14 out of 14 people found this review helpful.
Great Upper Tier , Name Brand, 10 inch Player
Date of Review: Aug 3, 2004
The Bottom Line: Great top tier player with lots of extras. Rare included cables like mini to S-video and car adapter. Input to screen is awesome. Full controls on the unit.
The L-300 is not the cheapest option on the market. However, if you've decided to spend $550 to$650 on a quality, easy-to-use portable player with lots of features, this is worth a look. After three moths of use on a regular basis in and out of airports and planes, this player gets top praise.
The Unit
The unit is slim, light and the back load battery is the best design of any I've seen yet. The unit is about the size of a small Sony VIO laptop. Not quite as thick, big, or heavy as a standard laptop. I continue to receive compliments on trips about the quality of the picture and how perfect the screen size is.
The Screen
The L-300 has a 10 inch screen that uses 384,000 pixels and progressive scan technology to provide an incredible picture. Most other players use screens that are only show 480 to 500 pixels. There are no visible lines with the L-300.
playback and Audio
This unit Plays DVD - Video, DVD+R, DVD-R discs. The audio from the speakers gets loud, but is not very full sounding.If your wanting to watch a movie in a hotel room or even in the car, the speakers will output just fine. For most situations, the dual headphone inputs are the best option when traveling. However, after three months of use I have noticed that when both headphone jacks are in use, one is always louder than the other.
Buttons and Functions
The design of the unit is smart. All functions can be controlled through buttons on the unit. No remote is needed. This feature is very hard to find on other models. The power supply allows you to wrap the cord in a recessed storage area for nice and clean storage. The unit also comes with lots of features and extras other models do not. You may invert the display in order to mount it upside down in a car. It comes with an input so you can connect outside sources such as Video Games, Cable Receivers or Cameras and view them on your screen. In fact, I'm watching TV on the unit while writing this.
Included Cords
An included mini to S-Video or regular RCA cable make it easy to plug the Samsung into a TV. A mini to stereo audio cable is also included for audio input and output. An added bonus that you don't see too often is a car power adapter is included for road trips.
Battery
I get about 3 to 3.5 hours of view time from the battery. It takes about the same amount of time to charge the unit. I've been running the battery all the way down before recharging and after many trips I'm still getting 3 to 3.5 hours of use while watching a movie. You'll get longer life if you're using the input.
Conclusion
Still, the only con I've found is the fact that you can not control the brightness, contrast, color or sharpness. Even at that, there are four preset options for indoor, standard, bright light and dark light settings. Although not the truest of color options, it is more than tolerable.
Update: I dropped this unit from my laptop bag while it was on my shoulder. It hit a concrete drive way on the front left corner of the unit. I was affraid it was all over, but it turned on and played like new. This thing is tough.
