DVD PORTABLE PLAYER ON TRAVELS?

Hi,

I am heading on a one year RTW trip with my girlfriend and am thinking of bringing a small portable dvd player.
I think it may be worth it to pick up cheap dvds along the way and have the odd night watching a dvd together.
You can also look at photos from a portable device on them so it would be handy too for this.

What do people think?

They are fairly small and not that valuable so if it was robbed or damaged then it wouldnt be the worst thing ever to happen as id be buying a second hand one.

There will be some nights maybe where it would be nice to snuggle up with my girlfrined and watch a dvd we could buy cheaply while travelling.

Any thoughts welcome.

Thanks

I have one for exactly the same reason - it's nice to sit on your balcony on a warm night and watch a movie with a cold beer. On top of this - it's a life saver on long dull transfers on a coach etc. Just grab a spare battery...

Oh - and get good headphones :-)

a concern would be you stuck in a room watching movies while there are things to see/experience- but I know sometimes you just need to get away from it all. :)

So, make sure it's a multizone one- no point picking up cheap DVDs if they won't play.

I think that's a good idea. very orignial. it would be nice to be able to have down time every once in a while to watch a dvd!

what are you going to do with the dvd's once you watch them?

I'd make an effort to embrace the local culture, instead. Entertain yourself in the same way that the locals would. Find the local movie theater and watch a film surrounded by those who live there (assuming that they do that sort of thing). Loiter in a cafe or its local equivalent and people watch -- better yet, talk to them. You've got the idea.

You have plenty of time for DVD's when you get home. Your travel time is limited, so be sure to use it wisely.

That's generalising Roadwarrior - we are off for 3 years, starting with 3 months in Thailand. I',m fairly certain I won't want to go out every night for 3 months, let alone 3 years. We even watched a a movie on our balcony over the sea at the Pangkor Laut resort as we'd simply had enough of going out to eat night after night.

Our portable dvd has been a great boon on our travels so far (including a 6 hour minibus transfer in Colorado - and yes, it was at night, so nothign to see outside...)

I don't see how I'm generalizing. I'm observing that you'll probably have more time in your life to spend at home than you will ever have on the road, so that time should be used wisely.

Every place you will visit will have its entertainment alternatives, and you will expand your horizons if you try them out, if only to see how similar and different they are in comparison to those that you have at home. Virtually every country in the world has cinemas, so go watch a film in one of them, instead of lugging around a device that should get very little use if you are getting the most out of your travels.

In any case, if you are staying in hotels, they will generally have televisions and video networks. If you are hosteling or staying in guesthouses, many will have a TV or video room where you can chill and watch something. It's not as if television and video don't exist outside of Europe and North America.

I don't wish to be a Luddite, but I believe that turning the current generation into a confederacy of vidiots is not a great idea. You can use down time to read a book or newspaper, (re)learn the art of conversation, or do a whole host of other things. I traveled for two years without ever feeling the need for a DVD player -- there were so many things to do and so many great people to speak with, why would I have bothered?

As for using them on public transport, if you are going to use it, then please bring headphones so that you don't annoy those of us who would prefer to have a conversation, look out the window or read a book.

Hi,

To be honest I really wouldnt bother... I took my PSP travelling with me and had UMD films for it and yeah it was great for long boring train journeys but its one more thing to worry about and carry.

The other point to consider is that you can always buy the DVDs and watch them on the hostel's TV's or even better goto the local cinema! Watching Batman Begins (Which I really really enjoyed) and then walking out of the cinema and remembering I was at the bottom of the Petronas towers was an amazing experience..

Plus how good is it to watch with the sun light shineing on the screen and having to watch it between 2 people??

"Your travel time is limited" - That's generalising for starters - mine isn't limited.

Using our time "wisely" is unique to us. What we consider wise others might consider stupid. And vice versa.

Saying every place you will visit will have it's own entertainment alternative is a little naive. We've been to places where there is absolutely nothing to do other than have dinner in the evening. As I said, that wears thin after a while. And even if they do have a cinema I have no desire to see an old film in a foreign language I don't understand. If that floats your boat then grand, but I can't see how.

