Philips PET744 review

We also found navigating with the directional controller to be slightly irritating. It's too easy to press the middle button and select something you don't want to. You're probably better off using the supplied remote control to navigate around DVD menus. That said, you might not want to carry the remote around with you.

Also, there's no way to turn the subtitles on without either the remote or diving into a menu system. The same is true for the different audio tracks. The player lacks buttons for these functions.

Reliability issues
Towards the end of our review period, we did suffer one major problem. The screen totally stopped working. We think the pivoting screen might be a point of weakness for the cabling. Without taking the machine apart, however, we can't confirm that.

We're going to assume this was just bad luck. The score we've given the PET744 assumes we got a dud unit. If we hear reports that this is a design flaw, we'll reassess the score.

Conclusion
At about £130, this DVD player represents great value for money. Here at CNET Towers, we're all agreed that it's well worth the money to keep kids quiet on long journeys. There are some irritating aspects of this machine, though. We don't like the way it resets the volume when you turn it on, deafening you when a movie starts to play. We also have some concerns about the battery being sealed into the unit, as replacing it won't be simple.

On the plus side, we've never seen a portable DVD player at this price with a screen as good as this. We were genuinely impressed by this little device and we'd be more than happy to make use of it on train journeys or long flights.

Edited by Charles Kloet