A lesson I learned: when you’re at a convention of thousands of electronics vendors, if someone tells you they are the only people making a particular type of product, it might not be true. After reading on Gizmodo about the Samsung DVD jr. I decided to check it out for myself. It’s an OK idea for a kid’s product: take the somewhat useless mini DVD format (smaller 3 inch discs, up to 80 minutes of program time) and put children’s movies and cartoons on them. The rep at Samsung said that they already had Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers, New Line (and unofficially Disney in a week or two) making mini DVDs with their kid’s movies. The Samsung product looked OK. It’s kind of bulky and has a small screen, but the rep assured me that it tested well with the kids. Oh, and it will retail for around $129.99.
Then later on that day I saw mini DVD player from Cyberhome (pictured above). This was basically the exact same thing (same small screen size) except the player had a clamshell design like a Gameboy, didn’t have the rechargeable battery, and it will retail for $99.99. As long as the discs aren’t that expensive it might be something a kid would enjoy, I’m not sure. Both should be available nationwide in March.