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Product: Insignia 10.2” Portable DVD Player with Swivel Screen (IS-PDVD10)
Price: $279.99
Rating: Good - 7.65
Pros: Slick design, easy to use.  Supports a wide variety of formats.  Large LCD screen so you don’t have to squint.
Cons: Battery did not last for a long movie, volume does not get loud enough.
Overall: A great portable DVD player (Fathers Day present, hint, hint) that I would recommend to anyone.  It’s kind of pricey, but becomes worth it because of the added features like the swivel design and large screen.

Design - 7.0 - This Insignia Portable DVD Player sports a slick tablet-like 180 degree swivel screen.  This makes it so you can put the device into essentially 3 key viewing positions.  First, you can watch it in its normal position (similar to a laptop).  Next, you can flip the screen 180 degrees so the screen is facing towards the back of the unit instead of the front.  This is how I preferred to watch it so the buttons and loud sound of the DVD spinning did not distract me.  Finally, you can completely collapse the device like a tablet PC for watching it on your lap in a car or if you simply have nowhere to put it.  Unless you had a harness to keep it on the back of a car seat, I can see how it would become annoying to hold it up (or look down) constantly so you can see the screen.  In addition, the battery is kind of bulky and is in an awkward place on the bottom of the player.  If I were to describe it, I’d say the battery is in the shape of a SlingBox and sticks off of the bottom about half of an inch. 

Read on for more about the Insignia 10.2” Portable DVD Player with Swivel Screen.

Pictures that I had seen of this DVD player prior to reviewing it make it out to have a matte finish.  The player actually has a rubbery surface which makes it so you can keep a good grip on it while swiveling, and holding it… and it looks good too.  The device is thin (1.5"), lightweight (2.6 lbs), and has a decent size screen (10.2").  The buttons on the console are laid out well and overall, the device has a respectable design. 

Features - 8.0 - The player is very similar to other ones out there.  One area where it is ahead is that it plays back the following formats: DVD, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3 and Picture CD.  It also comes with a remote control (which controls everything except for the volume), a car charger, and an A/V cable.  Unlike other players out there, it also comes with A/V inputs and outputs, coaxial digital audio input, DC input 9V, DC output 5V and 2 headphone jacks so you don’t have to watch alone.  Insignia has also included control buttons (play, pause, stop, rewind, and fast forward) on both the console itself and the bottom of the screen.  So if you decide to swivel the screen around, you can still control the playback. 

Usability - 8.5 - The setup and playback are very simple.  All I had to do was open the box, plug the unit in to charge, and pop a DVD in.  The button layout on the device makes controlling it without a remote a breeze.  Since it’s a similar button layout to a standard remote control, the experience is simple and takes almost no time to figure out.  The added bonus of a remote control comes in handy so you can be extra lazy.

Performance - 7.5 - The Insignia player sports 32x fast forward and rewind and it’s battery lasts approximately 3 hours of playback.  I was impressed with the quality of the built-in speakers, but was not too thrilled with the maximum volume level.  The player makes a sound when it loads a DVD like it’s about to take off like an airplane.  After it initially loads, it calms down a little and isn’t as annoying.  If you’re looking for a portable DVD player with a larger screen, this player is for you.

Editors note - The overall rating was calculated by weighting design as 30%, features as 20%, usability as 20%, and performance as 30%.

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