Home > Consumer Reviews > Audiovox D1705 Portable DVD Player with 7-Inch LCD

Finally, I can actually watch my DVD's wherever I go. I bought this brand because I know that they make lots of dependable, installed car theater systems. Truth is, I just needed a portable one. I was about to buy some cheapo brand when I saw that I could have a name brand that I could trust for the same money! After seeing the first review, though, I worried. But after I received my player, I started to use it right away. It's worked like a charm! 24 is soooooooooo much more engrossing when everyone else around you is doing something else! I also use this little guy for showing movies at school (I'm a teacher). With an RF modulator, it hooks right up! The brightness contrast dial on the side is really nice (check that on your player before you send it in to get repaired) and this screen is fully adjustable from the menu that is accessible only through the remote. Another plus in this player is that it lets you feed signals into the monitor. You can play PS2, XBox, and GCN games on there. I've only tried PS2, but man, it's a cool feeling to know that you can play those games anywhere.
The player is surprisingly small and light even with the battery attached (thank God it's the type that fastens on and not the kind that hangs loose). The remote works from across the room, so if you intend on using it as a home player, I highly recommend this model. Also, there's almost NO problem with overheating! Only the screen itself gets a little hot, and that only happens if you run down the 3-hour battery straight through in one sitting without pause. Even then, the casing is not uncomfortable to the touch and the actual player is cool to the touch.

HIGHLY recommended, especially if you want a good name brand for a small amount of money.

As a 43 year old video professional who worked in television (TV master control room) for many years, I tend to be a stickler for higher quality products that deliver both value and performance. And if these products can be had for less money, well, so much the better. That is what I was searching for when I researched affordable portable DVD players that don't cost too much. I did not want to spend more than around two hundred dollars or so, so the Audiovox D1705 grabbed my attention. I comparison shopped it against a model by Polaroid, Toshiba, Mintek, and a few inexpensive 'off name' brands, and easily came to the conclusion that the Audiovox was easily the best buy, with the best 'track record' picture quality-wise and reliability-wise. In addition, being able to easily modify the player to become 'region free' (as indicated in a post below) was a big 'plus', which I did with no problems whatsoever. The actual mod itself took all but one minute, and now I have a portable player that plays DVD's from any region, both domestic and foreign. It is great to know that I can flawlessly play some of my British rock and comedy DVD's that normally would not play on an American market player, as well as all my North American DVD's! The picture quality is very good, and you can fast forward with the provided remote. The audio quality is not that good, but acceptable. Using small headphones or earphones will provide a much better quality sound. Keep in mind that most portable DVD players have such tiny built in speakers anyway, such that the audio will be normally compromised. This is the tradeoff to compactness. No big whoop. In addition, the player provides a level of features normally found in more expensive players, which is nice. This encompasses audio and video inputs, outputs, and actual screen menu adjustments for color and hue saturation and levels. Very nice Audiovox!

CAUTION: UPDATE 6/2005

It's a shame. My original, glowing 5 star review needs to be downgraded. The rechargeable battery this unit comes with is completely worthless after only a few months! It loses it's capacity quickly, and in my case, completely! I put the unit in storage, for a few weeks, and charged the battery every 2 weeks, as indicated on Page 30 of the manual. In short, the unit would not hold any charge when I tried to recharge it last night, and would only play about 3 minutes of a DVD before conking out! This should NOT happen at all with a new product, and Audiovox clearly needs to improve their battery technology, and send out free, improved batteries to everyone who has this unit. Again, the unit itself works fine, but the battery is a joke! I now have a worthless portable DVD player, since I relied on battery operation for my application. If your unit is experiencing the same problem, and it is fairly new, please write or call Audiovox and demand a new battery that works!

Update: 11/2/05

It's been months since I wrote Audiovox again, and they never got back to me. Initially, several months ago they sent me a typical facless corporate response letter after sending them a first letter (I sent 2 total), indicating that they would not send me a new battery unless I paid around $90 for it! So they want me to give them $$$ to replace a defective battery to begin with! In addition, their customer service people (at least the ones I spoke to) were extremely rude and one-sided. They did not at all seem interested that their batteries would not retain a charge, even if the unit was 'babied' and relatively new!!! I will NEVER deal with Audiovox again. Once they sell you a product, you're 'on your own'!!!

The Audiovox D1705 is great. Works well. Good battery life. There is FAST FORWARD and REWIND on the remote control - so you CAN scan thru a DVD.

Anyone looking to crack the region code on the machine so you can play DVDs from any country - you can do so with the remote control:

1) Open the DVD Door, on remote press Setup, Right, Right, Right (that's the arrows in the middle of remote)
2) Enter 9653,a service page will appear,
3) Use Up/Down Bottom to change region Codes
4) Set to 0 (zero) for multi-region

Auidiovox will not do it for you. Overall this is a great machine.

I bought one of these at Costco for $279 and had no problems with the skipping or any of the stated problems in these reviews. It has moving parts so of course its going to skip if you drop it or hit it, just like any CD Discman will do as well.

I returned mine because it didn't play DVD-RAM formats which are common in newer set-top DVD-recorders. Also, this unit does not have fast forward and rewind functions. It skips through to the next chapter which is fine for a rented DVD but when you are recording long TV shows or home videos, you aren't going to sit there and program chapter markers every 10 minutes. Thus, when watching TV shows, you have to watch it all in one sitting and can't fast forward or rewind or even shut off the unit without having to start all over again. That's not cool if you're watching a 3 hour long DVD.

If you're only going to be watching rented DVD's, I highly recommend it. If you need FF/REW or DVD-RAM compatibility, then skip it.

out of the headphones. Are we supposed to be hearing the DVD turn while watching with a headphone?

I bought this at Sam's Club (actually the 1708 model which is the same) for $228. It's everything I wanted. The picture quality is great and quite affordable. A bit too heavy and bulky but I just wanted something to keep the kids entertained on the plane or road trips.
The remote lets you turn the subtitles and other functions on and off without stopping the movie. I love that. It's annoying that you can not charge the battery and watch the movie at the same time. The charge lasted the whole Godfather movie. All and all I like it.