This player can read CD-R/RW, DVD–R/RW, WMA, MP3, JPEG, DIVX, and VCD. I like to burn some music or shows in WMA or DIVX format; it's handy to cram a lot of movies in one disc. It plays region 1 discs only and comes in black.

It also has a video output, so you can plug it into your TV like a regular DVD player and watch movie, etc. that way. It's handy if you want to save space in your home or if you want to bring it over a friend's house.

The Buttons are easy enough to navigate and there are no excessive features that you really don't need. Switching to different audio and subtitles are straight forward as well as adjusting the screen and monitor.

The Bad:

The player does not have a remote control, which could be handy if you want to sit back and not have to reach out to press play or rewind.

It also doesn't provide a case to carry it around, but you could buy one. Make sure it fits into the case because of the bulky battery sticking out on the end.

The battery adds more weight when attached and it is fairly heavy if you have to carry it around so much. But for me I put it in a small carry-on suitcase, if I'm traveling and take it out when I'm boarding so it's not cumbersome lug around by itself.