Panasonic DVD-LS55 Portable DVD Player with 7" Widescreen LCD

Panasonic DVD-LS55 Portable DVD Player with 7" Widescreen LCD
Manufacturer: Panasonic
Product Type: CE

Editorial Review:
Product Description
The large, bright wide screen display on this portable DVD player pivots to different viewing angles so you can adjust its position for optimum comfort and image quality. Slim profile and light weight makes this portable DVD player easy to carry around and store, while its stylish good looks make it easy on the eyes. It'll fit right in with whatever hi-tech gear you're toting around.With this portable DVD player you will watch the whole movie and not just part of it thanks to the extended battery life - up to 10 hours with the built-in rechargeable battery. For those really long car rides and flights, add an optional external battery pack and extend your viewing time even further. If you're not in the mood for a movie, give your eyes a rest and try some tunes instead. This portable DVD player not only handles movies, but lots of the most popular audio formats including MP3s, CDs, CD-R/RW discs, WMA, and DVD-Audio discs. Two of you can watch the same movie with privacy using the dual headphone jacks. Hook up two pairs of headphones and watch together on a plane or in the back of the car. Even better, use the FM transmitter on the DVD-LS55 to send your portable DVD player's audio to your car stereo so everyone in the car can enjoy the show5.Go from the portable screen on the road to the big screen at home-this portable DVD player does double duty as a home DVD player too. Use the A/V output to connect your portable DVD player to your TV, kick back in your favorite chair with the included remote control, and relax. It even has an optical digital audio output so you can hook it up to your surround sound receiver and play Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks.
Amazon.com Product Description
The Panasonic DVD-LS55 portable DVD player's slender, 1.1-inch chassis hides a built-in rechargeable battery good for 10 hours between charges--that's right, just about time enough to take in all of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. The player offers a 7-inch widescreen (16:9 aspect-ratio) display whose adjustable freestyle design broadens the range of available viewing angles, making the player perfect for suddenly bright/suddenly dark airplane cabins or desktop use in an office. The player handles DVD-Video, high-resolution DVD-Audio, DVD-R, and DVD-RAM playback--as well as standard and recordable audio CDs, including MP3- and WMA-encoded discs.

Designed to take full advantage of both audio and traditional video DVD formats, the DVD-LS55 delivers super high-fidelity (192 kHz/24-bit) sound of DVD-Audio. DVD-Audio software titles offer classic music titles in both multichannel and stereo, though be aware that this model plays discs in stereo only. Most DVD-A discs have compressed Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1 surround tracks, however; these can be passed through the unit's digital-audio output to a compatible surround receiver and speaker system.

Audio features also include DTS and Dolby Digital 2-channel decoding and multichannel passthrough, built-in stereo speakers, and Panasonic's Dialogue Enhancer for DVD movie viewing. Advanced Surround Sound (VSS) simulates surround effects from any two speakers or from headphones.

Cinema Mode reduces the detrimental effects of screen glare from ambient light, rendering cinematic colors in pictures that are gentle on the eyes. Further, Cinema Mode improves the visibility of details in dark scenes by automatically adjusting picture contrast. High-speed, five-step Smooth Motion Scan provides crystal-clear forward and reverse scan. At the highest setting, the unit scans at an incredible 200 times normal speed.

Panasonic's Dialogue Enhancer boosts the center channel volume--where most of the principal dialogue emanates when playing a Dolby Digital 5.1 disc--by 6 dB. Cinema Mode lessens glare, providing colors that are more cinema-like, and picture resolution that is gentler to the eyes. It also improves the visibility of details in dark scenes by automatically adjusting picture contrast, and helps to suppress color smearing as well.

This player is HighMAT compatible. High-Performance Media Access Technology is a standard co-developed by Panasonic and Microsoft to improve interoperability for digital media programming between PCs and electronics devices. HighMAT provides an efficient method for arranging digital photo, music, and video collections on recordable media.

What's in the Box
DVD player, a remote control, a remote battery, an AC/DC power adapter, audio/video cables, a rechargeable battery pack, a user's manual, and warranty information.

Average customer rating:

NeoPoint 1000 Phone (Sprint) Manufacturer: Neopoint Product Group: Wireless Binding: Wireless Phone ASIN: B00004W3HP

Amazon.com

The single-band 1,900 MHz CDMA NeoPoint 1000 weighs in at 6.6 ounces with battery, which is a bit more than average. It has a flip cover that protects the keyboard but leaves the large 1.5-inch-wide-by-2-inch-high display and five navigation buttons exposed. The attractive case measures 5.5 by 2.1 by 1.0 inches (plus a 0.75-inch collapsed antenna). The phone's weight and dimensions may give you a moment's pause: carrying it clearly involves something of a commitment. Fortunately, carrying this phone also means that you may be able to avoid carrying a separate pager and PDA. The phone feels lighter than it looks, and its components fit well and make a sturdy impression.

You scroll through icon menus using a four-position joystick-like key. The other keys are marked M (menu) and B (back), and there are two smart keys that select onscreen prompts, when applicable. The on-off button is on the top of the phone, with volume toggle on the left side. When you flip open the cover, a standard keypad including talk, end, and CLR keys is exposed. You can choose from 10 different ringer tones and melodies, and they can be assigned independently to incoming calls, messages, roaming, voice mail, alarms, and e-mail.

The phone's 1,000-name phone book lets you add up to five numbers, an e-mail address, mailing address, and personal notes for each entry. Fortunately, you can synchronize the NeoPoint 1000 with a PC to transfer contact info, notes, and appointments. The cables and software are included.

The NeoPoint 1000 ably handles all of the Sprint PCS service features including caller ID, call waiting, voice mail notification, e-mail, one-way SMS text messaging, and the wireless Web. The phone also maintains a history of the last 30 calls, including incoming, outgoing, missed, and data calls.

The backlit display makes it much easier to read content than smaller phone displays that show only three or four lines at once. This feature puts the NeoPoint 1000 in the front ranks of the current crop of Internet phones.

The voice command feature, which lets you train the phone to dial phone numbers from the phone book or issue commands, is easy to learn. While voice command is technically a feature of the Sprint PCS network, it is well integrated into the phone's interface. Just point to the menu item or phone number you'd like to voice- activate, tap a couple of keys, and follow the prompts to speak the command twice. To activate a command, you simply press the volume key and wait for a voice prompt. We had no trouble programming it to respond appropriately to "browse the Web," or "call my office."

The NeoPoint 1000 has a phone lock setting and a restricted mode that enables dialing 911 and four programmed numbers only. There is also a feature to erase all personal information held in the phone.

The NeoPoint 1000's lithium-ion battery is rated for a maximum 150 minutes digital talk time and 40 hours digital standby time. In our testing, it ran longer on the talk time test (186 minutes) but died after 32 hours in standby mode.

The NeoPoint 1000 is a relatively large phone you may have to charge often, but in return you'll find a rich load of communications features, including one of the best displays available for wireless Internet access.

--Testing and evaluation by Brown Consulting Associates, edited by Thom Arno

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