Alba DVDP500

Author's product rating:   

Picture Playback	Good
Sound Level	Good
Ease of Use	Very Easy
Durability	Excellent
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	portable ,affordable and it looks good
Disadvantages:	no divx playback or case

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Having two kids and spending a lot of time in the car i need to find as many ways to keep them occupied and in turn keeping them quiet so i can concentrate on the important issue of trying to drive the car.The way i have found to be most effective on the longer trips is a portable dvd player and it works a treat.

Choosing a player-
As with a lot of products there is a big price range for these products ranging from 60 - 600 pounds so it is worth thinking about what you want to get from this type of product and also who this product is for.I was buying for my eight year old daughter so i didn't want to spend a fourtune on something that stands a good chance of getting broken or at the very least damaged in some way.

alba-

Now i've had alba products in the past so i have found that this brand does offer affordable products that work well and are quite durable,one of their main features is that they market most of their products at the budget end of the scale so you are usually not disappointed by the lack of advanced features because you won't have spent a fourtune on the product in the first place.

The player-

when i saw the player my first impression was how good it looked; i did recheck the price because it looked surprisingly better built than its price reflected,it's build quality was very good and the smoothed edges made the product feel and look like a more expensive portable dvd.

The specs-
Personal DVD player with remote control..
5in TFT 4:3 LCD screen.
Formats-DVD, CD, MP3, Kodak Picture CD compatible.
Automatic power off/on screen saver mode.
slim style remote control.
audio cable, S-video cable.
Video and co-axial cable, battery pack, external power adaptor.
car charger
Connects to most televisions and home theatre systems.
Stereo earphones.
Size of the unit (W)15, (H)4, (D)14cm.
(H)16cm when open and (D)19cm with battery pack.

The screen-
The screen on the unit is a 5in tft screen that is 4:3 format(it is not a 16:9 widescreen it is the same format you get on a standard size tv screen).you are able to adjust the brightness and contrast to give the best viewing quality depending on how bright the ambient light is,the picture quality is good and is not to bright in low light conditions or at night.The screen is also easy to clean (the one i have has now got a few scratches on but this does not afffect the viewing pleasure.)

The controls-
You have access to the main controls on the unit with a few well placed buttons both on the side of the unit and on the right side of the inside cover.The buttons are play,pause,stop and navigation buttons a menu button to allow access tpo the advanced features ie, stereo,brightness,contrast and menu selection etc.You are also supplied with an ulra slim and compact control that works well from quite a distance,the control is very responsive and comes included with a battery so is ready to go when you take it out of the box(the only disadvantage with having such a small control is it keeps getting lost by my daughter usually just before we are meant to leave to go on holiday )

The playback-
the unit will playback both DVD and CD format and will recognise standard audio cd's,mp3,dvd movies and vcd's.Unfortunately it will not payback DIVX format and does not support BLU-ray or DVD-HD(remember this is only a budget player ).The quality of video playback is superb and the player is very quiet when in use.

The sound-
The sound quality from the internal speakers is off very good quality and even on higher volume settings there is very little distortion,it handles bass very well when playing back audio cd's. I have never had to use more than 50% volume as this level is usually suitable,the player also comes with steroeo headphones which are comfortable to wear and give good sound reproduction.

Power-
The player comes with a rechargeable lithium ion battery which from a full charge of about two hours will give playback time of about 3 hours (more if you are only playing back audio cd's).The battery clips on the back of the unit and can be charged whilst connected or on it's own away from the unit.The battery is a bit bulky but not as heavy as it looks.You also get the mains charger and are also supplied with a 12v car charger that plugs intu the cigarette lighter(this is very useful if you are on a long distance trip).

Accessories-
As well as the remote ,power lead and car charger above,you get audio leads and s-video leads that allow you to connect to external devices like a TV or stereo(i have also used the product as a dvd player in the caravan along with a portable television).Unfortunately you are not supplied with a case for this player(once again remember this is a budget player)but i managed to get ine online for less than eight pounds.

summary-
I have given some marks out of ten for different aspects of the player.

Ease of use- 9/10
Build quality-10/10
Playback quality-9/10
Durability-9/10
Sound quality-9/10
Features-9/10
Accessories-7/10(no carry case lowers this score)
Value for money-10/10

Overall i would highly recommend this product value for money and performance are excellent and it looks and feel like a player that should be twice the price..