We're not too crazy about using TV as a babysitter but man, there are times when nothing works to give you a moment to breathe like plopping your offspring in front of a screen filled with their favorite animated mammal or dinosaur.
The widescreen Panasonic DVD-LS855 8.5" Portable DVD/CD Player seems to us the kind of thing that should be issued to all parents when their first child turns two years old. It's far from unbreakable but with its tilt, swivel, pivoting screen it's at least got a fighting chance of staying in one piece should your child start experimenting with odd viewing angles.
When you're trying to find a particular spot in a DVD you'll appreciate the 200x smooth scan.
The wide variety of DVD and CD disc formats it can play is another example of its flexibility. You can even use it to listen to MP3s you've burned onto CDs or DVDs. The stereo speakers put out a half watt each so forget about that Phil Spector "wall of sound" feeling; but seriously, how far away are you going to get from this thing anyway? Besides, at least you know the kids aren't going to hurt their sensitive eardrums if they crank up Barney to the max.
One cool and unexpected feature is that your LS855 is outfitted with onboard Dolby and DTS decoders so you can experience a surround effect from just two speakers. And Panasonic adds what it calls Headphone Surround so you can even get a surround sound effect while wearing headphones. The headphones aren't included but two headphone jacks are, so you can share the audio experience.
Panasonic says you'll get up to six hours on a charge of your LS855's included lithium ion battery, but as always, take that number with a grain of salt. You should be able to get through a movie or two between charges, though.
Then again, you probably won't need to use the battery all that often. At home you can plug in the included AC adapter and in the car you can plug the included DC adapter into that thing that used to be called the cigarette lighter.
Using your LS855 in the car couldn't be easier. It even includes a car headrest bracket so you can create a little mobile entertainment center for the backseat bunch.