A great little Player Plus +, 2006-01-30
Despite some of the poor reviews, I purchased this item about a month ago.The screen is bright and clear with on screen controls for colour, contrast, aspect ratio, TV tuner etc. The TV tuner is pretty good, it picks up the four major channels using the aerial supplied (I cannot get ch5 on my main set) AND it makes a great portable monitor for a camcorder!!
Pretty much everything you could ever need is in the box.
Ever bought something that said you can connect it to 'xxx', use it with 'yyy' but when you looked in the box the required connector wasn't there and reading the manual, it stated 'Optional extra - not supplied' or similar --- Irritating isn't it!.
Not so with this item, about the only this you don't get is a scart lead or adaptor (I've got several of those anyway + you can pick one up for a couple of quid), everything else is in the box, including a 12v adaptor for the car!.
Yes, the method of connecting the battery to the unit via a double plugged link is decidedly 'clunky' but it works. Many Units from a major manufacture use a similar method of mounting the battery pack underneath the player. The only difference is that the connector is between the units. Not a major issue but it does give you something small that can easily be lost.
It does mean that the Power unit can charge the battery or power the player but it doesn't do both. I.E. with the power unit plugged into the battery and the battery plugged into the player, the battery goes flat after about four or five hours or so. Not exactly a major problem.
The Games CD was in the box and the games are a refreshing trip down memory lane. Many of the 80s&90s arcade classics are in there (several dozen in fact), including many from Nintendo, Kunami and Sasho. OK some of then are a bit obscure and others don't run at all but those that I recall are exactly as I remember them. I handed the unit it to my 9yo nephew and didn't see it again until the battery was flat, what more can I say.
In my experience the battery lasts about 2.5 hrs on DVD, ( plenty for a movie ). a fraction longer on Games and 6 on TV/AV, which is pretty good.
The down side, well a couple of minor niggles but nothing really 'down'.
The Power switch is a little 'soft' making it a little too easy to accidentally turn it off.
The Game controllers could be better. E.G. the ones I have needed you to press 'Down' fairly hard to get it to work, all the other controls are OK.
The manual is a little 'short' and written in 'Japenglish' but then many are. It tells you pretty much all you need to know.
The reason I went for this unit is because of all four features.
DVD player, TV, Monitor + Games and in my opinion it does all four very well. Obviously, it's a DVD player first and for that it's a pretty good one.
The bonus is, it has three other functions that it does very well too.
