We'll be traveling with a 1 year old to England and Wales in September. There will be a couple of long bouts in the car (about 4 hours) and we're considering a portable DVD player. We don't know much about them in general, especially what type of accessories we might need to use it in the UK. Any help is appreciated!

All vehicles use the same 12-volt negative ground system as in the U.S. So a car cord for a portable player will work anywhere.

But you can buy a good used laptop that will play movies for the same money. The advantages are that you can also use it for hundreds (thousands?) of other things, and the screen is much, much larger.

If I were doing it <u>right now</u>, I'd go for the Compaq R3000Z for $400 at Office Depot until Tuesday.

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Beware some US DVD players will not play European &quot;zoned&quot; DVDs.This is to allow filmmakers to control releases wordwide.
If you propose to bring your own DVDs this isn't a problem.
There is however a &quot;back door&quot; in most players - a certain sequence of key inputs switches off the zoning function.When the details of how to do this on certain players were released on the net the sales of these players surged.Unsurprisingly enough the how-to for other players soon followed.I do not suggest that secret instructions were given to engineers...heaven forfend...
Many newer models have abandoned this zoning system (hooray!)- check the manual or ask in the store about &quot;zoning&quot;.If not, look for the crack on the net (make sure both your anti-virus &amp; firewall are on before going near these sites.)
Accessories - the only one I think you might need is a connector from the headphone output into a dummy tape or CD
head so you can hear the sound through the car's sound system.The cheaper types give poor sound.

EBAY - has ALL REGION CODE DVD players. Battery life time and size of screen vary with cost of DVD portables.

I've been through three one-year-olds, I'd be surprised if the child would be very interested in watching dvds at that age.

I agree, there are cheaper, easier, more effective ways to entertain a toddler, starting with traveling during naptime. I wouldn't invest in a player for a child too young to operate it themselves.

How about a couple of tapes or cds and a player. Less to keep up with, cheaper, and might keep a 1 year old as happy as a dvd. I second traveling during naptime, bring LOTS of snacks in the car each day, and take breaks during those long stretches.

We bought a portable DVD player about six months ago and it was the BEST investment we ever made for our children who are 1 and 2. We travel a ton here in Europe - some by car and some by plane. We have the player suspended in the car and use it until the battery wears out on the plane. It's a LIFESAVER and worth every penny. My husband researched high and low and ended up purchasing the Toshiba SD-P2600. HTH