Entered CNET Catalog: 02/18/2004
SKU: 0837815001003
Manufacturer: Mintek Digital
Manufacturer description
PRODUCT FEATURES: DVD/MP3/CD/CD-R/CD-RW/Kodak Picture CD; 7" 16:9 TFT Widescreen Monitor; Built-in Stereo Speakers; Built-in Anti-shock System; Optical Output; AV Output; High Capacity Rechargeable Lithium Battery; Multi Function Remote Control.Product summary
The good: Inexpensive; respectable battery life; good antishock protection.
The bad: Generic design; noisy operation.
The bottom line: A valid choice among less expensive players, this little unit is fine for keeping kids quiet on long trips.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 03/23/2004
With a 7-inch-diagonal LCD, the MDP-1720 sits in the middle of the pack in terms of size. Measuring 1 by 17 by 5.5 inches and weighing just less than 2 pounds, it's marginally smaller than its sibling with an 8-inch screen, the MDP-1810. The MDP-1720's front-firing speakers are mounted on the bottom corners of the display.
Like the majority of portables, buttons on the player itself allow for only basic operation. The beige remote houses additional controls for subtitles, language, search, zoom, and options menus. Without it, you'll be limited to simple commands (Stop, Play, Chapter Skip), and you won't be able to access any but the most rudimentary setup choices.
Connectivity options are sparse. All you get is a headphone jack, an 1/8-inch optical output for digital surround sound (optical cable not included), and an A/V output that breaks out, via an included cable, to composite video and analog audio. Despite claims to the contrary on Mintek's Web site, the MDP-1720 does not output S-Video.
Video performance on the LCD was passable, though not as good what we've seen with higher-end players. Unsurprisingly, brightness was set too high out of the box, but a few tweaks of the brightness and color controls yielded an acceptable image. We had some complaints: shadows and darkness tended to blend into the same color of dark gray in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and moiré, which looks like wavy ripples, was apparent when the screen displayed regular patterns such as a brick wall or a chain-link fence.
For such a small machine, the Mintek MDP-1720 puts out a lot of sound. It's almost uncomfortably loud at full volume, but at moderate levels, we found the audio to be clear, if not particularly nuanced. Headphones or earbuds translated the sound well. On the whole, the 1720's sonic capabilities were more impressive than those of the 1810, which sounded muddier.
Unfortunately, sound of another type was an issue with the 1720: mechanical noise. We've been used to noise from spinning discs since the first Sony Discman, but the MDP-1720's litany of squeaks, creaks, chitters, and rattles goes beyond acceptable. Nothing we did could stop the unit from talking back to us like a bowl of foul-mouthed Rice Krispies. The drive lid was also rather loose.
On a more positive note, battery life exceeded 3.5 hours--pretty decent for a portable and more than sufficient to keep the kids occupied for a road trip. For those longer trips, you'll appreciate the included car charger. Our not-so-gentle tests of the Mintek's antishock capabilities revealed a very stable player, so a little airplane turbulence shouldn't interrupt playback.
The Mintek MPD-1720 may be a fairly generic little DVD player, but it's serviceable and reasonably durable, and it should meet the needs of those who don't want to spend a ton of money on a portable unit.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16out of 16 user reviews
Long lasting player for cheap price
Pros: Very Durable, has lasted 4 years without problems
Good battery life
Great price
Cons: Noisy operation
Battery loses power(like all batteries)
Paint begins to cheap after 4 years, lithium battery loses power, no fast foward button on player, only on remote control
out of 16 user reviews
Terrible - Avoid at all costs
Pros: none to speak of
Cons: all aspects
out of 16 user reviews
After two attempts I gave up
Pros: Price and features
Cons: poor quality and reliabitly
out of 16 user reviews
Superb Player w/ My Solution For Maximum Battery Life
Pros: great price, high quality picture and sound
Cons: battery life could be longer
out of 16 user reviews
Great little player w/ 7" LCD
Pros: Contrary to other user's complaints about reliability & durability, I have been using this player EVERYDAY for the last 5 months with no problem at all. It is my little portable entertainment center which I can carry around & listen to MP3, CD &#
Cons: Spinning noise when I first load my disc onto the unit. Since I use it a lot, I am trying to find a place which I can buy an extra battery.
out of 16 user reviews
Video display never work
Pros: Like it's size and features
Cons: Never got the video to work. Also, customer service is non-existant
out of 16 user reviews
Lucky??
