Product Description
Watch movies anytime and anywhere you want with Sony’s cool and colorful DVP-FX820 Portable DVD Players. With a 6hr battery life, an 8″ high-resolution swivel screen that provides a clear and crisp picture from any angle, 2 headphone jacks for sharing, and a car adapter that ensures your movies outlast even the longest road trip. And when you want more than movies, the FX820 plays your CDs or MP3s, and lets you view your personal photo albums. You can choose your preferred color among Black, Cherry Red, Cool Blue, Bubble Gum Pink and Snow White. Then, sit back and enjoy the crispy and sharp image with this Sony high-resolution LCD display.

Pretty good, but only NTSC
Overall the best product for the price range right now (May 2008). I did a lot of research and is happy with the player. The only issues that I see are the difficulty bypassing the region code and the fact that it only plays NTSC DVDs (PAL won’t work). This is a big problem with a portable DVD player if you are traveling internationally or have DVDs from around the world. It is pretty easy to convert, but takes time.

Just got, great display
I just got this unit using my Sony Rewards points. I popped Bee Movie in for my son and the resolution just blew me away. I have a 60″ Sony with Blu-Ray and I would rank this unit right up there with that combo. I bought a Case Logic seatback case from Walmart for my son, but the jury is still out on that one as it doesn’t really work the way the picture shows.

Nic

I’m amazed…
I did a lot of research before choosing the Sony DVP-FX820 and what sold me were all the great reviews (thanks everyone!) I was leaning toward a player with a larger screen, but I trusted what I read about the picture quality of this unit… and I have to say, I received it today and I am amazed. It’s much better than I expected! This little dvd player has a better picture than my HD TV! And although the speaker sound is a little hollow (no real base) the volume more than makes up for it… I’ve heard other players- or should I say I’ve tried to hear other players- the volume is wonderful on this one, the sound totally acceptable via the speakers and the sound is incredible when I use my 10 yr old Sony Studio Monitor headset.

While I was shopping around, I was a bit concerned about what would happen to my full screen DVDs on this widescreen unit. I read about other units that really stretched the image out so that it looked bad. When I tested this unit, I first saw this approx 5″ x 4″ image and thought, boy that’s weird… it was still ok but I didn’t understand it until I read the manual. You can change the format from “Normal” (which is that box that’s narrower than the screen), or it can be changed to Full. The Full screen mode doesn’t look bad at all. Everyone looks slightly heavier but not distorted… I flipped back and forth between the modes several times to see if I could really see the difference, and it wasn’t bad at all- nothing looked distorted.

The battery is nearly the size of the base of the unit but it is very slim and hardly adds thickness to the until (I had read on other untils how the battery was a real detractor- but not with this unit.)

The remote is just the right size- it’s big enough where you wouldn’t lose it too easily but it’s smaller than a normal tv/dvd remote. I didn’t want one of those credit card sized ones! And it couldn’t be easier to use.

I started out wanting a 10″ screen but I changed my mind based on the reviews- and I’m very happy I went with the 8″. After I thought about it, I realized that I didn’t want to feel like I was carrying around a laptop- I already have a laptop and so why even bother spending $ on a portable DVD player?

I highly recommend this Sony unless your heart is really set on a larger one. I now think this size is perfect.

So anyway, I was very happy with the unit before I plugged in my headset. With my headset, this player blows me away- I’m amazed at the quality. And now I’ve got to look for a case that’s worthy of it.

A definite improvement from Sony’s previous portable dvd player.
I owned the DVP-FX810. That was not the greatest player - the viewing angle was extremely limited, discs often didn’t load content properly, the sound from the little speakers was weak. Thankfully, all that has been corrected with this new player. The best thing is undoubtedly the image quality. On the old player, the screen had to carefully be positioned for a decent image. Not so with this one. The screen on this edition looks more “LCD-like”, that is, more like what you’d expect in a much larger set. It hasn’t rejected or failed to load any dvd I’ve put in it yet. It does not have the A-B repeat like the old player, but you may or may not care about that. One thing that did alarm me: while a dvd was playing and I pressed the “Options” button on the player, I would notice a lag in audio / video synchronization when I returned from the Options menu back to regular playback (it was back to normal after pressing pause, then play again). The audio is louder, and a little better. The remote is smaller than the older player as well (as are the buttons). I definitely recommend this as a replacement for the FX810. It’s worth the upgrade for image quality alone.

It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This!
I admit to not being very astute when it comes to tech stuff. But I simply got so sick and tired of the hassle in hooking one-thing-up-to-another-thing to just sit back, relax and enjoy. Now I can do all that with ease anywhere and enjoy my favorite movies and instructional programs with the most superb picture quality possible along with its fantastic portable ease-of-use, and truly long-life battery time. Moreover, even though it was a bit more than I wanted to spend at the outset, I am delighted that my wallet went that extra mile because this is a truly solid investment that will provide lovely viewing, listening and learning - like the song says…as time goes by.