Koss DVP2161 Compact DVD with MP3/CD Player

Ideal for plugging into a television, computer, or car screen, the compact DVP2161 offers full-featured DVD and CD playback from a device about the size of a softcover book. While not quite portable in the traditional sense--the unit has no screen and requires AC power--the DVP2161 is much easier to move around, set-up, and use than a traditional component DVD player.
And it handles not only DVD-Videos and video CDs, but music, too, from standard CDs to home-burned CD-Rs, CD-RWs, and MP3-encoded CDs. Full-featured audio CD and MP3 CD menu controls simplify operation, and a handy top-panel LCD shows track and time of disc playing, letting you use the device even if it's not plugged into a television.

Top-of-the-line component-video outputs help minimize digital and line-scan artifacts on compatible advanced televisions, while composite- and S-video outputs bring compatibility with nearly any television. Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's digital-audio output (Toslink optical) for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver. Other features include parental controls (with PIN lock), picture zoom, drop-down menu controls with active navigation, and a full-function remote control. Amazon.com Product Description

What's in the Box
DVD player, remote control (with batteries,) stereo analog audio with composite-video interconnect, and AC adapter.

Koss DVP2161 Compact DVD with MP3/CD Player

Test Report

Piece of junk, April 25, 2005 Reviewer: M. Rogers (Austin, TX) -
When it worked, it was OK -- decent picture/sound and small profile. But most of the time it wouldn't play disks, or it would freeze in the middle of them; all kinds of playback problems. I eventually stopped using it altogether and it's collecting dust in my closet. I would feel too bad trying to pass it off to someone else so I should probably just throw it away.



definitely buy the one year replacement coverage, April 18, 2005 Reviewer: David Bollman -
assuming the cost of shipping is included otherwise it's probably better to forget the whole thing. The player worked fine but died after a couple of months of not very heavy use and no harsh handling. You might have better luck than me, who knows.



Nifty little gadget, April 3, 2005 Reviewer: Vidish Nahar "zulu" (New York, NY USA) -
This is a nice little dvd player to have. I'm a student and I find it convenient to take it around my dorm and hook it up on anyones tv without any fuss (since its so small). you can also connect it to your boombox and play mp3s. It does seem a little flimsy when you hold it but I haven't experienced any problems yet. I guess if you handle it with care it should be ok.



Who's complaining?, March 24, 2005 Reviewer: Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) -
Tired of complaining about my school's equipment--antiquated, erratic, remoteless, installed in inaccessible cabinets--I purchased this bargain-basement little machine as a last-ditch effort to regain control of my classroom. It's sufficiently light and compact to fit in a book bag, it sets up faster than a drawer-type player, and so far it's handled every visual and audio source I've fed it (even my computer does a lousy job with VCD's). The remote is not only intuitive but the most versatile one I've used. It'll perform forward and backwards motion at any speed, freeze frames and even advance or reverse them one at a time. As a result, kids are able to spot even the minute details in "Citizen Kane," and I can set it to automatically repeat Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy until they get it.

True, some of the previous reviews do not portend well for the durability of this little sanity saver, but mine has been going strong for two months. At these prices, that's good enough for me. And if it fails next week, I'll order two more from Amazon just to be on the safe side. Besides, I could use the extra remotes to put in my students' hands.




OK DVD/CD player for the money you spend on it, March 18, 2005 Reviewer: G. CALICO (PELHAM, AL USA) -
If you are truly interested in a quality portable DVD player, I would shy away from this one. However, that was not my intensions when I purchased this item. I wanted a relatively inexpensive (less than $ 30.00) DVD player that I could hook up to any TV and watch pre-recorded and recorded DVD movies when I was out of town and on the road. You can accomplish that with this player (via a RF modulator and some A/V cable and coax cable). I did not want to spend $150.00 - $300.00 on a portable DVD player.

