The SDP-1720A's design is functional, but it's not what you could call pretty. The unit has a matte silver finish that, while not unpleasant to look at, is hardly all that inspired either. One design element that we did like was that almost all the player's controls are placed on the face of the unit, so that if you do lose the remote (although that would be tricky) you can view pretty much any content you like. A battery clips onto the back of the unit, increasing its weight a tad, but that's par for the course for any portable DVD player.
On the design front, the SDP-1720A wins a particular award from us - it's got the ugliest remote control we've seen for about twenty years. It's stubby, it's thick, the buttons are poorly laid out and even the casing for the remote doesn't colour match the player, being encased in a very pale beige plastic.
Features
Out of the box you get the player itself, the aforementioned ugly remote, a car charger and a standard RCA-ended connector for external playback. Like Sony's MV-65ST DVD Station and Toshiba's SD-P1400, the SDP-1720A has two headphone connectors, although no headphones are included in the packaging.
From a playback point of view, the SDP-1720A supports all standard DVD formats (+/-), MP3 CDs and Kodak Picture CDs, all of which display on the unit's 7" 16:9 TFT screen (with black bars as appropriate). The Shinco SDP-1720A sports stereo speakers, but we'd suggest using headphones regardless.
Performance
One thing that did initially throw us was that the SDP-1720A's external playback doesn't work if the 7" TFT screen is switched on -- and vice versa. This will save a bit if you're running on batteries, but we suspect anyone plugging this unit into a TV will have a power point nearby, so we just found it annoying.
Our major gripe with the SDP-1720A is that it tends to make a rather loud grinding sound when first accessing a disc -- hardly the thing you want if you're entrusting a precious film for playback to it. This happened with pretty much every disc we put into the unit, and we suspect it's down to a rather over-enthusiastic motor within the unit. It's also not terribly good at calmly slowing down discs when you've stopped them -- and it's a very bad idea to give into temptation and try to stop a spinning disc with your fingers.
The unit's 7" TFT screen did a serviceable job of playback with our test films, but we did notice a rather strong screen-door-like effect during intense action scenes. You're unlikely to be sitting all that far away from the unit at any one time -- it does only have a 7" TFT, after all -- and so this is something that could grate all too easily.
Ultimately we suspect whether or not you'll pick up a unit like the Shinco is purely down to budgetary considerations. If you can afford it, the costlier options from Sony or Toshiba are better built and more pleasant to interact with, but if you're strapped for cash and just want simple (albeit noisy) DVD playback, then you might want to settle for the Shinco.
Shinco User Adelaide
21/05/2008, 09:20 PM
rating
8/10
Excellent Product. My Second Portable DVD player
Cons: On/of switch has become US. Where can I get it repaired
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Jules2477
03/11/2007, 07:03 AM
rating
3/10
These items are great when they work but no matter how you try. Shinco WILL NOT reply. I thought it was a good item but without support I would naver recommend buying. Stick to a wel known company
Pros: Works or should I say worked well
Cons: Appauling support from Shinco
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Jeff Erton
20/10/2006, 08:24 PM
rating
5/10
Lip synchronisation is out
Pros: Good picture, good sound apart from the synch and not expensive
Cons: The lip synch - sound and vision synchronisation - s out on my model. I have tried contacting the seller whose English was not too good but I got he impression that it was a known fault and I was refered to Shinco who have not replied. I was hoping for a firmware patch to fix it.
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GC
18/04/2006, 10:25 AM
Impressed
Got the unit as a present. Was a bit concerned about the quality but after using it a few times was impressed. Sound quality with headphones is amazing, screen is fine, yeah bit noisy but who cares - you don't hear it with headphones on. For price, i'm impressed!
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Ben Notes
31/05/2005, 09:50 PM
Very good, but
Noisy at first but soon calms down, neat size, good screen. But aspect ratio is wrong. It doesn't fill the screen proportionally, it just stretches the image to fill the width of the screen so even a widescreen film looks odd, with black bars top & bottom.
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22/04/2005, 05:05 PM
Great for the price
only just got it, great picture and incredible sound with headphones pluged in. A bit noisey loading discs but it doesnt last long
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14/04/2005, 04:26 PM
sometimes names dont mean a thing
got this unit a strathfield at Nunawading was very pleased and suprised considering i was looking at more expensive units (that did not even come close in doing with this unit can do) its a bit noisy whille loading up but who cares it does the job fantastic!!!!!!
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nottelling
14/03/2005, 03:22 PM
Very cheap and works well
Bought this the other day on special for AU$149 at Strathfield.
Pros - Works well, plays mp3 discs, bag, car adapter, ac adapter, and all the cables etc included.
cons - grinds on start up (becomes quiet after 1 min), batteries last less than 2 hrs, becomes warm after a while, feels a bit cheap
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11/02/2005, 11:05 AM
Awesome. Watch anything anywhere... CHEAP.
Any MPEG4 file I throw at it, it plays it great, scales it to fit the screen but keeps the aspect ratio, DivX, Xvid, anything. Even better is the price, they're $297 now at Strathfield/Brisbane Car Sound. And sure, they're a bit noisy, but only when loading up. They're quiet while they're playing. I love this thing.
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Shinco adelaide ...
13/01/2005, 09:52 AM
Cheap and noisy
Only had it one day .... but yes, it is very noisy. Sounds like a truck changing through the gears.
TV Out on my PAL only TV isn't working at the moment. All the Divx movies I've thrown at it have worked.
Did I mention it was cheap? 50% off RRP ....
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