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

I recently bought the AudioVox portable DVD player and I have taken it on many trips. It has worked flawlessly. Here are my Pro's and Con's.

Pros: Outstanding value, includes car kit and many different useful wires, sleek design, reliable, great picture, big screen, and easy to use.

Cons: Cannot scan forward or backward, you can only skip scenes, no battery indicator that I can find....thats all

Overall, I highly recommend this DVD player, I was a
little skeptical at first, but this turned out to be a great buy.

I bought the AudioVox D1705 at Costco, mainly because they stopped selling the Toshiba PD-2500. I had my heart set on the Toshiba but waited to long.

They show two different pictures of the what's supposed to be an AudioVox D1705 on Amazon.com. The one shown on the "browsing" page is incorrect. If you want to see what the acctual model looks like view the manual (available online) or click on the "review this product" button and it shows the correct picture. There's a huge difference.

I was skeptical at first because of the bad reviews that I've read about AudioVox products. But at $279.99 and Costco's excellent return policy I had to take the chance.

The first thing I noticed was that the case is made from brushed aluminum and looked pretty good. Then I noticed a small dent just below the screen - kind of an eyesore, but I've gotten used to it.

The battery mounts on the bottom and doesn't fit perfect (it moves just a tiny bit back and forth), but it's certainly livable. I use public transportation (bus sometimes train) to get to and from work - usually about 60min each way. So far I haven't used it over 2 ½ hours without recharging but I had no problems with it. It's rated at about 3 hours.

The brushed screen's case is nice (except for the small dent). It stays in place and has a solid feel to it. I agree with another reviewer on the fact that the plastic DVD door feels flemsy.

The Speakers are weak but that's expected on such a small player. I have a cheap pair of ear buds and movies sound good using them. I'm considering buying an expensive pair of Sony noise reduction earphones.

There are two areas that make this unit a great buy -- The the layout of the controls and the screen quality.

The volume is controled by a dail on the right side. It's easy to lower and raise the volume with the fluquation of movie material. Pause, Play, Next & Previous Chapters are easy to use on the right front corner. Menu controls are separate and on the left front corner. The best on unit control is the brightness. It's controled by a dial on the left side. So you can fine-tune the brightness on the fly without having to pull up any menus. This is a great feature that I haven't seen on any other player. At most some have a button that you press then have to press other buttons to lower or raise the brightness. The dial on the D1705 works great.

The screen quality was actually better than I had expected. The resolution is 720 x 480, that's 345,600 pixels on a 7" screen. The colors are sharp and clear. You can use the remote control to change the brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation.

Important side note: I had bought the last one at the store so when they got a new shipment in I bought another one thinking I would return the first one since it had a dent in it. The second one's color was as sharp or crisp as the first one. It seemed too "green" even when I adjusted the hue and saturation. Needless to say I kept the one with the dent and returned the new one to the store. I rate the one I kept a 4 (out of 5) because of the dent. I would have rated the one I returned a 3 because of poor color.

I have another DVD player but this one is so much better. This one has long battery, can play any type of DVD (not kiding). Its plug has a converter built into it so all you need to do is hook it up with a adapter and any where in the world it will work. I have droped it more than once and let me tell you it works the same as it worked before. One problem would be that it gets scratched up esaily but can live for a long time. :) :D

Great poduct, when it woks. I'm currently on my 4th unit in the last month (First 2 were the D1705 model and the next 2 were the D1708 model).

First off, picture is great. That's why I keep trying to find one that actually works. Very sharp and good color.

Sound isn't bad, but it's alot better on the D1708 unit since they added another pair of speakers on the screen and a second headphone jack. The D1708 though does have a plastic case and is bulkier, but the better sound makes up for it.

Now, on to the problems that I've had. First unit would skip. Second one had a battery with a 1 hour life. Third unit would freeze on me.

After returning it the last time, I almost switched to a Toshiba unit, but the Audiovox is such a nice unit ... when it works. Plus the store I bought it at offered a 4 year warranty for $20 ... so it's up them to keep it working.

Except for the low volume output (forget about using two headsets with a splitter), I think this is a very capable player. Unfortunately, unless you're always going to plug it into the wall while viewing, save your money. I've watched a total of 6 movies using the battery and during the last one the screen went dead after an hour. Turning the brightness down to its lowest setting only extended the battery life to an hour and 15 minutes. So much for being a "portable" DVD player. Let's see: $48 per movie...do you think I feel cheated by Audiovox