The good: This unit is very portable, small, compact and lightweight. It is not very expensive and it has a fairly well know brand name attached to it (Koss). It has played every DVD and CD I used in it, including the ones I recorded myself utilizing my computer or my stand alone home Panasonic DVD recorder. It delivers a pretty good picture quality and the sound quality is not bad either. Of course, all this depends on the quality of the television set you have in home, or in my case, your hotel room (UGH).

Now for the bad: After about 45 minutes to an hour of continuous playing time, the picture and sound starts to "freeze". Afterwhich, the unit discontinues to play any further. This is an inherient problem with all these units. Just read all the other reviews below. The unit get too hot to properly load and play any DVD or CD. Period. So you are warned. It does not run on batteries, only A/C. You have to hook up a lot of wires to make it go (power cord, RF Modulator, coax cable, A/V wires, etc...) It does not have it's own screen and/or it's own internal speakers (but then again, what do you expect for the price).

I knew about the overheating problem beforehand by just reading the reviews of others prior to purchasing it. But, for $ 30.00 I figured how can you go wrong. My solution to this problem was to purchase a small 4" fan ($3.97 at WalMart), place the DVD player on a small cup to allow the air to circulate around the top and bottom of the unit, and direct the air towards the back of the unit. Do not place the DVD player directly on a tabletop and definetly not on any soft item. Too much heat is generated in the unit and the player cannot dissipate the heat quickly enough function properly.

I also purchased the extended warranty for this unit, since it only comes with a 90 day warranty period. For $ 5.99 you can get a full replacement warranty for up to a year. Well worth it because this unit has a high probiblity of failing completely within a year, if you plan on using it a lot.

All in all, 3 stars is a fair rating for this product. It works to accomplish all my objective (although I have to help it along a bit). And as I said earlier, you can't beat the price.



Best Portable DVD Player for the Money, November 23, 2003 Reviewer: "wildcatphantom" (Middlesboro, KY United States) -Let me start off by saying that I love these little dvd players. I currently only have one, but I am going to get at least one more if not 2 more. I don't know why others seem to have problems getting it to play certain dvd's. Mine will play almost anything I throw at it. I use a lot of VCD's and it will even play non-compliant vcd's. Heck, you can just burn your video file as a data file onto the disk and this thing will play it. You can burn JPEGs to a cd and it will let you view them. It plays stuff that 300 dollar dvd players won't even touch. As far as the overheating thing goes, just be sure to prop it up on something and don't sit it flat on carpet or other surfaces. I intend to build a special frame for mine in which I will mount a pc type fan in the middle for even more ventilation. Buy one of these and a small LCD display and hit the road Jack. These are awesome. Kudos to Koss, they get my 2 thumbs up for this product!

Great Until It Broke, July 22, 2003 Reviewer: An electronics fan (Peoria, AZ USA) This seemed like an unbelievable find when I found it here on Amazon, but the bottom line is that it BROKE after playing 3 movies.
I liked it because it was one of the lowest priced of the compact/portable DVD players. It plays so many different formats and has basically every input/output option available. Many reviewers thought it got too hot, but ours never got above "warm" because I always propped it up on something that allowed air to circulate under it. You do have to unplug it when not in use or it will get too hot. When we popped in the first disc, the quality of the sound and video were great. We were excited about it because we were planning a long road trip with our two year old and we could play movies and MP3s from the same unit.
The bad part: When I tried to put in a movie, after having the unit for about 3 days, it broke. On the outside of the small black circle that holds the disc, there are some tiny silver knobs that are supposed to hold the disc in place. Somehow they just became loose and fell down inside the unit. The unit would no longer read discs because the dvd didn't stay level as it spun.
If you don't mind taking chances, this could be a great little DVD player, but I'm not willing to give it another try.


