Rating: 
Summary: Amazing quality from an unknown brand...
Review: "Who is Initial? I've never heard of them." Is what I said when I first received the Initial 5820 portable DVD player. It had been a gift from a friend who had received it as a free gift, as part of a special promotion from Phillips-Magnavox.I had been considering buying a recognizable name brand portable DVD player, when a friend told me to wait. I'm glad I did. I didn't expect much (considering Inital is an unknown brand), but it's unfair to judge the product before seeing how it performs. The picture quality is excellent - As good as a 5.8" widescreen LCD display can get. The colors are very vivid and natural-looking. The display itself appears to be flawless with no visible "dead pixels" which tend to plague LCD screens. The 5.8" screen seems to be a perfect size for a portable player - not too big, but not too small. The built-in speakers aren't the greatest in the world, but they get the job done and don't sound bad by any means. Since it's a portable player, my main interest is being able to catch-up on my movie watching while riding on the train to and from work every morning. With that said, I listen to the audio with a pair of good headphones (Koss Pro-35 from Radio Shack) and I must say that the sound is outstanding. Feature-wise, Initial included all of the features you commonly find on a full-sized player. Although not all of them are accessable on on the player-itself, they are available via a fully featured, credit card sized remote control. If you need another stand alone DVD player to hook-up to an extra TV, this portable little dynamo can do the job. It features a digital coaxial output for audio, and a 1/8" to RCA Video and Audio (sorry no S-Video). Overall, you get a high quality portable player - for a relatively low price. If you are considering a name brand machine, give Inital a try - for the price I am willing to bet that their quality can not be beat!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing quality from an unknown brand...
Review: "Who is Initial? I've never heard of them." Is what I said when I first received the Initial 5820 portable DVD player. It had been a gift from a friend who had received it as a free gift, as part of a special promotion from Phillips-Magnavox. I had been considering buying a recognizable name brand portable DVD player, when a friend told me to wait. I'm glad I did. I didn't expect much (considering Inital is an unknown brand), but it's unfair to judge the product before seeing how it performs. The picture quality is excellent - As good as a 5.8" widescreen LCD display can get. The colors are very vivid and natural-looking. The display itself appears to be flawless with no visible "dead pixels" which tend to plague LCD screens. The 5.8" screen seems to be a perfect size for a portable player - not too big, but not too small. The built-in speakers aren't the greatest in the world, but they get the job done and don't sound bad by any means. Since it's a portable player, my main interest is being able to catch-up on my movie watching while riding on the train to and from work every morning. With that said, I listen to the audio with a pair of good headphones (Koss Pro-35 from Radio Shack) and I must say that the sound is outstanding. Feature-wise, Initial included all of the features you commonly find on a full-sized player. Although not all of them are accessable on on the player-itself, they are available via a fully featured, credit card sized remote control. If you need another stand alone DVD player to hook-up to an extra TV, this portable little dynamo can do the job. It features a digital coaxial output for audio, and a 1/8" to RCA Video and Audio (sorry no S-Video). Overall, you get a high quality portable player - for a relatively low price. If you are considering a name brand machine, give Inital a try - for the price I am willing to bet that their quality can not be beat!
Rating:
Summary: Great for the toy that it is...
Review: About 2 yrs ago I forked out about [$$$] for a top name state of the art portable dvd player and eventually sold it ... because I felt so guilty for buying such an expensive toy.
I bought this one thinking it was okay to indulge since it was so much cheaper and thinking it would be inferior to the one I had before--I was wrong...this brand offers more than the name brand of more [$$$] offered 2 years ago. This dvd player has superior sound, picture and bells and whistles that a toy of this magnitude should have. The fact that it comes with a car adapter and a four-hour battery should be enough that one buys this one instead of the [$$$] huge screen-name-brand (and lets face it, buy a laptop if you want a huge screen). The only thing that I have a problem with, and this is by no means initials fault, is that it is a square size instead of rectangular, so it doesn't fit into the old case I had bought for the old one...I can't praise this item enough...If your looking for a fun, portable toy for a great price...this is it.
