Review on RCA DRC69705 7-Inch Dual Screen Portable DVD Player System by Cameron Novak

We take long trips with two small children. Entertaining passengers are crucial to a happy (for everyone). It seems that manufacturers have stopped producing such devices and they are very difficult to find. After researching some of the options available I figured we were okay with that. It's a well known brand after all, you can get it new (rather than refurbished) and the price was reasonable. We replaced a range of Phillips 7 inch DVD players which would normally last 2 years of heavy use and withstand the rigors of young operators. As the Phillips machines were discontinued we were forced to change them and had high hopes for them. Boy are we disappointed! After 6 months of normal use they let us down. For our mental health and theirs, our kids use headphones (after playing 100 Frozen I had enough). The headphone jacks are out of order. The "master" jack works intermittently - sometimes only in one ear, most of the time it doesn't. I tried cleaning, different headphones, etc. The nest is bad. With the "piggy bank", the plug and speaker no longer worked at all. Aside from the sound, there are other issues. The standard DVD player has a very loud volume (15) when it starts up and we have to keep turning it off (not much I know, but our other devices stay where you left them). The volume buttons are located on the top of the device along with ALL the other control buttons. So if you feel in the dark after inserting a new movie, it's very easy to accidentally fast forward or stop - very annoying! And when you start the machine, the drive doesn't start where you left off - slightly, I know. Who would have thought that we were spoiled by Phillips. The remote control is handy for those in the back seat (did I mention we have two small children?). In order for the device to work, it needs line of sight, so we attached it to the device with Velcro. Luckily he hasn't lost yet. Finally, the bar that holds this strap to the unit is plastic (as opposed to metal on Phillips units) and broke after my 7 year old pulled a little in a fit of frustration trying to adjust the volume and the set playback buttons. . (I guess I can't blame it too much for bad design). We had to "Rube Goldberg" come up with a solution by the time we got home from our 8 hour trip (I really had fun finding a solution using a short bungee cord and lanyard). While it's interesting to think about what might go wrong next (and how I can creatively fix it), we're officially looking for a new set of units to make our rides happy. All in all it was a big disappointment. I advise you to look for another model. Unless, of course, you want to add some pizzazz to your long journey, then by all means go for it!