The Vine: December 20, 2007
I am hoping that you or your wonderfully knowledgable readers can help me out with some advice on electronics.
My husband and I are going to Hawaii from Arizona for our anniversary. The flight is about six or seven hours long. I love reading so I’ll have no problem keeping myself occupied. However, my husband gets stir-crazy on a three-hour flight so I can’t imagine what he’ll be like on a six-hour flight.
I’m thinking that maybe I’ll get him a iPod, Zune, or something similar. I’d also like to get him a portable DVD player or portable media player. I’ve looked online at Amazon.com for the portable DVD players that are $200 or less, but they don’t seem to have much battery power — about three hours tops. I’m not really sure what the difference is, but maybe your readers have suggestions on which brand and model is better suited for traveling?
Not Looking Forward To Six Hours With A Bored Husband
Dear Six,
I’d suggest a video iPod — it gives you more media options (he could watch some TV or listen to a book on tape), and in my experience, iPods have better battery life than portable DVD players and take up less room, although my own iPod is relatively “retro” (read: not video) and may not be indicative.
Readers, any tech suggestions here?
Tags: Ask The Readers retail
Definitely the Video iPod. My husband travels extensively for his job, and he loves ours. I used it when I went to Sweden this past summer and it was great. There are reliable, safe programs (like handbrake) that you can download to burn movies and tv show DVDs (ones you won or ones you rent), into an iTunes format, and in my opinion, as long as you are not uploading them onto the internet, there is no harm done. I think that the 80G iPod Classic as it is now called, has a 7 or 8 hour battery life when watching videos, and longer when listening to music or books or audio podcasts. If you are willing to pay $200 for a DVD player, the iPod classic is only $250 for the 80G size, which will hold a LOT of movies, etc.
My video iPod’s battery (the 30GB one) only lasts for two hours if you watch actual video on it. It cost $250 when I bought it about a year or so ago. By comparison, my portable DVD player’s battery lasts over five hours and cost $75 at the local drug store (and it’s lasted three years and counting!). Also, many airlines now let you “rent” portable DVD players on the airplane that have a preselected set of movies on them — those batteries last about 10 hours (but you are stuck with their choices for films — usually there are one or two that aren’t too awful, though!).
I also read recently about a device you can plug into the headphone jack on the airplane that will then charge you iPod, but reviews on its effectiveness are mixed. Sounds spiffy, though!
If you’re looking for a video player specifically, I’d recommend the Archos brand over the iPod-the screen quality/resolution is better and so is the battery life.
For all the reasons you’ve already listed the video iPod is a great choice, but the caution I would have is, if you get motion sick, you need something with a bigger screen. All the jostling of my tiny iPod between ORD and Rome last spring made me give up halfway through my first movie.
As a tech head and someone who is stir crazy(plus claustrophobic-goody!) and has spent a lot of time in the air, I stand by Sar’s video iPod option. Not only is the battery life better than the portable dvd player, you can also buy these gadgets that plug into the iPod once you are out of juice and give you more life. They are powered by a regular battery- 9 volt in come cases, AA in others, so you can extend the power on your iPod way, way longer than six hours by just tossing a few extra batteries in your carry-on. Oh, and they are very cheap- $20-25.
Here’s a link to one:
http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/product/sku__VR402
And if she really wants to spend an extra $200 on him (since she was going to buy a portable dvd player and an iPod), these are totally awesome if you don’t mind not looking cool. Myself, I couldn’t bring myself to pull a Geordi LaForge, so I skipped them, but these combined with the iPod are wayyyyy better than any portable dvd player:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/mp3/98d3/
Yes, get the video iPod! Now that the iPod Touch is out, the prices on the regular iPods are really reasonable. The iPod’s video function is superb, with great clarity despite the small screen and a great battery life. The other advantage of getting an iPod is that you’ll be able to find lots of accessories for it, since it’s such a popular mp3 player.
My boyfriend has also lusted after the Archos video players (www.archos.com), which might be another good option if you’re willing to spend more. Some of the models have bigger video screens (touch screens, even) and WiFi and other shiny features, but hold much more data than the iPod Touch. It just depends on how much you want to spend.