Rating: 
Summary: Seemed too good
Review: Bought this as a Christmas gift. Seemed miles below the other models in price, and all the reviews seemed encouraging. Bought one for my boyfriend and it died by April. Just after the 90-day warrenty was over. He has gotten it to limp along, but now there are alot of models for the same or lower price. Wish I had waited.
Rating: 
Summary: DVD+R, DVD+RW
Review: Bought this DVD player since reviewers said that it plays DVD+R and DVD+RW. Tried all my DVD+R discs and it rejected all of them - went from LOADING to NO DISC. Looks like it DOES NOT play DVD/R,RW discs. Also noted that it does not have a switch for video/audio inputs. Can't hook up any external devices like PS2/Xbox/Gamecube if you want to use it for gaming. Since missing audio/video inputs, gave it 4 stars. Called Inital before deciding to return player and it seems that only Memorex DVD-R's play according to them. I tried a Verbatim DVD-R and it worked. Looks like only DVD-R format is supported so beware if you only have a DVD+R burner.
Rating:
Summary: DVD-R's work with player
Review: Called Inital before returning player and they stated that Memorex DVD-R's work with the player. Made a DVD-R disc(Verbatim brand) and it worked! Seems that only DVD-R format is supported by the player. Please note, as I stated in my earlier review, that DVD+R's do NOT work with this player. Gave them a higher rating of 4 since it does play DVD-R formatted discs.
Rating:
Summary: Think before you buy.
Review: Got this item hoping that I could use it to kill some waiting time when I travel. Worked great with need to improve sounds in the beginning. After 1 month of usage, the player started to have problem playing the new DVDs I bought, and the controls on the player itself also failed to work. My friend also bought the same item, her player was ok. Think this brand may have some sort of internal quality control problem on their items. My suggestion is to buy from a brand that you have heard of for things like this. Repair is also a problem. I went back to the store where I picked up the player. Was told that I should contact the manufacturer, but their Initial's contact information was no where to be found on the box, the instruction manual, or anywhere.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Frequent Flier Companion.
Review: I bought this December '02 to use on a long flight. It worked beautifully. It comes with a remote control,ac adapter,cigarette lighter adapter, battery and charger (charge lasts approx. 2 1/2 hours of video dvd's or much longer for just audio cd's).
It has yet to reject any of the media I have asked it to play including cd-r's cd-rw's and dvd-r's. It comes with a remote, but with the personal screen size I tend to use the handy buttons on the console to access functions.
Update:
I was so pleased with this product, I recently upgraded to the 7" model and passed on this one to a family member since it still looks and works like new!
Rating:
Summary: Best portable dvd player for the price!
Review: I bought this for my husband for his Christmas present. I was skeptical about getting it because I thought for the price it would be a piece of junk, but I was sooooo wrong!!!! This is a great portable dvd player for the price! The picture is great, the sound is good, and it is not complicated to work at all!
My husband does a lot of driving for work and takes this with him every day & loves it! It has 2 hours battery life for watching dvd's, and 4 hours battery life if you are just listening, not watching the screen. But, you don't have to worry about battery life half the time because it comes with a car charger and a home charger.
You can also plug it into any TV and use it as a regular stationary dvd player!!! We have it in our bedroom to watch movies at night! It works just as good as the dvd player in our living room!!!
Can't beat it for the price!
Rating:
Summary: DVDs on the Move
Review: I bought this gadget for my nephew. The idea was to give him something to entertain him in the back seat while his parents drove. I put it together to make sure everything worked and fell in love with the idea of a personal DVD player. First, the screen is miniscule (5.8 inches) but the picture is quite clear. You can watch the screen as it is or hook it up to a television. Perfect for a hotel room if you don't want to put up with the same tired old satellite movies. Good entertainment for long flights without the airline ads. And if I'm late at the office I can prop it up on some books and enjoy some different backgound noise (yeah, I used to do my homework with the radio on, also). Let's not mention sitting out in the yard swing catching up on Campion and fighting off mosquitoes. I've owned it for about a month now without problems. We'll have to wait and see what is going to happen when the warranty gives out. (Remember state law sometimes gives you more warranty protection than the manufacturer promises.) For the person who couldn't find contact information for Initial Technology, Inc, there's a web site with an 800 number and address on the net. The physical address is on the packaging.
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