Great little dvd player!, July 15, 2002 Reviewer: Justin (Ann Arbor, MI) - This pint-sized dvd player does almost everything that all the big boys do. This is about one-third the size of a regular dvd. It has a head-phone jack for personal listening. It's very light.
To tell you the truth, when I looked at the brand name I was kind of skeptical to get this player. Usually I'm a Sony guy, but the price and size were right. The picture is just as good as any of the other dvd's I've seen. That goes for the sound as well.
It also has a lot of features not found in other dvd players. One of which, you can select a portion of a scene and view it over and over again by a button called "A-B." Very useful if you want to examine a part very closely without having to rewind then play then stop, then rewind and so forth. Another feature is being able to view a "Scene" over and over again. This baby's got a volume control also within the dvd player. That way you don't have to switch between controllers so much. It's also NTSC/PAL compliant and VCD 2.0 compatible too. Another thing is that if you burn a cd with jpeg pictures (a type of format that pictures can come in) you can view them on this player. You can take digital pictures, burn them, then view for your family and friends to see on the tv. It also tells you on the screen what scene you're looking at if you press |<< or >>|. It also has an optional optical digital output for exceptional viewing (if you don't know what I'm talking about don't worry, just know it's there).
Basic features are Dolby Digital 5.1, MP3 playback, CD/CD-R/CD-RW, Parental controls, zoom. It also has a small LCD screen to tell you which scene or time the dvd is playing. It comes with an AC adapter, A/V wires, and a very handy remote. There's pretty much a button for every feature which is handy for quick clicks. It has S-Video output. Handy buttons on top of the case also for play, stop, rewind, fast-forward, etc.
Small quirks that I have with this player are that it is a bit flimsy. It also gets a bit warm after playing a movie (but I guess that's with any dvd player). There also is no DTS surround sound, but for many that feature won't be needed, I know I won't utilize that.
Overall, I am very happy with this dvd player. I bought it because in my dorm room there isn't much space for a bulky heavy one so when I saw this I grabbed it. Plus, mailing it back and forth between my school and home won't be as expensive this this light and small package. It was a very reasonable price for such a small player.
It may look small and dinky but inside's got a full fledge dvd player. If you're looking for a relatively inexpensive small light dvd player, with some extra features (not found in some of those other brands), opt for getting this one.


