If you’re buying a high-end home theater system, you’ll be interested in a number of variables. You’ll dwell on the details of sound quality. You’ll look for every option. You’ll do research on specifications. When there’s big money on the line, everyone becomes an all-out audiophile and tech wizard. Things are different when you’re looking at compact DVD players. You judge them with different standards.
Let’s be honest, almost all cheap dvds players perform similarly. They all do a half-decent job of showing the DVD on their screens and they all have muffled, but adequate sound. They are utilitarian, managing to perform the limited and simple job for which they’re created. That means you don’t really worry about specs or the number of pixels on the screen. This is what you look consider when you’re buying one of these portable players.
Price. It’s the top priority. Assuming most systems are fairly close to one another in performance and quality (and they are), price becomes more than a factor or a mere tie-breaker. It’s a primary consideration. If one unit costs a hundred bucks less than the other, most shoppers will be going with the cheap DVD player. It’s that simple. Money matters.
Battery Life. There is one aspect of compact DVD players that can vary a great deal between brands. That’s battery life. Some can barely get you through a short movie while others will run long enough without a recharge or a wall outlet to let you watch the director’s cut of Lawrence of Arabia five times in a row. Nothing is more annoying than being unable to watch your movies when you’re traveling because of a dead battery. Battery life is important when choosing between compact DVD players.
Manufacturer. The products may be very similar, but there’s still a great deal of comfort in a recognizable name. Products from the big boys, like Sony, Sanyo, Magnavox, etc. tend to attract more buyers than DVD players from completely unknown entities (assuming the price gap isn’t that substantial). Consumers assume that the recognizable manufacturer is evidence of some level of quality. They are probably right.
Looks: It may sound silly at first glance, but the way these things look makes a difference. Models come with different case colors and in different styles. You can rig some small DVD units with a variety of skins, providing a great deal of flexibility in appearance. Remember, we’re talking about products that don’t vary a great deal. That makes seeming trivialities like product opinion important to those who are shopping for compact DVD players.
Price, battery life, name value and looks. Those are four factors people dwell upon when they’re in the process of buying a portable DVD unit. They are probably the same factors you’ll consider.
