I bought a Picot (PQ) for my parents who wanted a basic no-nonsense, parent-friendly, plug-and-play DVD player and that's exactly what it is.
*Price* You can get it for just under £100 now from most high street tv/video retailers. Amazon have it for £94.99.
*In The Box* DVD player SCART lead RCA cables Power lead Interchangeable fascia covers Manual Remote Control
*Looks* It has a funky, top-loading, wedge-shaped design which you can customise with different colour inserts in the lid. The body of the player is a simple blue-silver colour. You can even design your own inserts (should you wish!) on the Picot website. As it's not a standard box shape it wont fit in the tv cabinet on top of the video, but it does look good none-the-less. It's small and easy to move about the house, it even has a carry slot underneath and it weighs only 1.3kg.
*Features* The top-loading design might not be everyones cup of tea, but does have its benefits - my mum is disabled and has trouble using her fingers and this makes it very easy for her to put the DVDs in the loader. The cables and plugs are nicely colour coded so you know where to plug the leads into - it also has a headphone jack if you want to listen to your DVDs without interruption! It has all of the features you would expect from a Sony DVD player. It happily plays DVD-R, VCD, DVD-RW, DVD (although only region 2). It only has play / stop controls on the machine itself but the remote control has the standard play, pause, fwd etc. and is easy to use with nice-sized buttons (again a bonus if you don't have the nimblest of fingers).
To access the player setup and other features such as zoom, smoothscan and subtitles the player has a (fairly) intuitive on-screen menu system. My parents, being from the pre-GUI generation, found this a little bit confusing but with a bit of tuition from my 19 year old brother they soon learnt the basics. Strange how it's always the youngest member of the household who picks up the electrical items first!
The player comes with a years manufacturers guarantee.
*Picture Quality* My parents have the DVD set up on their standard 22" Panasonic TV. The picture quality is obviously going to depend on the television, but the picture is certainly as good as Sky Digital, if a little bit better. Even the parents had to admit it's miles better than video!
*Sound Quality* It can play Dolby Digital & DTS. It has 'TV virtual surround' although this comes out a little quiet on the tv as it's only supplied with phono (RCA) cables. However you could use S-Video (not-supplied). The sound works great when played through a hi-fi however and you can even play CD-R/RW and MP3 CD's.
*Verdict* It might not be the top-of-the-range but it's fab as an entry-level or 'extra' DVD player, and it's easily portable. Great value for money. It would be fantastic for the portable tv in the bedroom or in the kids room.
www.sony.co.uk
Pictures of Sony DVPPQ1
PQ1
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Ive been wondering about this DVD player. I want something small but I want quality. Great review. I think you've made up my mind for me. :-)
mattsterrr 07.01.2004 17:32
Good work. It does look good doesn't it?
I have more than enough DVD players, though, but always looking for something new just to confuse the Mrs with more remotes.
Deru 03.01.2004 10:25
Needs a bit more depth but good op. I'm quite surprised at the price of this. I have enough gadgets though, and also, I need multi-region players. Half my DVDs are R1.
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