A portable DVD player is a useful thing to own if you're away from home and want to watch some comfort content, entertain yourself or others on-the-go, and enjoy at home. There are a lot of options available out there, so we've narrowed it down. Our best overall pick, the DBPower 12-Inch Portable DVD Player, is a great mid-level model with an affordable price tag and some very capable functionality.
Best Overall: DBPower 12-Inch Portable DVD Player
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This gets our overall best choice as a reasonably priced all-rounder suitable for all everyday use. It has a decent 2,500mAh capacity battery which, with five hours of life, should let you watch two movies. The 10-inch swivel screen boasts 270-degree rotation and a 1,024 by 600 resolution TFT LCD display.
This comes complete with a mini remote control. If you're looking to use this in the car, it can be powered by a car charger, and if you wanted to use it at home, the AV output means you can hook it up to a full-size television.
It has good multimedia options with region-free support for most CD and DVD formats, as well as a USB port and SD card slot, which play nicely with all the popular audio and video digital formats. There are dual speakers and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Finally, it has a break-point memory function, which means the DVD will pick up from where you left last time.
This mid-range model from DBPower has a decent feature set for everyday use.
Best Large Display: Dr. Q 17.9-Inch Portable DVD Player
If you can't do tiny screens, Dr. Q's portable player offers a generous 15.4-inches with a 1,280 by 800 resolution HD TFT display that gives you 270-degree rotation. Battery life is equally impressive, with the 4,000mAH built-in rechargeable battery allowing up to seven hours runtime. This model comes bundled with a remote control, and a 1.8-meter car adapter.
Connections come in with an AV output and included cable, a USB port, an SD card slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Plus, there is format support for all the major CD, DVD, and digital codecs with other features like anti-shock functionality, slow motion playback, zoom abilities, and a break-point memory function.
If you're prepared to pay extra, Dr. Q's player has great battery life and a large display.
Best for the Car: HD Juntunkor 12.5-Inch Portable DVD Player with Car Kit
There's no reason any of the other options we're highlighting can't be used in the car if you buy the right accessories. Still, this player comes bundled with a custom-made car headrest mount case, a car charger, and can be operated in "on-board viewing" mode via the easy-to-reach buttons on the front of the display, so you have an all-in-one solution for in-car entertainment.
Specs-wise, you're looking at a 10.1-inch, 1,024 by 600 swivel display, a 2,500mAH battery for up to five hours juice, region-free DVD and CD compatibility, a USB port, and SD card slot with support for digital codecs, a remote control, and a break-point memory function.
This player comes complete with everything you need for an in-car DVD watching experience.
Best for Kids: ieGeek 12.5-Inch Portable DVD Player
The ieGeek portable player has an affordable price tag, so it's great for kids. It has a lovely chunky design with a gorgeous glossy purple finish, anti-shock technology, auto-resume functionality for short attention spans, and loop playing when you want (or need!) the content to start playing again when it ends. It also boasts two headphone jacks, so two children can watch a movie together, or you can connect two ieGeek players with an AV to AV cable so you can watch the same movie on both.
Its spec list is more than adequate with a five-hour 2,500mAh battery, a USB port, SD card slot, region-free format support, and it comes bundled with a car charger.
This affordable player is perfect for kids with a fun design and some child-friendly functionality.
Best Tablet-Style : DigiLand Portable DVD Player and Android Tablet Combo
As the price tag would suggest, DigiLand's portable solution is more than just a DVD player. It offers Android tablet capabilities with a 7.0 operating system giving you the ability to browse the web, play games, read eBooks, use apps, and use the 16GB internal storage for photos, videos, and more.
It has a 10.1-inch 1,024 x 600 resolution touchscreen display, a 3,600mAh battery for up to four hours of runtime, a micro-USB port, and a microSD card slot. There's an HDMI port to sync content to a big screen, and it comes bundled with a car charger and a mounting bracket for car headrests.
If you're looking for a DVD-playing Android tablet, DigiLand's player comes recommended.
Best with Dual Screens: Naviksauto 9-Inch Dual Screen Portable DVD Players
Great for kids, and especially when traveling, Naviskauto's dual-screen bundle is comprised of one main DVD player with a built-in battery and one slave monitor that mirrors the content playing on the main unit. While the DVD player boasts up to five hours battery life in standalone use, this does drop to around three hours when used in dual screen mode, but this is more than enough for at least one child-length feature.
Elsewhere, there are headphone jacks, region-free multi-format support, a USB port, an SD card slot, a remote control, and a break-point memory function.
This dual-display solution can keep two movie-lovers entertained without the need to share a screen.
Optical profusion
There are plenty of portable DVD playing options, with different product types and styles offering useful and innovative features and functionality. If you're looking to buy for kids, then there are players designed primarily to be easy-to-use and simple for little fingers to manage, as well as dual-screen solutions that are ideal for multi-child families.
Our overall best pick, the DBPower 12-Inch Portable DVD Player, won its top slot thanks to its great all-round decent spec, mid-range price tag, and its suitability for use at home, away, in-car or on other journeys, for anyone from toddlers to retirees.
