Sony DVP-FX820

Bought this DVD Player back in March 2009. It really worked great on keeping my son occupied during daily commutes/long rides (bought the car mount with it). Every once in a while we would only get sound… and no picture but if you turned it on and off a couple times the picture would appear...Now we're in November and there is no picture at all. To spend $150 on a disposable product seems a bit expensive. Next time I'm going with cheap no-name brand.

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The picture quality on this unit is superior, the BIGGEST drawback is that it can't decipher the aspect ratio correctly. When displaying a 16:9 disk SET to 16:9 it displays the video in a LITTLE square… centered on the screen. Changing the settings does still not render the aspect ratio correctly, I think in part because you have to completely STOP the disk to change settings. Very disappointing on this point. Battery life is around 3-3.5 hours, nowhere near 6. Even though I like the unit, I would dig deeper into the aspect ratios before buying another Sony Player.

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When I found these refurbed for less than $100, I took a flyer on two figuring that even if they wouldn't do exactly what I wanted, I'm still buying Sonys for the price of Polaroids. But they do EXACTLY… what I wanted. They have an in-out toggle switch which allows them to act as either a DVD player or a monitor. So by adding a couple of male-male miniplug cables, I can run a DVD on one that plays on both, with independent volume control for headphones on each. Fantastic. Having figured out a way to attach them to the seats in my Odyssey, I can now put a DVD in each and my girls can watch different things or the same things with a flip of the switch. Adding power ports under the seats and running the cables under the carpet, I have a $250 aftermarket entertainment setup that's more flexible than the factory RES costing several times as much. Oh yeah, and the picture's great too, the design is smart and rugged, yadda yadda yadda.

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I really miss a mute button. The one I bought 2 years ago also didn't have a mute button. What's with that? I had a Mintek from 5 years ago with a mute button and its hard to beat. I gave the Mintek a… bad review then later found out I wasn't following the instructions but I couldn't correct the review. This Sony also only turns if I'm on the left but not when I need it from the right. It's okay as these things go but if I had known there was no mute button I would have chosen something else.

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