DVD technology is continually ready to adopt new forms and to conquer new market segments. Predictably enough, the latest innovation of the DVD world is the mini portable DVD player, exclusively created to play mini DVDs. The new “baby-DVD player on-the-go” is pocket-sized, able to fit a kid's packsack.

CyberHome Entertainment is the creator of the CH-MDP2500 Portable Mini-DVD Player. Its size is 4" x 4.5" x 1". The 2.5" screen is in full color on an active matrix LCD panel.

The restriction for discs applies only to dimensions, as the accepted formats range from CD, MP3 CD, JPEG image CD, VCD, SVCD to DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, and DVD-RW.

The release of the mini DVD player on the market seems to be directed mostly towards kids' needs for the moment: its outer presentation is child-friendly. The boy/girl versions of the product casings are red and blue. Moreover, as the only discs that can be played are mini-formats and the DVD market is not very offering in this respect, CyberHome and Warner Brothers have launched approximately 30 titles to go along with this unit, mostly aimed at kids, such as Scooby-Doo 2 or A Cinderella Story.

Advantages

• easy to carry around, it can be a very pleasant entertainment during travels for kids and not only. (However, there is a shortcoming of this feature: the danger of addictiveness with kids, that can result in issues with school teachers!)
• the same high quality video and sound;
• good battery life, around 3 hours;
• excellent price-quality ratio, the product is available at a price a little higher than $110.

There are some drawbacks to this new format, and the most important one seems to be that it can only play mini-discs, while a slightly larger format accepts both normal discs and smaller ones. Mini-discs have the disadvantage that they cannot store too much data. Besides, the small size of the display cannot offer the advantages of comfortably watching a movie.

The success of mini portable DVD players depends on whether the idea of purchasing such products will manage to overpass the status of a whim.