Toshiba SD-P1600

The best-dressed player in the roundup, Toshiba's SD-P1600 also touts one of the best displays among the models we tested.

Like the RCA DRC616N, the Toshiba will play just about anything, including MP3 and WMA discs. Included with the player are a standard car power adapter, A/V cables, and a remote control. Connections include two headphone jacks and digital audio output for DTS and Dolby decoders. There's a mini jack for audio and a mini jack for video input and output (Toshiba supplies a standard adapter cable for hooking the player up to RCA-style video and audio jacks). A supplied rechargeable lithium-ion battery lasted in excess of 3.5 hours in our tests. The only things missing were a set of headphones and a strap-on car seat case.

When it came to watching DVDs, the Toshiba SD-P1600 did not disappoint. The player's display revealed subtle color differences that were obscured by the other players. For instance, a blouse that appeared to be white on all but the RCA player's screen was accurately rendered as pink on the Toshiba. The Toshiba screen also did an excellent job of capturing the delicate light of early morning and twilight scenes.

Toshiba's external speakers were just adequate enough to drown out external distractions; more volume would be desirable. Using the headphone jacks delivered more than respectable volume levels with a minimum of background hiss and plenty of lower bass.

Although we liked the elegant design, in some areas form impedes function. The player's miniscule silver buttons, for example, are difficult to find in the dark, and because they are arranged in a symmetrical pattern it's easy to hit the Picture Setup control instead of the Stop button. There are limited picture controls (brightness and color only), and there's no fast forward button on the player itself. You'll have to use the fast forward control on the remote to get past those irritating trailers.

Overall, though, the SD-P1600 is an excellent value. It's the only budget portable DVD player that looks good both inside and out.