Whether we are world travelers or visiting friends across the country, the long down periods on “Trains, Planes, and Automobiles” can be tiring. On plane trips, many fill this gap, by reading a book, chatting with your neighbor, or by watching the pseudo current movie or old episode of The Office on 8 inch screens placed every fourth row. But what if you are not interested in what is “Now Playing”? Even worse, what if the video player is not workingthen what?
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I have found that the best way to ensure that a long trip is rarely boring is to bring a good quality portable DVD player and several movies and possibly some educational programs with me to play on this unit. How does one go about identifying the most cost-effective DVD player? What is truly the best value for the money. Your ability to assess your own needs as well as determine which players have these features for the best price will determine how effective you are at this task.
A few key things to think about are the quality of the image you desire, the screen size, the media you will be playing, and the battery life you will need. The image quality can range from good to excellent as you consider an inexpensive generic DVD player or one of the new portable Blu-ray DVD players. It is given that you will definitely pay a large premium if you purchase a Blu-ray and you will also pay more for every movie you buy. That’s the price you pay for being on the cutting edge of technology.
In the “battle of the screens” the bigger the screen the easier the image is to watch – in general. For this reason if you desire is to get a unit with a screen larger than the more common 7 to 8 inch variety, you will pay a definite premium compared to a similar, smaller model. In addition, compatibility with formats may be important if you have multiple media types such as mp3, mpeg, wav, and other formats. If you do, be sure that this is one of the features you look for in the player you will eventually purchase. Finally, nothing is worse that your battery going dead in the middle of a thriller. Battery life should be on the list of criteria particularly if there is extended travel in your future.
What you watch is as important as what you play it on. Feature length movies are the first thing that comes to mind and I have my favorites. On any trip I will have with me my trusty copy of Saving Private Ryan, and The Graduate, but how many of us know that there is an opportunity to learn as well as entertained?
I have found a wide variety of educational programming designed to stimulate my intellect as I am being entertained. PBS has available complete DVD sets related to everything from the the History of Jazz to our National Parks to genetics. Many of these programs are available in multi-DVD sets and can provide thought-provoking content sufficient to encompass a fifteen hour train ride provided you have the battery power to sustain your player over this period. If you and your wife are interested in swing dancing, why not pick up a few DVDs on the Lindy Hop?
Do you always need to purchase these disks? Not really. You can rent videos at many airports in shops such as InMotion, which lets you pick up and view a disk at one airport and drop it off at another. This is a very important feature for those of us only interested in viewing a movie once. Just remember that this convenience comes at a cost.
In conclusion, making full use of a portable DVD player can really help to fill be gaps between airports or train stations. The beauty of using this technology is that you are limited only by your imagination and taste as to what programming you acquire. Remember that the wise consumer gets the best value by carefully researching the products available and determining what feature are “nice to have” versus “need to have” so that the best unit can be obtained to suit your needs and tastes. There is an almost limitless array of movies and educational DVDs designed to suit all tastes.
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