Pros: I don't know if it is luck or what....I have been using this DVD player EVERYDAY for more than 3 months. So far, I do not have a single problem with it....No freeze, no problem, no nothing. I use my Sony PC & Philips DVD recorder to burn all sorts o
Cons: Make spinning noise when it read the disks. After reading all the negative reviews written by other people, I am glad that I bought a good machine.
out of 16 user reviews
Bad Quality and bad service
Pros: Cheap and good features
Cons: It has a wide horizontal line on display screen after using for one week and it stays there. Call service several times and they never return calls. Very bad.
out of 16 user reviews
Boke While on Vacation
Pros: Good battery life .
Cons: It broke(stated to hang up during dvd play ) almost at once. Sometimes it played fine. I recently sent ot back to Mintek ....noword after almost one month. I also called and was to receive an e-mail response within 24 hrs.....it has been almost 1 week. DO
out of 16 user reviews
Still working...& ticking
Pros: Contrary to the bad experiences complained by other owners, I have been using it everyday for 2 months & it is still working fine without any problem (never freeze, no reject disk, no problem). For me, it is a cheap, portable & versatile entertai
Cons: The lag time to read/load the disks. The loud spinning & clicking noise when it is reading the disks. Psychological worry that it may breakdown prematurely - caused by reading all the negative reviews written by other owners. I am still using it eve
out of 16 user reviews
Still working with no problem
Pros: I have already used it for more than 1 month. Contrary to the negative comments in the customer reviews, so far I have not encounter any problem with it (it never freeze, no reject disk & no problem at all - so far so good). Can play all formats...CD
Cons: Clicking & spinning noise when it read/load DVDs. Most settings can only be adjusted using the remote control. Extra battery is expensive. Can not charge battery with adapter when watching DVD.
out of 16 user reviews
The purchase seems like a gamble
Pros: Besides DVD video, CD, MP3, Photo CD, etc....it can also play all all formats of CDs & DVDs such as DVD+R, DVD+RW, etc....(in NTSC as well as PAL system). It can be use as a AV monitor when the "line select" is switched from "out" to "in". Cheap price
Cons: Make a lot of clicking noise. Although I have only bought it for 2 days (& so far have no problem with it YET), a lot of negative comments in "customer review" from long list of unhappy buyers make me worry that I will soon be the next victim & my
out of 16 user reviews
didnt even work coming out of the box!!!!
Pros: I dont know as it didnt even work the first time.
Cons: I Purchased this today, It didnt even work the first time. Wont power up at all so I returned it and said the heck with this and got my money back rather than go through this countless times.
out of 16 user reviews
Looks Great! Doesn't work!
Pros: Reasonably priced, great sound, good sized screen 7 inches, good quality picture.
Cons: Didn't even work for half of one movie before the screen went white and stayed white. I returned it to the store and will be looking for a well-known name.
out of 16 user reviews
Broke after one movie
Pros: I purchased a MDP-1770 and I really like the features it has. That's about it.
Cons: After viewing one movie on it the player started to freeze the fame and not contiue. After restarting the movie it would only play for about 2 min or less. I exchanged it for a new one and it malfuntioned too after one movie play. The screen started to
out of 16 user reviews
Broke very soon
Pros: Good screen size, easy to see from most angles, screen quality is OK, very portable and lots of accessories included.
Cons: It's very cheap feeling, and brand doesn't have a good reputation so we got a PSP at Best Buy! We didn't even need that and ended up just returning the thing. The day after we bought it, it stopped working. Rather then face endless returns and fixes we d
