Compact size Very long battery life Dual headphone outputs Clear picture Simple & straight foward controls Multi angle tilt screen

DVD door and monitor hinge seem flimsy but overall is a sturdy unit. The viewer needs to sit directly in front of the unit to see the picture clearly The internal speakers give poor quality audio An included compact remote control would have been better instead of the full size remote

I decided to purchase this DVD player for use mainly on airplanes and trains when I travel. I wanted a portable DVD player that was compact but still had a long battery life. Then I found the DVD-LS55. The LS55 is the big brother of the LS50. The main differences are that the LS55 has an FM transmitter (which I havent yet tested nor will I probably use) and a very long battery life. The specs boast 10 hours of playback on the minimum brightness setting whereas the LS50 is only 2.5 hours. The LS55 also has three viewing modes (16:9, 4:3, and zoom), remote control, dual headphone outputs, optical audio output, video output, WMA MP3 & JPEG playback, and panasonics very nice multi angle screen avaiable in their LS90 and LX95 models. The DVD player is itself very light, less than 1 pound. With the battery installed it weighs about 1 1/2 pounds. The LS55 is also reasonably thin, about 1 inch and with the battery at the rear it measures 1 3/4 inch. The top of the LS55 is covered with a nice feeling rubberized layer which I can see no real purpose to but is nice nonetheless. The LS55 seems fairly sturdy but I wouldent want to go droping it at all. The hinge that allows the monitor to pivot seems like the first place a break would occur and the DVD door seems a bit flimsy but with care the LS55 will last at least till your next portable DVD player purchase. The picture of the LS55 is very good. This is however my first portable DVD player so I can really only compare it to the picture of laptop computers. Between playing a DVD on my laptop and the same one on the LS55 the LS55's picture just blew me away. It is very clear and sharp, the color is warm and balanced, and is an overall joyfull experience to watch movies on. A weakness of the display is that you need to sit directly in front of the dvd player to enjoy the clear picture. Looking from either side gives the picture a bit of a negative effect and the picture gets dark. The sound is unfortunatly pretty bad. This wasent a big deal because I will most likely use headphones whenever I use the LS55 but for anyone reading this it is helpful to know not to expect too much from the units speakers. There is two headphone outputs which is really helpful but you are then faced with not sitting directly in front of the unit which deminishes video quality. I havent yet tried the external outputs because I just wont use them but I am sure they work and they are adequate for a portable dvd player as with the FM transmitter. Now for the real reason I chose this DVD player over any other out there, Battery Power! As I said earlier in the review, this unit boasts 10 hours of playback at the minimum brightness setting, well who watches movies at the minimum brightness setting? I sure dont and I couldent find any reviews reporting on the battery life at other settings so here are some numbers for all of you that were or are, like I was, curious about what the battery on this thing can do. But first, a little comparison of what else is out there. The LS50 has an advertized 2.5 hours, boring, who wants to lug around a dvd player that can only play one movie? I dont. Other dvd players range from 3 to 6 hours. Decent but still not what I want to spend $300 on. At 10 hours I decided that was worth a look. After a couple charges to condition the battery I set a stopwatch and repeated Apocalypse Now Redux to test the life span on this thing. First I set the brightness level to medium, a good setting on dark airplanes or a dark room. No joke, I timed the LS55 at 10 hours 57 minutes. I was surprised nonetheless at almost 11 hours playback. So I decided to try out the battery at the highest brightness setting, good for train rides or long layovers at the airport. I timed it at 8 hours 11 minutes. I have to say, that is very very impressive. Most portable dvd players can only play 2 movies and maybe 3 at the lowest brightness setting. This thing can play 4 at the highest setting and almost 6 at medium!! Overall, I could have done without the FM tuner, full size remote control (Which I know that I will not use), and the audio & video outputs but all of which are nice to have and they dont take away from the battery life or add to the size of the unit. The tilt screen is great, it puts the screen closer towards you without sliding the whole unit foward and can also fold almost flat. The controls are simple and has a jog foward/reverse and neat looking blue led's. In closing, I was looking for a simple compact DVD player with good picture and long battery life and with the DVD-LS55 I have found it.

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