Of course hotels have TVs but that's not what I'm talking about - remote locations with nothing. Repeatedly I've been in places with a wonderful balcony or roof garden and it's been a real treat to get some beers in and some snacks, and watch a movie in the cool of the night (screen glare is not an issue - I have not watched a film during the day)

"Vidiots" - you are generalising again - you've never met me, or my wife. No one I know would call us video idots. In 3 weeks in Aisia we watched 2 films - on on our balcony and one on a transfer. But the key was that we had the ability and choice to do that - and it made for a great experience. I've not yet mentioned the times we've been stuck in airport "lounges" and been able to enjoy some entertainment when everyone else is sleeping on the floor or trying to get some amusement out of a cola vending machine.

You really have a chip on your shoulder don't you? In my first reply on this thread (go back and have a look) I said "get yourself some good headphones" - but you still make a whiney comment and assumption about hoping I wear headphones. All the while you can read a book or look out the window - you made another assumption - we watched a movie on a minubus - at night - with headphones - and no internal lighting. If you can read in the dark let me know. And I'd love to hear about your other experiences looking out of the window in the pitch black - must have been thrilling.

Seriously dude - this constant reaction to recommending taking technology travelling (you get it all the time here) is tiresome. The world has moved on, we now have light, inexpensive devices available to us for our enjoyment. I liek to have technology with me. I can, I will and I do.

Edited by: dodgey

"Your travel time is limited" - That's generalising for starters - mine isn't limited.

I traveled for more than two years, and I surely considered my time to be limited. That is a fraction of my total lifetime, the travel has been just a tiny piece of it, relatively speaking.

Saying every place you will visit will have it's own entertainment alternative is a little naive. We've been to places where there is absolutely nothing to do other than have dinner in the evening.

If you can't enjoy a decent conversation over dinner, enjoy a stroll through town, etc., then that's evidence of a deficiency with you, not the place.

Repeatedly I've been in places with a wonderful balcony or roof garden...

And you couldn't enjoy that without a DVD player? That doesn't speak very well of you.

You really have a chip on your shoulder don't you?

Not at all. I own a better than average home theater system and a DVD collection. But I much preferred to spend my travel time traveling, instead of carting around my video equipment. I would suggest that the OP realize what a gift travel is, and do something similar.

I'm sorry, but your example of devoting two nights of your three weeks in Asia to your DVD collection is in line with this growing vidiot phenomenon of which I was speaking. If you are so lacking in imagination that you can't find other ways to amuse yourself, then I'd say that you need to be a bit introspective and sort out why you expect others to prevent your boredom, when boredom comes from within.

Still don't understand what's to see out of a bus window at night. Ahh well, perhaps I lack vision and imagination. I guess you see fairies.

Good for you.

Dude, sorry to get back to topic but make sure you get a player that you can hack to be region free. There are various DVD regions in the world and if you can't make it region free, you won't be able to play discs while you are in different parts of the world. Why not just get a MP4 player? Smaller with longer battery life. Some of the Chinese ones even have 2 headphone jacks so that you can watch with a friend.

Sorry I'm not so sanctimonious that I need to attack and argue with somebody who wants to watch a DVD on their hotel balcony or a long boring train or bus ride while they're living their life and travelling with their money. I'm sanctimonious about other stuff.

And Sorry - I guess there must be something wrong with me not only because of that, but because I've also gotten over thinking I was better than other people who stayed in the local pub or restaurant for movie night while they were on their holiday - in fact I stopped calling them names as well as throwing sticks and stones.

I've also forgiven myself for once watching a DVD on a train and sharing my headphones with a local after putting the subtitles on in his language.

I guess I should also confess that there was that one time that I was feeling a little homesick and watched a video/DVD of my family while camped in the middle of nowhere during a storm. Please attack my sensibilities and belittle me for such weakness. I deserve it.

And while we're at it, can you please provide me with two hundred lashes for not faithfully following a guidebook and travelling on the same buses or going to all the same places as all the other backpackers. Shame on me for touring on a bicycle. That must be equal to the crime of having a DVD player.

Clearly these things have affected my imagination and chastisement is in order.

It's a sad world when backpackers -- you know, the type of travelers who are allegedly willing to go deeper and take more risks than the norm -- are so set in their hometown ways that they can't leave their comfort zones behind and push their personal envelopes for even a few months.

You've got decades of your life ahead of you to fixate on the personal cathode ray babysitter, and only weeks or months of it to dabble in another culture.