Before you buy anything too expensive, you might want to see if your airline has in-flight movies or other entertainment. A lot of mainland-to-Hawaii flights do these days, and the offerings are usually decent.
You actually might want to look at the Sony PSP. Depending on what you’re doing, the battery can run for up to about 11 hours (playing MP3s with the wireless networking turned off and the screen off). The PSP is capable of playing movie files off a memory card, which is going to be power efficient than spinning a DVD. Plus, he can play games, and surf the web if you’re near a wireless hotspot (like, say, waiting at the airport).
When I flew to Italy with an insanely long layover at JFK, I brought my iPod (my brothers had video), and I brought a car charger (depending on your airline, some will have lighter outlets so you can charge on-board), and I got a battery dock. It gives me over 30 extra hours on my iPod, a little less for video. It was less than $80 at the apple store, and probably less online. Plus, it gives you an extra jack for headphones, so that you can share if you want!
http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20060927/xtrememac-micropack-portable-ipod-dock/
Slate recently did a shopping guide for portable DVD players:
http://www.slate.com/id/2179383/
I have a portable DVD player I paid $79 and an AC adaptor. Many airlines (like American, I know this because I fly them a lot not because I am a shill for them) have cigarette lighter type of power supplies in coach for certain long-haul domestic flights (again, I know for a fact this is true on American’s JFK – LAX run). I bring my portable DVD player, the AC adaptor, and a season of some show I’ve heard is really good but have not yet watched. Last year it was season 1 of Veronica Mars on the JFK to LAX and back run. What a fabulous way to blow two days and I didn’t even mind when we were delayed. I find the iPod screen fine for short distances but it’s too small and gives me a headache after squinting for a while. a 7″ screen is much better.
I’m with that vote on the video iPod as well. My husband has one, and took it on our honeymoon. Our travel down to the BVI’s took us an entire day, and that thing was still ready to kick it with his season one of “Lost” when we arrived at the hotel that night.
Keep in mind, buying the tv shows/videos/music will all cost a bit of cash as well, so after the $250 Drsue mentioned above, plan on paying a bit more for the actual content that you download, and make sure you have the time to as well. It took overnight for my husband to download Lost before we left. (I just recognized the irony in the fact that he downloaded Lost before we flew off to a tiny island in the middle of the caribbean. Hm.)
Have fun on your trip!
You can also get an external battery for your video iPod – for example, ILuv makes the brand I have. I use it whenever I go on long plane trips.
Basically, you charge it for several hours a day or two before you leave, and it extends the battery life of my video iPod to 30-40 hours. I have gone oversees with my iPod and this battery and it has never run out of battery life.
I don’t know what the company website is, but you can do a search on the name along with ‘external battery’ and you will see a list of sellers. Just make sure that the battery works for the model of iPod that you have.
While I love my 160GB iPod Classic, I have to say that the battery life is not as long as advertised when watching videos, playing games, etc — basically anything that requires the backlight to be on full-time. That said, it’s terrific otherwise and I would recommend it highly. Monster Cable (among others) makes an airline power adapter that is suitable for iPods: http://tinyurl.com/2jgx8x, so if the plane has armrest or under-seat power, that would definitely be a worthwhile purchase for a long flight.
I also recommend the Video iPod. But I am wondering why the husband doesn’t come up with his own solution to this problem.
Sedatives are another option. (I’m not kidding – he could sleep the flight away. People do it.)
For any of these options, look at the new Energizer products called Energi To Go. They are essentially mobile chargers that you can power with typical batteries. Here’s a link to the IPOD-specific model: http://www.energizer.com/products/energi-to-go/Pages/ipod-cell-phone-charger.aspx
No information on battery life, but I vote for the video IPOD as well.
Depending on where you’re flying from, you could also rent a dvd player from In Motion:
http://www.inmotionpictures.com/
They have kiosks in lots of airports, where you rent the player and some movies. Then you drop it off at the next airport when you land. Worth seeing if it’s available, at least…
Someone up there suggested a Sony PSP; I would suggest the Nintendo DS along similar lines. I just got one, and the instructions told me that, fully charged, it would run for 10-15 hours. It’s about the same price (or less) as a video player and the games for them aren’t too expensive. If he had a couple I’m sure he could switch off enough to keep himself entertained!
