You Really Need a Portable DVD Player

• Large screen size
• Enough battery life to last a few kids movies
• Comes with all the cables and adapters you need

• Size is not the best for car mounting

If you have a cherished DVD collection that is just dying to be taken on the go, this is the high quality player for you. It's got a 15.5 inch screen on a swivel and speakers good enough you don't even need headphones (although a good pair is nice to have).

It's also killing the competition in terms of battery life. At six hours of lithium battery power, you can get through a couple lengthy epics, or half a season of television. Point being, if you don't have access to AC power or the car charger adapter, you aren't SOL.

There's extra nifty features too. You can use the AV cable to connect it to your screen (like a normal DVD player, yay!). And there's even a resume function, so when you have to close it, the next time you open it will pick back up where you left off on the disc.

• Easy to mount in the car
• Small enough to fit in a personal bag
• Affordable

• Low resolution screen

If the DVD player is destined to live on the passenger seat headrest for the backseat riders to see, this is the one. The fact that it's only $50 is a cherry on top. It folds flat easily and is the perfect size to attach to the back of most headrests.

You won't get the highest resolution screen from this (think seatback airplane screen), but if you haven't upgraded your entire DVD collection to Blu-Rays at this point that's probably not your biggest priority. The player comes with a car adapter, a remote control, and boasts a decent battery life of between four and six hours (typically closer to four or five). It can also input out to a TV, and it has a "last memory" feature you can toggle on and off.

• Compact and easy to pack
• Decent speakers
• Supports playback off USB drives and SD cards

• Some users report defective models

Shopping for kids is its entire own beast, and that's why we've singled out this compact player from Yoton. It's got a small screen (for children's eyes), a good speaker( to drown out the noise of screaming/delighted children), and a durable enough build to withstand punishment from those same children. You get the picture.

It comes with all the standard features parts you'd expect from a modern portable player like last memory and the ability to sync to a big screen. And it comes with the charges and connectors you need to keep it set up for a long car ride.

• High resolution screen
• Plays Blu-Ray discs and DVDs
• HDMI out

• Overpriced, even at a discount
• no HDMI cable included

And finally, for the modern man, we have a Blu-Ray player. The truth is with the lack of disc drives in modern laptops, there aren't many ways to play your Blu-Rays when you're not at your home theater. Of the options you have, we like this one from Fangor. It's got a screen that can work at any angle and is large enough for a small group two watch—or two fighting siblings to split easily.

While all the others offer AV out, us olds know what that means; red cable, yellow cable, white cable. HDMI makes it easier—one ubiquitous cable. You can also sync the screen to a projector, not just a TV, which we personally love because around here we are massive projector fans. And yes, you can play your DVDs too.

As Esquire, we know the tech and gadgets that are worth your hard-earned cash. Importantly, we're tech insiders. We know all the weird jargon and specs that you don't need to worry about. And we compile our guides by performing heavy research and testing. The gadgets we choose to award and recommend are what we'd spend our own money on.