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| Audiovox VBP700 7" DVD In A Bag: how-tos |
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March 1, 2005
• Vol.2 Issue 2 Page(s) 74-75 in print issue | |
Audiovox VBP700 7" DVD In A Bag: how-tos | |
The VBP700 draws power from a wall receptacle, from your car's cigarette lighter, or from the included battery. The NiMH (nickel-metal hydride) rechargeable battery powers the player for about three hours (roughly the same as a good notebook battery). Its low degradation feature means there's no need to let the battery run down. To charge the battery, plug one end of the included cable into the wall socket and the other into the battery module; the roughly 7.5-inch x 5.5-inch platter is included in the package. Once charged, attach the battery by lining up the tabs with the slots on the bottom of the player and then sliding the platter into the slots until it clicks. Plug the connector cable emerging from the platter into the DC port at the side of the player and slide the power button to On. Insert a DVD or CD, press the Play button on the player or on the slim remote control unit, and you're off. Playing DVDs in the car is one of the VBP700's special treats. The unit includes an adapter cable that runs from the base unit into the car's cigarette lighter, after which it's simply a matter of turning on the unit, inserting a DVD, and watching away. Of course, this assumes you want the player held in someone's lap or placed on the seat, hardly the best arrangement if your viewers are young kids (or adults holding frothy cappuccinos). For that reason, Audiovox includes a harness that lets you suspend the VBP700 from the back of the front seat, one of the front seats, or between the two bucket seats, and your kids can watch without touching. If they fall asleep, they won't drop or roll over onto the player.   Playing MP3s & JPEG Files Make no mistake; the VBP700 does its job as a DVD player just fine. The screen is clear and bright, it shows widescreen movies perfectly, and the sound is surprisingly good for a unit this small (although the volume could definitely use a boost). In fact, this device is so well designed that it has two headphone jacks, eliminating the hassle of having to buy a splitter. The control pads on the device and the remote control unit let you skip from scene to scene and do everything else you'd want to do with a DVD movie. But just as usefully, the VBP700 doubles as an audio CD player and a viewer for JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) graphics files. In fact, it gets even better: The player reads rewriteable CDs (CD-RW), as well. So you can keep adding MP3 files to your music disc, or JPEG files to your picture disc, or replacing the files with new ones, in order to get the music collection or photo album you want. To use your VBP700 for either of these purposes, create the CD on your PC or Mac. Using your CD software, burn whatever JPEG graphics files and/or MP3 music files you want to the CD. When you burn an MP3 CD, your software may ask if you want to create a music or data CD; as counterintuitive as it sounds, do not burn a music CD. A standard music CD will play, but it won't let you store the hundreds of files a data CD will. For graphics files, make sure they're all in JPEG format (GIF [Graphics Exchange Format] files, BMP [bitmapped] files, and other types don't display at all). Be sure the files have clear, concise names because the VBP700's screen displays only 14 characters of the name in its menu. This is especially true for MP3 files; JPEGs display a thumbnail of the picture, making it easier to find what you want. With the CD burned, open the player's disc cover (press the Open button) and press the CD into place. Turn on the player if it isn't on already. In a few seconds, the screen shows a two-pane window, with the file name in the left pane and, in the case of JPEG files, a thumbnail in the right pane. Click the down-arrow either on the remote or on the left control pad on the player until you reach the file you want to view or play. Press the OK button (left control pad) or the Play button (right control pad), or the Enter button on the remote to play the song or view a full-screen version of the picture. You'll see standard buttons for CD music playback: Play, Pause, Stop, Fast Forward, Rewind, Next Track, and Previous Track (the same buttons control DVD playback). For pictures, the VBP700 automatically starts a slideshow, and you can skip ahead to the next picture or back to the previous picture manually. By pressing the Setup button, you can adjust the display from widescreen to normal screen, a necessary procedure if you don't want your pictures to spread horizontally to fill the entire screen.  By Neil Randall |
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