If he likes games I’d suggest a Nintendo DS or Sony PSP. I personally love the puzzle games I have on my DS, but it doesn’t do all the movie and music playing of a PSP. Both have their pros and cons, but neither are outrageously expensive. (DS $120, games $35 new, cheaper on old/used games).
I just came back from a trip to Europe, and used this LG portable DVD player for the trip:
http://reviews.cnet.com/portable-dvd-players/lg-dp781-portable-8/4505-6498_7-32466958.html?tag=prod.txt.1
It has a battery life of 5 – 6 hours, and has a nifty swivel screen. Definitely reccomended for a long trip! The price was pretty reasonable – I picked mine up for $150 at Best Buy.
The big advantage of the video iPod or Archos over a portable DVD player is that if you’re not sure what you’ll be in the mood for you can (using some judicious compression) bring your whole DVD library without needing an extra suitcase. My husband and I have both a video iPod and an Archos (due to a strange confluence of Christmas gifts). I personally like the bigger screen of the Archos but it holds fewer things, has shorter battery life, and is a bit clunkier in both size and interface. I also have some difficulty making it loud enough on an airplane, although that may be the fault of our video encoding. My husband is happier with the iPod. I definitely recommend a noise-canceling headset along with either of these things.
My family owns four Nintendo consoles, including a sixteen-year-old Super Nintendo, so I’m kind of a Nintendo whore and I’d recommend the DS over the PSP. You can play back movies and music on a DS. It requires the R4DS or a similar device onto which you can load multimedia files. I haven’t done it myself because I can’t stand watching movies on small screens, but the folks at the Nintendo DS LiveJournal community have offered more rave reviews than not about it, so it’s at least an option worth looking into.
If, of course, your husband likes video games, which he may not. But the DS has a shitload of games that I think would appeal to most people — there are the Brain Age games, the language tutor games, tons of Mario games (of course), simulation games, et cetera. And the DS will play GameBoy Advance games. (And only GBA games. No GameBoy Color, no regular GameBoy: just GBA.)
The DS Lite is smaller and has a better backlight. You can probably still find the original DS on eBay or Amazon or in a used-game store if that’s a cheaper way to go. Plus, as a far as I know, the exteriors of the old DSes won’t get all smudgey and fingerprint-y like the Lite does. I have an Onyx Lite and it looks like a crime scene.
Regardless of what product you end up buying, I can’t recommend enough the Kensington power inverter. I actually got one a while back at the Apple store when I was looking for an airplane power adaptor specific to my ipod/powerbook (I was doing a LOT of overseas travel), but the guy recommended this instead, because you can use it to charge anything, apple product or not. Many airline seats these days (you can check online – I usually fly continental or american for work) have the power outlets in the armrest, even in coach. It comes with two ends – one for airplanes and one for automobiles, so you can use it in lots of places.
Most airlines now offer power outlets. This way it doesn’t matter which one you decide on. You can check with your airline and make sure that they offer power outlets, some need an adapter of some description, but at least you’d know before you go.
Another vote for Archos here. I’m something of a tech geek, and I used to sell this stuff. Archos pretty much created/perfected the portable video player market, and their stuff consistently scores highly in comparisons.
I’m happy with my video iPod for short subway rides, but if I wanted a PVP for extended trips, I’d absolutely get one of these.
CNET likes the 605: http://reviews.cnet.com/portable-video-players-pvps/archos-605-wifi-30gb/4505-6499_7-32477556.html?tag=pdtl-list
Hmm, more than double the resolution, an option to make it “tivo-esque”, and a kickstand.
I love my video ipod. My battery lasts about 4-5 hours with video – and its not the latest one. The screen size isn’t that huge though, which could be annoying for your husband. Are you planing to bring a laptop? This would obviously be alot heavier and take up more room, but if you are going to bring it anyway then try downloadings some movies or bringing DVDs.
I just wanted to second the recommendation for the Nintendo DS. The backwards compatibility means it has one of the largest game libraries for any video game platform out there, and the new version, with variable screen brightness, is a sipper rather than a gulper of batteries. If you go to a game store, like GameStpo or what have you, you can find tons of DS-compatible games for under $15, so you get a lot more bang for the buck.
