Samsung DVD-L1200 Portable DVD Player
Review by: Steve
Edited by: Ji4m
Provided by: Samsung Canada

Introduction:
It seems everything is getting smaller these days. With the introduction of the Palm Pilot, people had a small pocket organizer which acted much the same way a computer did. Then came the Pocket PC which improved upon Palms design and focused more on an actual portable Windows computer, then with Apples iPOD you can now carry literally all the music you own in the palm of your hand.
Welcome to the newest introduction into Smallsville, your home theater! This is Samsung's DVD-L1200, it is vastly smaller than a laptop and has the ability to play DVD movies!

(Box, click to enlarge)

In The Box:
(1) Portable DVD Player
(1) Remote Control
(1) Li-ion Battery
(1) 1/8" stereo to L/R RCA cable
(1) Video output cable to RCA/SVideo
(1) Adapter
(1) Power Cord
(1) Carrying Case
(1) User Manual

(Included accessories, click to enlarge)

Specs:
Pick-up: Twin laser pickup
Playback Discs: DVD-Video, VCD, CD-DA, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R
Digital Audio Formats: MP3 and WMA
Stereo Speaker: Yes, (1W + 1W)
Remote Control: Card type
Display: Screen Size 12" wide screen
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Display Type: Transmissive TFT LCD
Drive System: TFT Active Matrix
Resolution: 800 x 480 pixels
In-Out Jack: Composite Video 1 (in/out)
S-Video: 1 (out)
Digital Audio Out: 1 optical
Headphone Jacks: 3
DC Jack: 1
Video DAC: 27 MHz / 10-bit
Audio DAC: 96 kHz / 24-bit
3D Sound: Spatializer
Battery Type: Lithium-Ion
Playback Time (DVD): 3 hours (standard)
5.5 hours (full-size)
Charge Time: 2.5 hours (standard)
5 hours (full-size)
Capacity: 4,400 mAh @ 7.4V (standard) 8,800 mAh @ 7.4V (full-size)
Power Voltage: 8.4 VDC (AC adapter)
7.4 VDC (battery)
Power Consumption: 12 W on / 0.1 W standby

Features:
For being less than 1.1 inches tall, the DVD-L1200 is packed with features!
The first one you'll notice is the 12" wide TFT LCD Screen. You may think that watching a movie on a small screen would be difficult, but it's actually easier than it looks!

To go along with the LCD, the player also features what they call "Adaptive Image Control." This allows the brightness of the screen to be adjusted for either Indoor, Standard, Outdoor or Low Light viewing.

The second most important part after the screen would be the speakers. The speakers in this unit are obviously small to fit into this size of the case. Each speaker is capable of 1W of power. Not a lot, but for a device this size, they sound exceptional.

The player has a reverse display function which flips the screen upside down when pressed. This feature is more for those who will be using the player in a car/van/airplane setting. If you're watching a movie you can flip the image on the screen to quickly show the person in front of you without spinning the player around. Absolutely necessary? It's just as quick to spin the small player around as it is to flip the image upside down..

EZ View is another one of those helpful settings. It allows you to pick the aspect ratio of the movie you are watching. If you're watching a movie not formatted for wider screens then you can stretch it out. Same goes for watching letterbox movies, it will stretch the height a bit. There is a bit of image distortion when doing this but hardly noticeable.

(Player controls, click to enlarge)

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