DVD player for girls with a passion for fashion (Bratz Portable DVD Player)

Member Name: lil_missgiggles

Product:	Bratz Portable DVD Player
Date:	15/02/08 (244 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: remote, nice design, portable

Disadvantages: battery pack is a bit bulky

I am sure anyone with a similar aged daughter to mine (9 on Sunday) will have had exactly the same situation as me last Christmas. My daughter came to me with an Argos book in one hand and one hell of a shopping list in the other! When we added it all up, it came to about £700 (and she's good at maths so I think she was pushing things a little there!). We whittled it down a bit (!) and it still left her spoilt rotten. Now, I had really good intentions to stick at that list... but it didn't happen!

Most of you will have seen the many Argos adverts prior to Christmas with the half price offers. I caught the end of one and saw this Bratz portable DVD player in the pile of toys shown on the advert so went online for a look. I had been considering buying it since my friend bought it her daughter for a birthday present and told me about it. She told me they are a lot cheaper in big W but I'm not sure what the exact price is. They are around £65 everywhere else, but I managed to pick it up for a bargain £32.48. A bargain for any portable DVD player, I wasn't particularly bothered how good it was because I knew my daughter could take it on holidays or on long trips in the car and it would keep her occupied.
The DVD player is in the shape of a pair of lips and is pink and silver complete with the Bratz logo on the top. It comes complete with a remote control, battery pack (which fixes on to the bottom), charger and earphones (not the most wonderful set in the world but easy to buy a new pair). When you open it, there is a Bratz picture on the bottom (which is where you lift up to insert the DVD), and four buttons in the shape of lips. These are for the volume, next/previous, pause/stop and play. You can use the DVD player with or without the headphones as it has a built in speaker. Features are:

* 6.2" (widescreen 16:9) TFT LCD screen
* Adjustable angle display
* Switch for 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratio
* Play's DVDs and DR-R/RW discs
* Built-in speaker
* Angle function
* Headphone jack
* Audio and video output


The DVD player can either be hooked up to the tele, if your daughter doesn't have another DVD player or can easily be made portable by clipping the battery pack onto the bottom. This is then charged through the mains adapter supplied or if it isn't being used on the go, it can be played directly from the mains. The battery pack is a bit on the bulky side, and means the DVD player is slightly lifted up on the back if it is placed on a flat surface. This doesn't bother my daughter at all though but I would have thought it could have been done a bit better. We charge the battery up over night and have never had a problem with it running out during a film. My daughter tells me that she watched 2 films once without it needing a recharge.

To play a DVD you simply pull up the lid on the bottom part of the player and put your disc in. It is easy to use with the quick access buttons for the basic functions directly on the player, or you can use the remote supplied.
The picture quality isn't bad at all and is more than adequate for my daughter. She uses the player a lot and tends to favour this over her watching things on her tele in her room! She is more than happy with it and I must say her friends are pretty impressed that she has a portable DVD player. It was an excellent buy and I am really glad that I decided to get it. I am not sure if I would have bought it for the full price but it would still be worth the money. You tend to pay a lot more for Bratz branded things than plain ones but that's what younger girls want so while us parents are daft enough to pay it, the suppliers will keep charging us more!

Would I recommend this to other parents? Yes I would. It is everything that a child that age would want in a portable DVD player, it's fun and very easy to use. I'm not so sure about my husbands idea to borrow it to watch something in his breaks at work though!!

Summary: Great portable DVD but search for bargain prices