Sony DVP-FX930 9-Inch Portable DVD Player, Black (2009 Model)

I had been looking at the previous Sony model that had over 300 reviews and CNET had it as their choice in the portable DVD products in the 7"-10" screen sizes. I am very please with the latest Sony model, what has changed is they made the screen an inch larger and placed touch buttons on the newer model. This FX 930 looks more modern, sleek although it is a little larger. I am very pleased as I have played various DVD's, using full and normal settings that you can select for wide or standard screen formats. I have played many CD's from the actual artists to my own made CD's at home and played music files from my PC and taken along photos like a photo album when I want to share or have those close to me with me so to speak when traveling. Sound is fine for the little speakers but 99% of the time I use really good headphones and you get two jacks so you can share when sitting with someone on a plane, train, or in the car as long as you are not driving. Had to toss that in! ;) It is not too heavy compared to many, certainly much less than a laptop and still small enough screen size to know you are not luggin around a laptop. Battery life is standard, I have it run out yet but have not been on pure battery for 6 hours yet either. I try to have it plugged in most of the time during use and for the car you get a car charger included in the box. Being it is smaller it makes it more mobile for your travels whether local or abroad. I have been using this item non-stop almost without any issues. Could it be improved, yes, almost any product can be and as with any electronics they seem to improve with almost each iteration. With this said, you can save $30-$40 by buying the previous model. It is an inch smaller but the screen resolution is the same and many of the features are almost identical. Take it for a test drive and remember you've got 30 days to test it and if it is not what you like or expect, return it and try another, but choices on these products are quite limited since many use their PSP, iPhone, or iPods to watch movies/videos etc.

*****Update*** I had erroneously mentioned that Amazon charged me 20% penalty. Amazon refunded me the full amount. As usual, I have always found dealing with Amazon support to be a pleasant experience. ************** The picture quality is good. The touch-buttons are sleek, the rotating screen is a good feature. if you plan on mounting it to the rear of a car seat. These are the issues I had with this product: * the touch-buttons are sometimes annoyingly unresponsive and you may have to press a couple of times. * the joy-stick is very painful to use. I had a one-week learning curve - even then I would not get it right everytime. Everytime I pressed the directional button, I would end up pressing the enter key and inadverently going into the menu. I do *not* have big hands or, literally speaking, fat fingers. If you do, believe me, you will not be able to use the buttons. Sometimes you will want to select a menu and keep pressing the directional button. I am really surprised that none of the reviewers mention this. This is not a minor gripe. It is a major usability issue. * ok, there may be a workaround for this, but by default the picture size is very tiny (a widescreen movie will take up a quarter of the screen with bands on all sides.) You go to the LCD menu, select options and make it 'Full' to stretch it out. Now everytime you press any button (stop or pause or menu), the screen reverts to the original quarter size. I apologize if there is some menu tweak (its not there in the manual for sure), but if not, its an excruciatingly annoying thing and should make you think twice before buying this product. Now it is possible that all portable DVD players have this issue, in which case you may not have a choice. But if you can do without a portable DVD player (buy a cheaper laptop), then for this reason alone stay away from portable players that have this display limitation. I have no idea when a DVD would ever take up the entire full screen. * a month and 5 days after I ordered this from Amazon, I got a light blue vertical band about 0.5 in from the right border. That pretty much sealed the deal for me and I returned it to Amazon with a 20% penalty. I usually find Sony products very durable and of high quality. I guess there is always a first time.

DO NOT GO AND BUY ANYTHING ELSE BUT THIS SONY DVD PLAYER! I bought this refurbished for just about $115 dollars, and knowing what I know now, I would have bought a brand new one if they did not have any refurbished ones. It is a fabulous player. The slightest touch to the controls under the screen produces the desired result. It is not remote control dependent; therefore, if you lose the remote you can still use the controls under the screen, and to use the controls under the screen takes a very very light touch. Picture quality is fantastic; sound quality is fantastic; I even used a cheap pair of headphones and the sound is fantastic. I believe that the two headphone plugins are so that two people can watch with each person having their own set of headphones. The square button on the right side just under the screen should have arrows on it so that the user realizes to push the button at the very top edge for up, or the very bottom edge for down, or the very right edge for right, or the very left edge for left, or push right in the center for Enter. I also bought the: PDVK-10 7-Inch 10-Inch In Car Portable DVD Player Case (Black) for this unit and the case is wonderful. It holds the player with a strap and buckle to strap the player down and keep it from sliding around. The back inside pocket holds the Remote, the AC adapter, the Car plug adapter, the wires that are used to go to a television, and two small cheap headphones that go around the top of the head. Do not pass up this case either for you will be very happy that you can carry everything with you including the very good Instruction Manual that comes with the Sony DVPFX930. WARNING: You will damage the player by having the player plugged into the automobile and starting the engine, or turning off the engine. The engine must be started first, and then the player plugged into the vehicle, or if you are just going to run off the car battery make sure the automobile stays off; also, it must be a 12V car battery and not a 24V.

