DVD player as widescreen monitor
 

OK, I know this topic has come up from time to time, but I was just browsing the web and stumbled across this tablet style 7" 16:9 portable DVD player from AudioVox http://www.audiovox.com/webapp/wcs/s...2964&langId=-1

Circuit City sells them for $300. I know that the name "Audiovox" is not usually synonymous with quality, but this looks like an interesting possibility for a portable 16:9 monitor. Unfortunately it only has composite input, but I don't think you can get a portable 16:9 monitor with s-video unless you want to pay a lot more.

Anybody have one of these?

Mike Rehmus carries around a little portable 7" DVD player. He can show his reel anytime, anywhere... over lunch, in the car, after the movie, outside the store. It's a handy little business tool. He might have some input on this.

I was on eBay looking at an identical player but by a different manufacturer. Click here

My only concern is whether these are TFT active matrix or lowly STN. STN has a very poor viewing angle compared to true TFT. Boyd, I downloaded a manual using your link and the specs refer to TFT so this might be a great buy! I could use this for work or mount it to the car's headrest for the kiddies.

All these stuff have low res so do not expect to use it to make proper focus or fine details check or even white balance.
The matter of fact is to know if you need only a monitor or a multipurpose device because 7 inches 16:9 screen can be found for a lot cheaper than 300 $ , starting 130$ (and with Y/C input)
Additionally the DVD part of the device will drain extra current that shorten the time provided by the battery.
On the other hand, they are cheap enough to think that the extra DVD feature could be useful sometime.
I got some scrren like these, one on my glidecam (choosen as the lightest possible, do not care about quality of picture as it is just to make sure the subject is correctly framed, this one offers to flip /mirror the picture and several display ratio).
I got another one that come with a tuner , so you can use it to monitor remotely (provided you got an TV channel emitter) or even look at tv.
i do not have one with DVD (but got a portable DVD with no screen) and never been in a situation where i regret de DVD player feature.