A Lightweight..., March 1, 2003 Reviewer: T. Chiu "MP Cat Dad" (East of 39th and Norton) - I bought this player about three months ago, and here's my experience with this unit.
-Design: 4/5. The unit is sharp-looking, with a nice silver chrome finish that's pretty durable. I have the purple "hip hues" version and despite its toy-like appearance it stands up pretty well to wear and tear, and the "psychedelic" look is unique. A point off for the lack of functions on the unit itself; it's pretty much play, stop, a/b view, fast forward and reverse. Everything else is on the remote, which could have matched the look of the unit a bit more.
-Portability: 5/5. Small, sleek and easy to transport. Great if you want a unit that you can easily move from room to room, bring to a friend's place, or, of course, for traveling. Setup with the audio/video outputs (or s-video) is a snap for the majority of televisions and adapters are easy to find for monitors without a/v inputs.
-Picture Quality / Sound: 4/5. Despite some limitations with Dolby 5/1 and surround sound (this won't give you the same bang in that area as most standard-sized players) the stereo audio is excellent on this unit. My dvd of "Showgirls" played with Cristal-clear sound ;), and Ditto for its mp3 playback, which comes with a nice onscreen display which lays out any folder structures your pc or mac creates on the cd-rom. More good news: the picture quality is superb, as good as any full-sized unit. Color and definition are outstanding. I hooked this up to a 27-inch monitor and played a DVD of "Last Tango in Paris" and it looked as good as on a full-sized Sony DVD deck which was connected to the same tv.
-Performance: 2/5. And now the bad news...the majority of disks should play on this deck. However, the sad truth is that this unit will reject a good number of DVDs. I've been able to play about 90% of DVDs on this deck. Another 5% had problems with skipping or, most aggravatingly, picture freezing. The other 5% won't run at all on this deck, not even registering a DVD menu. The motor will turn, the player will struggle to register with the material, and after a couple of attempts the unit gives up. This player seems to play single-layer DVDs very well, which don't offer a lot of special features (i.e. only a trailer, a couple of stills). I tried to play my Criterion copy of "In the Mood for Love" which is packed with a fully rendered menu and special features; it was a disaster, the player couldn't even register the DVD menu. A rental copy of John Carpenter's "The Thing" which didn't have any noticeable scratches only played about fifteen minutes of the film, then froze. Another DVD which had a small scratch froze in the last five minutes and would only continue if I skipped ahead to the next chapter. On the upside, the majority of disks I've tried on this player have played acceptably, with only occasional problems (see below). It's just sad that the temperamental nature of this unit would generate more suspense in keeping you wondering if it will make it through a whole movie than anything in the actual film you are watching.
-Engineering: 1/5. It's amazing that this thing made it through product testing, if that was even performed on this model. As others have mentioned, one of the major reasons this player malfunctions so much is that it doesn't have proper ventilation. It overheats, so after 1.5 to 2 hours of play (if not sooner) the picture will begin freezing and skipping. If you are watching a disk of television shows in half-and one-hour chunks, that might be fine, but curling up with three hours of "Apocalypse Now Redux"? Not too darn likely. And if your DVD is loaded with special features, the demands placed on this little cutie will cut your viewing time even further. All the special features - slow mo, step frame, a/b view, chapter search - work as they should (although you can only access most of them on the remote, so don't forget that if you plan on traveling with this player). Overall, the player's tendency to overheat renders it unacceptable for all but the lightest applications. Considering the possibilities of DVDs, that's a huge liability. Also, the remote's buttons are tiny and take some extra pressure to activate---and compared to my other vcr/satellite dish remotes, its lack of range is annoying. Basically you have to aim it directly at the unit, since it seems to have problems when used at angles.
-Suggestions: as others have mentioned, the ac adapter packed with the unit is really bad. Replace it with a compatible adapter from Target or Radio Shack and performance will improve. Some users have mentioned cutting a hole and installing a small fan---for the mechanically uninclined like me, this is not an option. The ac adapter heats up if it's plugged into the socket even when the unit's off, so unplugging the AC adapter from the socket between uses greatly improves performance. Also, setting the unit on top of a well-ventilated area helps, especially if air can pass under the bottom.
Overall, it's a commendable attempt by Koss to produce a small, portable DVD player for multiple purposes and situations. Had the design/engineering team resolved the player's basic problems - overheating, incompatibility with some high-performance DVD software, and erratic performance with even basic functions - this would have been a winner. Too bad. It could've been a contender.


Takes a little coaxing but it will play most everything, December 9, 2004

Reviewer: Rob "eandtee" (New York, NY) - I've had the Koss DVP2161 Compact DVD for almost 2 weeks, and have kept it running on my desk for long periods to see whether it would get too hot for comfort. I'm happy to report, at least in my case, the unit has not gotten hot or even warm during this period.

I've run it using the supplied AC adapter as well as directly off a 12v power source as in a car. I intend to use it most often in a car.

The Koss played commercial DVD's without hesitation, but I was initially dismayed by its rejection of many of my own DVD recordings. It often failed to recognize the disk. However, I tried opening and closing the lid, which restarts the loading process, and was pleased that the Koss would "eventually" (a couple of tries) recognize the disk and then play it fully.

Ultimately, it played all my recorded DVDs except one old Maxell DVD-RW which never worked. More recent +RW and -RW's played fine if not the first time.

As others have reported, CD's CD-R's MP3's and various other formats and files all played without problem.

I wish it wasn't necessary to have to "coax" this unit to play the +R/-R disks, but at least it will play them. I gave the Koss 4 stars in spite of this because it resolves all of my auto system needs - replacing a 12v VCR - at a nice price, and has a nice variety of output connections.

With the heat problem apparently resolved, and a little patience, I can recommend this unit quite highly.

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