And again back to reports ! This however is a short presentation rather than review.
Last summer I was interested in finding a compact DVD player for my trips inside Greece that has nearly everything including television .looking around the local arket I did not find something that suited to my needs and budget….
….until I found something looking into at a hyper-store outside the city Mediamarkt with a great collection of portable DVD players including the above model that found being very close to to my requirements ….
Tested at first in the house , the model had ‘a bug’ as a ‘cover open ‘ message found after its start-up. Returned after several days (with the receipt ), the company has replaced it with a new one without any questions. The price was quite reasonable at Eu 175 , comparing to others we found with euros 250 and 350.
The above number code DVD130 TV is the localized code from the ‘greek’ company IQ-smart. This company as several others here in Greece , sell apparently Chinese (OEM) products under their own codes. If someone knows this model from the pictures below , please let me know further…. (nothing other found after ‘googling’ in both names and number codes )
Now back to the DVD player. It has been bought as a compact portable player and has these main operations:
A 7 inch 16: 9 TFT screen . This makes the screen being ‘future proof’ . However using it with the standard 4:3 format makes the silhouettes quite fatty. The buttons near the TFT screen can adjust temporarily to the 4:3 format
It acts surely as DVD player , It also supports VCD , SVCD video formats and MP3 /JPG formats . From the specs it also supports ‘photo CD’ (Kodak format? ) and nearly all formats of CD/DVD standards
from the internet specs there is also a MP4 operation – possibly an update of the previous firmware
Built in radio (FM only )and TV tuner
Built in USB port
The set includes:
an active antenna connecting to the set via a standard UHF connector
a mains supply adaptor
the instruction book
remote control
a battery
The appearance of the player
As you might see the set has a very nice design, one of the nicest models I ve seen in the market .
The TV screen : Near to the screen there are 5 quite small buttons , that set up the screen operations (colour, brightness , sharpness , ) the radio / TV reception and the channel setting .
And here is a closeup of the buttons under the TFT screen
The DVD panel: at the right part , there are the most useful operations including zoom and cursor movement (on the top )
The right side: from left to right: volume control (not very strong volume at maximum level ) , headphones output , SPDIF (digital audio ), audio /video line out , and switches for tuner /DVD and power on/off and main input
the left side: antenna input and USB connector
Video operation
Very common operations in vodeo modes:
Playback is in 2x 4x 6x and 8x and 3 slowdowns
3 zoom and un-zoom levels are supported. On the screen a small box is showing the zoom and with ability to scroll with the arrows across the zoomed picture
Both, panel and remote control, have the next /previous chapter operation
Have not tested so far the player operating with its battery and the total operation time.
Another important is that operation even after 3 hours shown no significant heating in its circuits or ‘trembling’ in its operation with sudden stops in playback etc. This was the problem with another I tested long before
The remote control :
Operating as MP3 – JPG player
A dual pane explorer is shown, directory on the left and contents on the right
Jpeg and MP3 are shown and selected separately. The directory view shows also the unsupported files
The jpg pictures also seem a bit dull even on standard viewing. Audio of MP3s is not 100% linear
I found a secret operation : It also plays WMA formats . AAC format seems unsupported but played at 2-3 times faster …..
MP4 format as per specs is supported but in this model it does not play…
‘Secret’ operations in DVD mode :
Having tested some other mini DVD players so far , this (IQ) seems not having any special playback capabilities from its standard.
Some others could play MPG files too. This model lacks this operation ….
Working as FM radio
The set includes an FM radio. However it works only as monophonic. The system uses up to 32 memories that can be stored automatically or manually. Everything is made using the buttons close to the screen
Newer versions of the software show up to 40 channels
And here is a picture while scanning for radio channels
Working as TV set
Another very interesting operation. Up to 31 memories. Memorizing tv channels can be done automatically or manually .Monophonic audio
The model uses a external active antenna coiled on its above middle end with ca 1 meter cable connected with standard UHF plug ,
Its gain is quite high:
Before using it , I tested the player with an old active (with adjustable amplification )TV antenna. AS I live in a difficult point the results with that antenna were a bit disappointing. But replacing it with the company’s antenna the results were quite better .
Newer versions of the software show up to 125 channels
With the USB port
The USB port is located on the left side of the player and acts as port scanner.
USB flash memories are easily recognized. And catalogued the MP3 /JPG way
Card readers are also recognized. My 6:1 card reader is immediately recognized and in very short time the SD card’s contents (from my camera ) are shown and played back
MP3 players in contrast are not recognized. As for example both my Sandisk E130 and Creative Zen models cant communicate with the IQ player
Settings : there are two ways of settings :
from the monitor : Pressing Menu shows the following
from the remote control or the DVD base system
In total , this model is really an all in one model , capable to be used as a small portable DVD , radio and TV set in your trips ,or in cases your wife /husband wants to watch television separately from what you want.
I like it very much for itrs very nice operation ,but could prefer to support at least the MPG file standard for direct viewing
The above numeral seems not to correspond with any MP3 model found in the internet so I suppose it is named by our local importer. Two weeks ago we were the intermedaite to sugegst for a project that includes playback of speeches. I was a little disappointed that the local store did not make any deduction ever for such number… Its street price is just Eu 35
