The AXN-6070 is a great buy

I'm not extremely discriminating when it comes to home audio/video equipment. I like stuff that works well for a reasonable price, and most of the time that necessarily excludes the high-end products. That said, here is my review.

My 5" RCA Color TV had fallen off the nightstand one too many times. It would have to be replaced.

I had been using this TV and a small 2.4 GHz audio/video transmitter to watch cable shows and DVD movies. The transmitter hooks up to a cable box and DVD player in the den and sends the signals to a small receiver that connects to the TV. This setup was very portable and allowed me to watch TV in bed (or on the patio, or wherever)without disturbing my wife or running cables all over the place. I love this setup and can't imagine being without it for very long.

So the RCA was DOA, and (how convenient) they don't make that model any more. This was a perfect opportunity to upgrade to a bigger screen and maybe a bit more functionality.

For $140 (which included FedEx overnight shipping), the Axion AXN-6070 was my choice. The price was excellent and everything you need is included in the retail box.

Radio Shack was selling a similar Axion model, but it's not the same as the 6070. The control panel, battery, and remote are different on the Radio Shack model.

The player is 7.87" wide x 5.92" long x 1.44" deep. The case has a nice solid feel about it.

The AXN-6070 has a 7" diagonal 16:9 widescreen LCD display with 720h x480v resolution. The picture is bright and sharp with excellent contrast, very easy on the eyes. Axion has thoughtfully placed a thumbwheel Brightness control on the right side of the case for ease of adjustment without interrupting your movie. There is a setup menu for people who like to tweak the video settings, but I didn't find it necessary to adjust anything in there.

The DVD player is a top-loader design. It spins up quickly and it plays my DVD-R and +R discs with no problem. It will also play regular audio CD's, MP3 data CD's, and will display JPEG image files in a slideshow format. There's a 3-second anti-skip/anti-shock mechanism. Another big plus, to me, is that there are enough controls on the unit itself to operate the player without having to use the remote.

Remote? Why would you need a remote if the player is sitting right in front of you? Well, if you use a travel case (the kind that straps onto the back of a car seat), the remote is the best way to control the player. The only thing you can't adjust with the remote is the audio volume, which doesn't make a lot of sense, but that's how it is (I've learned that most of these players don't have remote volume control. Oh well!). The remote is a bit smaller than a 100mm cigarette pack and about 1/4" thick. It comes with a CR2025 battery installed.

Now, the audio is kind of a mixed bag. Axion rates the audio output at an underwhelming 0.2 watts per side. There are 4 speakers built into the unit. They're about the size of milk jug caps. There's not enough power or speaker cone surface area to give you a rich sound experience. The stereo image is good though, and if there's not a lot of background noise you can listen comfortably through the speakers. A pair of headphones with decent bass response will give you the best sound, and Axion gives you 2 headphone jacks (another thoughtful feature).

The front headphone jack (nearest the power switch) disconnects the built-in speakers when you plug into it, while plugging into the rear phones jack leaves the speakers on.

The connectivity is what I appreciate most about this player. On the back, you get a set of 4 standard 1/8" (3.5mm) jacks: composite video in, stereo audio in, video out, and stereo audio out. So, virtually any signal that can be carried through a 1/8" plug can be connected to this player's inputs. On the output side, you can hook up to a bigger screen TV (S-Video or RCA plugs) and/or a more powerful sound system. Did I mention that the cables are included? They are, even though none of the vendors seem to mention this in their descriptions of the product.

When you plug into the video input, the DVD player is automatically disconnected and your outside video source takes over the screen. There are no switches to set or menu settings to mess around with. Just plug in and watch.

Axion includes a hefty Ni-MH battery for true portability. It's almost as long and as wide as the player, and about 1/2" thick. The battery snaps onto the bottom of the player--not the back. A full charge takes about 5 hours and will give you about 3 hours of DVD player time.

Also in the box you'll find a 9V AC adapter, a cigarette lighter cord, and a very well written instruction manual.

The AXN-6070 was the best choice for me. I think the build quality is exceptional and I was pleasantly surprised at the accessories that are included with the player. It was nice that I didn't need to buy anything else.

I have promised myself that I'll be especially careful not to knock this thing off the nightstand.

I highly recommend the AXN-6070.

UPDATE: The DVD mechanism failed after about 15 months. That's a pretty respectable life for this kind of money. I've heard of quite a few players that quit a lot sooner than that. So, my 6070 no longers plays any type of disk. But hey, the screen is still as bright and sharp as ever. I still use it to watch my cable shows on the patio. I would still recommend it over anything else in its price range.