I purchased this for road trips with the kids and mainly for its longer battery life. Most other models that I've looked at didn't have the longer battery life. We're still testing it out and will report back on how it's doing later. Interface - That said, I was surprised by the touch interface which made it relatively easy to use without the included remote. Screen - I was a bit leary about the rotating / tilting screen but it's held up very well thus far. Picture quality was very good. Sound - We mainly use headsets for the kids but overall, the built in speakers were satisfactory. Build - Compared to other models that I've used before, I like the build on the Sony model better. A much more solid feel than other players that I've used before. Battery - The battery pack is contained within a separate flat piece that slides in below the player. I liked this over the built in kind with the thought that it could be replaced more readily than one that is built in and not replaceable (without taking it apart that is) Still testing the battery limits so more later.

Was looking for a cheap portable dvd for use in the car & when traveling. Found this one that was more than what I wanted to pay, but the reviews were far and above other similar units so I decided to splurge. Glad I spend a little more for this. It really has been a great little unit. When not traveling we hook it up to our TV and use it as our in-home DVD player too. We've had it about a year and it is still working like brand new, even after it accidentally was dropped. Great picture, nice 360 degree swiveling screen. Easy to position screen at various angles. Only negatives are 1) that it's a little hard to open because the outer case is so smooth with no real latch or finger hold to use to pry the screen open and 2) the controls on the unit (under the screen) can be hard to get to when using a car mounting system if you find that your strap happens to end up covering them as ours did. Pros include the "lock" feature that prevents anyone from accidentally turning it off or hitting a button by accident. The remote is nice and works well from all sides of the unit. Dual headphone jacks are great for the kids when using it in the car. Just an all around good product.

Sony DVP-FX930 Portable DVD Player I purchased this DVD player on January 2nd, 2010. It had problems from the start but was persuaded by Sony Support that it was "just static electricity" and told to engage in an elaborate ritual to make it work again. It did work, for a while -- about a month -- and then required the ritual to be performed again. It worked until almost the third of March, one day past its labor warranty date, and is now a paperweight. The rituals don't work, and it never did work reliably. I often but Sony electronics, because I've had very good luck with them in the past, but I seem to have got a real clunker this time, and partially blame Sony Support for stringing me along with temporary fixes until it went past the labor warranty, which means of course that it's not worth sending it in for repair, and if I did, what's the point? My advice is, if *anything* goes wrong, demand a replacement straight away, because it's easy to be suckered into time-wasting procedures that push the time out until you have no real recourse.

FYI, the color Black is NOT Black but rather a very dark (metallic) blue. Its pretty dam close to Black but bottom line it is NOT Black. As far as the player its basicly a bare bones player, nothing special about it, basically everyone primarily buys it for the long battery life and tablet style 9" 480 standard resolution screen, amazingly this standard definition screen is on the high end compared to majority of other portable screens out there. Screen brightness is good. Personally I dont think anti-glare matt finish help reduce glare, I would rather have a glossy finish for more crisper display. Sound quality lacks any bass but that was expected, volume on the other hand is pretty decent for small speakers. Disc load and seek times were relatively quick. The touch controls are exactly that touch, next to impossible to control if watching a movie in the dark, you can not see where the controls are, one of those cool ideas but in the end just not proactical. As always Sony disapoints, no car headrest adapter, I mean how difficult is it to put one together, Phillips has an awsome "Smart" headrest adapter for some of their models, at the very least they provide a pouch/strap for the headrest for other models. Honeslty I wish I could have purchased a Philips model but was unavailable. So in the end Sony it was. My solution for the headrest is simply to make my own straps with clips that will wrap around the headrest, the straps will slide basically around the middle portion next to the swivel/pivot arm. Ah you will then say how does ones change the disc, since it is strapped shut. Anyone else fancy slot loading? I wish. Anyways, although the straps pose an inconvience, I plan to play video from an iPod. I little difficult to find the proper straps but ebay to the rescue. This portable player is just something to start with for our new car. Still pondering if I want to cut the headliner to install a overhead screen. For now this portable player (soft install) will get the job done.

We purchased this just before a long spring break trip. The kids loved it. The positives: *Battery life was great - with earphones, it seemed to last around 5 hours between charges. *2 earphone jacks - liked that, as my wife and I were able to listen to the radio, or better yet silence while the kids watched a movie. *Picture Size and Quality - both were great for a portable DVD player. *Sound - without the earphones, the sound was loud enough for the van at highway speeds. Using the speakers will drain the battery more quickly. *Light weight and easy to transport. My only problem with this model is in the little button that acts as the arrow keys and the enter button. It takes VERY precise touching to get the correct button. You might want to push the middle part for enter, but wind up pushing the right or left key. (This can be eliminated by using the remote, but still was annoying) Overall, this is a great product that I highly recommend.