I’ll also vote for a portable digital player of some sort. I recently impulse-bought a Zune (the original model — it was cheap as the new ones were about to come out) and OMG, i love it. My iPod is pre-video so i wanted this one primarily for the video part. I generally can get something like 2-4 hours out of the battery while watching video, keeping the backlighting to low and making sure the wireless feature is turned off. I also acquired a Belkin TunePower, which is essentially an external extra battery. I love it!
I will admit, one of the things i love the most about this setup is due to the fact that i custom-built a PC-based DVR. I’m using BeyondTV as the software and it can automatically generate files that are encoded appropriately for my Zune. I record a show, and then a few hours later (the encoding is kind of slow), i can sync it onto my Zune. Awesome! This also has an “i can’t decide if should be proud or ashamed” side benefit: I keep a number of assorted Nick Jr. shows on it, in case my three year old and i are stuck somewhere that’s not too kid-friendly for a while. (Lengthy meals at a restaurant, for example.) Hand over the Zune & some headphones — Poof! instant happy preschooler!
The file quality is fairly low, but i don’t really notice it on the zune. The upside of course is that the file SIZE is also very low — something like .2GB for a half-hour show. With a 30GB Zune, that’s a whole lotta Backyardigans!
If you want to just get him a cheap portable DVD player, you may be able to buy an extra battery for it. Just charge both fully before you leave!
-Carrie
I’ve got a Creative Zen Vision:W, the widescreen version of the Vision:M, and the quality on it is superb. They’ve got a 30-GB version and a 60GB, which is slightly thicker. Both have a 4.3″ TFT screen that’s crisp and bright– subtitles are easily legible. Battery life in my experience is about 4+ hours running just video, plus another hour of mp3 listening, which IMO is damn good. It also has more ports than the Vision:M (which has a 4:3 screen instead of 16:9) so charging and syncing don’t require the docking dongle.
The screen size puts it over Zune, which I might’ve bought, but if you’re one of those people who downloads Xvid video — you know who you are and therefore you know that Xvid is the mpeg4 codec of choice for TV and movie releases on BT, IRC, and USENET — well, a video iPod doesn’t do you a lick of good. Vision:W plays lowest-rez and Half-res (HRHD) HDTV caps without any complaint, with great framerates. It’s a big mother, though, not a pocket-friendly mp3-player. It does also have FM radio built in. It’s also Tivo-friendly, if you have software in place, and can even take direct line-in video with an included RCA adaptor, so you can record TV. Also views pictures, and can import directly from CF cards.
Another voice chiming in on the Nintendo DS. Get him Meteos. That should keep him occupied for at least six hours. Longer if there’s another person on the plane he can play two-player (the other person can actually download enough of the game to play two player, without havin gtheir own cartridge.)
Actually… I wonder if you have to turn that function off on flights?
I have a Phillips 7″ portable DVD player (PET724 – http://tinyurl.com/2oqfpy), which I LOVE. I call him “Little Buddy.” awww.
The amazon reviews mostly seem to say 4 hour battery life, but I get more like five – I take him on my frequent 8hour drive and plug the headphone jack into the car stereo and listen to movies or tv instead of music to keep me awake (not looking at the screen while driving, of course). I’ve gotten through two and half movies several times doing that, so five hours. It’s a good size and not too heavy, I’m very pleased with it. Also not too expensive and durable – he’s been dropped off the bed at LEAST three times and suffered no ill effects.
Though I admit I have never had a video iPod, so I can’t compare the two. But if you decide to go for a portable dvd player, Little Buddy is a good one.
Oh but he doesn’t come with any kind of padded carrying case. I sewed one myself with pockets for the power supply and remote, but in a pinch you could just wrap him in a sweatshirt and pop him in an appropriately sized tote bag.
If you don’t think you’ll have much use for a portable dvd player beyond this particular plane ride, I’d probably go with an iPod loaded with lots of video/music/books on tape, plus rent one of the portable players at the airport so you have plenty of variety and enough media/battery life to cover the whole flight.