Home > Consumer Reviews > Initial DVD-1810 Portable DVD Player with 8-Inch Screen

This is the perfect portable dvd player when traveling with a kid. The picture is good the sound is good and the price is very good. I have looked at all the portable dvd palyers with larger screens and all the others cost at least $... more. The only difference I can see is other players picture seem to be a little crisper. Dont get me wrong the picture on the 1810 is nice. It's bright, clear and you can see it from every angle.
I have read some people complain that when they put in a dvd it wont play in full wide screen mode (ratio 1.85). I had the same problem at first then I read the manual and found out that it needs to be put into wide mode using the setup button on the remote. Thats another thing this portable dvd player comes with everthing! A remote control, car adapter, power cable, 3.5 hour battery, RCA cable, and all the features a portable dvd player needs. I have no complaints, I think this is a best buy for the buck.

I love this unit! Other review sites have reviews that say this player doesn't play widescreen DVDs correctly. That is because the factory setting for the display is incorrect. You have to go into the SETUP menu from the remote and set the display mode to WIDE (instead of Normal LB, the factory default). No idea why they would send a 16x9 player out set to normal instead of wide, but they did (duh!).
Plays everything I have thrown at it. VCD, SVCD, CDR, DVD+RW, regular DVDs, anamorphic DVDs, widescreen DVDs. Sound is loud enough to hear on the road as well.
I wish they would put FF and RW on the unit, though. You have to use the remote.
Very clear screen, viewable from pretty wide angles.
Highly recommend.

The DVD-1810 portable DVD player, also sold under the Mintek brand (which I earlier reviewed here on Amazon), brings affordability to on-the-road DVD entertainment. The player also plays CDs, VCDs, SVCDs, and also DVD-R/RW (I haven't tested it with DVD+R/RW as I don't have that media, so don't know if it can play it).

I picked this model for its 8-inch gorgeous screen and unbeatable price. It even comes with a car adapter as well as AC cables (RCA type). The screen is very good, has wide-screen [but see the other review for tip on making it work correctly], and the battery lasts about 2 hours at the highest brightness setting.

The machine itself is a little over an inch thick, but the battery snaps to the bottom and will add another half an inch. The whole thing (player + battery) weighs in at about 2-2.5 pounds... You can use the brick-style AC adapter with the player directly if you don't need the battery (e.g., when using it at home). Battery charging takes about 6 hours, so that's a department where the manufacturer can improve a bit.

The player has simulated surround sound, but you should get a good pair of headphones to take full advantage of that; the built-in speakers are unsurprsingly pretty lame. (Hint: any good Sony headphones will make a great addition. The player does not come with headphones.) All the other standard DVD features are there, and you can also zoom in and zoom out. Zooming in, however, results in pixelated images, so it's not really useful to me, but some may find the feature of value. The package also includes a full-function DVD remote that's powered by a watch battery.

The build quality of this Chinese-made product is decent. Nothing is loose or feels flimsy, but it's definitely not as well put together as electronics made in Japan. For example, you'll find Panasonic portable DVD players feel more solid and confident, but I have had my Initial for a few months now and it works totally fine and there's been no problems. (Knock on wood.)

I'm very happy with my DVD-1810 and take it everywhere I go. I just need to recharge it every night. I highly recommend this tremendous value if you are in the market for a portable DVD player.

For the price, this player is a very good value. Manufactured in China and featuring the same firmware as other players (just with different name plates - check out the Mintek DVD-1810 - including full-size home players) right down to the menus, it plays many disc formats.

Speaking of formats, all those listed work great. I've confirmed it will not play WMA files. This wasn't listed on this page but neither was an S-Video output and the player has it. JPEG pictures can be rotated easily with the left/right arrow keys on the remote or unit itself if needed. As far as HDCD is concerned, I'm not sure how much can be achieved using just the player's built-in speakers. Unfortunately, at least for me, the player does not support DTS in anyway. So forget about selecting the DTS audio option on movies are playing DTS-CDs.

Something most sites and "re-badge manufactures" of these Chinese players fail to mention (but should) is their use of computer type DVD-ROM drives. They may be a little nosier than standard DVD player transports but they are incredibly fast. Navigating menus is quick with minimal load times. Fast forward and fast rewind searches, while not ultra-smooth, are still much smoother than other players and act more like a computer's DVD-ROM drive. More importantly, layer changes are so quick that they are almost unnoticed, especially if you don't know where they are beforehand. The player runs very hot and will need proper ventilation.

I think everyone should know about the audio/video output: it's reversible. I mean it can be made to input signals as well as output them. Think about it. With a RF modulator and a RCA patch cord (supplied with the player) this can be a small screen television. Also, the player could be used as a small screen display for video game consoles like X-Box, PS2 and Gamecube. I've had it hooked up to a VCD/CDG Karaoke player and it worked great.

As for the display, I do wish it was higher resolution but for the price it is quite good. The display surface is quite "rippled" when compared to more expensive portable players and laptop computers which are truly flat (this mostly disappears when a movie is actually playing however). The image quality looks closer to 480i instead of 480p. Sharp diagonal lines produce stair-stepping, there is much pixilation in some scenes, etc. The screen's brightness is excellent but it is so bright, even on the lowest setting, an accurate black-level will never be obtained. Overall though; the image is quite pleasing, particularly when you remember you didn't pay $700+ to get it.

The sound from the speakers is quite good in my opinion. If you plan on setting the volume high enough to fill an entire room then of course they will fall short. Set at an adequate level though, they are quite nice. The headphone jack is always available and works great too. I haven't tried the optical digital out despite having the proper connection and theater system for it. That's one feature I personally will probable never use having stand alone home DVD players.

The remote control is awesome. It is very small and wafer thin yet has all the controls you need.

One final thing, a friend of mine from Cambodia let me borrow one of his Region 3 PAL DVDs he could not play and it played in this player! I can not confirm the disc's Region 3 coding (it is listed as such on the packaging which is mostly in Khmer) but I can confirm that it is in the PAL video format. So add PAL/NTSC conversion to this player's list of "hidden" features too.

Out of a dozen or so similar options, we chose this one for vacation travel, and a second DVD player in the house. So far, so good. The picture is good, the sound is excellent on headphones, and it runs fine on AC, 12 volt and battery power. It is the value it seems to be. No $90 car adapter like Panasonic, no overheating problems. We couldn't be happier.