Sony D-VE7000S: Not a PMP
Pictures can be so deceiving. My heart skipped a beat when I mistook this Sony D-VE7000S DVD Walkman
for a portable media player (otherwise known as a PMP, my favorite gadget in the world). That damn beautiful tablet design and speaker/charging cradle are what drew me in and subsequently confused me. Even after I found out that the color display was a 7-inch widescreen LCD featuring a mediocre 480 x 234 resolution (not the specs of a typical PMP), I compared its dimensions (7.6" x 5.4" x 1.1") to the Archos AV700 (8.2" x 4.2" x 0.8") and figured I was in the clear.
And then my hopes were dashed. The D-VE7000S not only has an absurd model name that no one will remember or repeat, but it’s also just a boring old portable DVD player that plays the standard set of CDs and DVDs, including -R/+R and -RW/+RW, as well as MP3s and JPG slideshows. That’s right, no internal hard drive and from what I can tell, no support for DivX or XviD. To add insult to injury, the li-ion battery is nonremovable and only houses about 3 hours of power.
Hmm…
Is it wrong that I still kind of like it? It has dual headphone jacks, video in/out ports, a kickstand, and a decent set of included accessories (remote control, carrying case, headphones, AC adapter, cradle). And it’s only about $200. Not too great when compared to other 7-inch portable DVD players, sure, but not too bad for a Sony. Not too bad at all.
