It's fair to say that the market for standalone DVD players is all but completely saturated -- when you can pick such items up in supermarkets, it's probably all over in terms of innovation. Where we're seeing more inventive ideas employed in the DVD player market at the moment is in portable DVD players. Sony's MV-65ST DVD Station joins offerings from Samsung and Panasonic, amongst others, and the Japanese electronic giant's particular hook for the MV-65ST is how remarkably portable it is.
Upside: The big attraction for the MV-65ST is the inclusion of mounting straps for in-car entertainment; either hung from the back of one seat or in-between the front two seats. It'll run off any 12v (think in-car cigarette lighter) or 240v (plain old wall socket) power supply, making it a good match for most holiday travel plans. The MV-65ST is compatible with DVD, VCD, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3 and JPEG CD, and comes with a 6.5in widescreen LCD with inbuilt speakers, or, if you prefer the sounds of silence, two headphone jacks.
Downside: The MV-65ST's 6.5in screen isn't huge -- if you've got multiple backseat passengers, or a wide back seat, there could be more than a little bickering between bored passengers trying to all see at once. Unlike similar offerings from other brand-name suppliers, the MV-65ST lacks an inbuilt battery, so to make it work at all, you've got to have a power point handy or the car running. In the harsh Australian summer, we also envisage the odd warped DVD if left in the car a tad too long. The MV-65ST comes with a wireless remote -- for once, we'd say a wired one might have been a better inclusion. We're also wondering how well the straps included will work with a variety of vehicles, from the large to the small. We're also not sure how well the MV-65ST's DVD drive will handle some of Australia's bumpier roads. And naturally, we wouldn't suggest that the driver be watching a DVD while trying to drive (although we're sure somebody will…)
Outlook: Sony's certainly not alone in the portable DVD space, although the inclusion of mounting straps and the relatively low price of AU$799 make the MV-65ST an appealing concept, at least in theory. Check back soon for our full review.
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prjmgr
18/04/2007, 02:41 PM
rating
8/10
A few years old now but still offers excellent widescreen picture and sound quality particularly when compared to the flood of no-name imports that abound everywhere. Sometimes big can still be beautiful !
Pros: Great picture quality; great sound quality; multiregion; plays both PAL & NTSC disks; AV input and output: build quality.
Cons: Heavy, bulky, requires careful planning to fit into vehicle.
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brian.haverty@zdnet.com.au
08/06/2006, 10:10 AM
rating
9/10
Clunky
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terry
28/02/2005, 01:59 PM
Great portable DVD player, but not for everyone
The first thing I noticed when I bought this was the quality feel it had. It isn't feather-light like most plastic portable DVD players; instead (especially after some use) you can tell it has some workmanship built into it. Consequently, it's a little heavy for what it is. It's a little bigger than most, too, more than likely because the way it's designed: the disc drive uses a motor to pull the DVD disc in through a slot similar to a full-size player rather than a little flip-top like the others. That may be why it's not offered with a battery option. It might need a big, powerful battery for that.
The 7-inch screen on the MV-65ST can be set for the following modes: full, zoom, widescreen and normal. It has beautiful picture quality except when set to "zoom", when it starts to look slightly pixilated. I cannot tell the difference between "full" and "normal" except normal is shown as a smaller picture. I don't know why they have both.
The speakers work very well for a portable DVD player. The sound is excellent and there are also 2 headphone jacks. It has an antenna feature where you can play it wirelessly through your car or truck's radio FM radio. I tried it and it doesn't work well. It could be because I live in an area where the choice of frequencies needed to operate is used by several FM stations.
This player appears to be designed to be used in a vehicle. It has an AC wall plug and a cigarette lighter adapter, and as I said before....no battery. It's great for road trips (straps are included to mount it on the back of or in between seats) and great for places where an outlet is available. But don't expect to use it next to your hammock in your backyard. For that reason, as excellent as the Sony MV-65ST portable DVD player is, it's not for everyone.
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02/01/2005, 11:11 AM
Solid - Clear - Versatile
This unit worked excellent on our recent road trip. Great clarity, solid construction. We recently returned a "slimline" no-name model, which worked well but seemed like it would break on first touch. This unit has enough of a case to make others ask why it is so big but to make you ask why do I need a cheap dvd palyer that is half the size.
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