Light, cheap portable video/DVD with excellent audio?

September 27, 2006 1:40 AM

Portable DVD player, or video player, or custom-built Frankendevice, with VERY high-quality audio output?? Video quality doesn't matter (could even be b/w), but screen should be 8"+ and unit should be as lightweight as possible. For live concerts where I need to see video, just for my own reference, that's exactly in sync with my pre-recorded audio (so I would make DVDs or video files with my audio + the visuals I need). Laptop = expensive/heavy/overkill.
posted by allterrainbrain to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Response by poster: In case it's not clear, this device would be an audio source for the concert, connecting to the venue's sound system (or to my portable speakers, in venues with no sound system). A DVD player from a company that pays high-than-average attention to audio quality in consumer devices (say, Sony?) might be an adequate solution, but I'm looking for other ideas too. Feel free to recommend tiny laptops (say, Oqo?) if you've used them, but my ideal device is cheaper & has longer battery life (and it will never need to do anything other than play audio & video).
posted by allterrainbrain at 1:49 AM on September 27, 2006

Your question is unclear.

Are you using this device during, before, or after the concert?

What is the source of the video?

Why is the audio pre-recorded if it's a live concert?
posted by fake at 1:50 AM on September 27, 2006

Response by poster: During the concert, this device plays audio that the audience hears. At the same time, live instruments play. What the audience hears is a mix of the audio and the live instruments.

This device also shows me video, in sync with the audio, that only I need to see. So the screen points at me, not at the audience. (I need the visual cues in order to play & build up some parts of the live music at precisely the right times to coordinate with the pre-recorded audio.)

The source of the audio & video is a DVD (or video file) that I made, combining audio & video so the video is continually showing me what's happening in the audio. (The video is primarily a progress bar moving across the graphical waveform of the audio -- what you would see on a computer screen if you played an audio file in an audio editing program.)
posted by allterrainbrain at 2:02 AM on September 27, 2006

Find a portable DVD player with a S/PDIF digital output. Then you can just route the signal to whatever you want (quality D/A converter -> mixing board?) without having to worry about the sound quality of the player itself.
posted by neckro23 at 2:52 AM on September 27, 2006

Response by poster: Wow -- I actually didn't expect S/PDIF out would be a feature on cheap/consumer DVD portables but you're absolutely right, now that I Google for it! Thanks for the tip -- I think I was radically underestimating what I could find in a cheap DVD player. This may be simpler than I thought.
posted by allterrainbrain at 3:21 AM on September 27, 2006