Summer has officially arrived, and so has the big debate: Should we or shouldn’t we get a portable DVD player for those extended car trips we’ll be making this summer? Our son, the five-year-old, knows nothing of these discussions; if he did, the decision would already be made. Instead of choosing books and trucks from his ample collection for the trip, he’d be selecting from among his DVD compilation.

And here’s the model we’d probably get: The Sony DVP-FX820. This eight-inch portable player comes in black, blue, white, red and pink. (Our son would opt for the blue; my spouse would choose pink; and I rather tend toward red.)

But it’s not the color choices that would drive the decision; it’s the fact that it’ll play for six hours non-stop, and he can use headphones to hear the sound. That’s six hours of relatively blissful quiet from the backseat, leaving his mother and me up front to discuss such compelling topics as whether to stop at the Dairy Queen in Fernley or try to make it all the way to Fallon.

When he gets sick of hearing the theme song from GeoKids, we can play our audio CDs on the Sony player.

The screen rotates to make for comfortable viewing from a booster seat and includes two jacks for headphones so a cousin can sidle up next to him and tune in when we arrive at our destination.

Plus, the player offers some video features my son doesn’t get on our player at home: motion zoom, repeat mode, slow-motion and title/chapter search. That makes this an educational device! Once he and I have convinced our other household member that a big screen is really a necessity, he’ll be able to show me how to work the controls.

Posted on June 21st, 2008 by dian