Mobility Digest Review: 7" Philips PET741B Widescreen Portable DVD Player

Welcome to another review on Mobility Digest, this isn’t a phone, but this is Mobility Digest, not Phone Digest meaning that anything mobility counts right? We should diversify and not just review phones, but we should review anything that’s related to being mobile. Yes we can have a larger focus on phones, but i think we should think everything mobility related and not limit ourselves.

Today for review I’ve got one of Geeks cheap portable DVD players, it’s the Phillips PET741B model actually and it’s a widescreen player that works fairly well overall. It’s small, it’s portable and it works well. The player is a basic one yes, but it works for playing DVDs and CDs, and what more could you ask for right?!

Author: Kristofer Brozio

Vendor: Geeks.com

Price: $49.99

Overall Rating: 4/5

7" Philips PET741B Widescreen Portable DVD Player

This 7-inch Philips PET741B Widescreen Portable DVD Player is the perfect way to drown noise at the airport as you await to board your plane and its great for long road trips. Anywhere you need entertainment, this PET741B has you covered. It’s a must have travel accessory and comes in a compact size taking minimal luggage space.

The 7-inch widescreen TFT LCD display features a 480 x 234 resolution and 200:1 contrast ratio. What’s great about this player is that, in addition to movies, you can also enjoy music and photo playback. The PET741B/37 supports a range of disc formats, including, DVD±R/RW, CD-R/CD-RW, Picture CD and MP3-CD.

The built-in rechargeable battery can last up to 2 hours, which is approximately the length of a whole movie. You can keep it charged via wall outlet or car cigarette lighter outlet for on the go use. Layovers are never fun, but at least with this DVD Player the time will go by quicker! Act fast because supplies are extremely limited!

General Features:
– Color: Black
– Shock proof
– Contrast ratio: 200:1
– Resolution: 480 x 234
– Brightness: 120 cd/m2
– Response time: 30 ms
– Battery charging indicator
– LCD panel type: Anti-glare polarizer
– 7.0-inch widescreen TFT LCD display
– Watch movies in 16:9 widescreen format
– Video disc playback system: PAL, NTSC
– Plays DVD movies, MP3-CD/DVD music and JPEG photos 
– 250mW RMS built-in speakers; 5mW RMS earphone output power
– Up to 2 hours of battery playback with built-in battery (may vary with use)  
– Disc playback modes: Disc menu, Fast backward, Fast forward, OSD, Repeat, Shuffle play, Zoom

Video Playback Media:
– CD
– DVD
– MP3-CD
– Video CD
– Picture CD  
– DVD-R/-RW
– CD-R/CD-RW
– DVD+R/+RW

Audio Playback Media:
– CD
– CD-R
– CD-RW
– MP3-CD

Connectivity:
– DC in
– AV output
– 3.5 mm stereo headphone

Unit Dimensions:
– 1.3 x 7.25 x 5.75-inches (H x W x D, approximate)

Find more Computer Parts at Geeks.com!

What’s in the Box?

So let’s start with the box.. it’s a box with pictures and specs on it:

Unpacking that box you won’t find much surprisingly. Inside you’ll find car power adapter, ac charger, brief manual and A/V cable.

The player itself is black in color and it’s plastic like most others out there. It’s fairly lightweight, but it does seem well made. The top is a glossy cover with the Phillips logo on it.

On the bottom you’ll find the id sticker and rubber feet.

On the left side is a sliding button that is used to open the DVD tray:

 

On the right side you’ll find the volume knob, power connector, headphone jack and the A/V jack.

On the very front you’ll only find an LED indicator that light red when charging and green when powered on.

The player itself features a 7” widescreen display that has a resolution of 480×234… not exactly HD resolution.. Below the screen you’ll find two speakers as well.

Beside the tray you’ll find the controls, this DVD player doesn’t come with a remote so you have to use the buttons for controls.

Impressions / Review:

To test it I watched a couple movies, fun-fun!

When you start it up you’re greeted with the Phillips logo:

Boot time seems as fast as the two other portable DVD players I’ve got meaning it’s fine, in  a few seconds the movie starts to play.

Hitting the Setup button takes you to a minimal set of options, very basic stuff in here.

There’s not much to change in the settings at all sadly, but it’s a basic player and that’s about it, so if you don’t expect much you won’t be disappointed.

Battery life claims to be 2 hours, and that’s what I got, no more no less…

The two speakers are surprisingly loud and they’re actually not as bad as I expected them to be, they’re fairly decent really.

Other players I have have an input and an output on them, but this one has only the output which I guess is fine for the most part. You can use it as a regular DVD player just by hooking it up to your TV, or you can take it with you, so that’s not all too bad right?!

Here’s some pictures taken of Mad Max playing on it:

So yes it’s a basic player, but it’s not that bad especially for the price for $50.

 

Conclusion:

So what have we learned?

We learned that I can drag out a review of a very basic product pretty far…

Seriously though the Philips PET741B isn’t a bad little product, yes it’s basic, but sometimes that’s all you need really. You can take it with you, and it’s easy to use, it’s a no frills DVD player that just works.

Pros:
+Simple and easy to use
+Seems well made
+Quick recharge time
+Decent quality picture
+Sound is loud and not bad

Cons:
-No A/V input
-Battery is only 2 hours
-Very limited options