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Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Portable DVR records shows and withstands abuse (hands-on)

Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Portable DVR records shows and withstands abuse (hands-on)

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Fisher-Price's new Kid-Tough Portable DVR records live TV from your set-top-box and saves it for later for your children to watch. It's designed for pre-schoolers and plugs into a dock that you leave connected to your set-top-box. You can choose to have it record live or schedule it to record up to 24 hours in advance.

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Gallery Photo: Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Portable DVR hands-on photos
Gallery Photo: Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Portable DVR hands-on photos

Portable DVD players are good for one thing in the minds of many parents: keeping children entertained in the car. Fisher-Price is going after this market with its new Kid-Tough Portable DVR, which records live TV from your set-top-box and saves it for your children to watch later. It's designed for pre-schoolers, so the tech isn't terribly fancy, though it is simple. The device plugs into a dock that you leave connected to your set-top-box (composite and 3.5mm audio only), and you can choose to have it record live or schedule it to record up to 24 hours in advance.

In addition to a tough (and rather grotesque) design, the DVR has a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen that's a bit washed out (though we don't think your typical three-year-old would complain). We found the screen to be responsive and the device ran smoothly through menus. The device has a quoted four to six hours of battery life and comes with two hours of storage for standard-definition content (though it has a microSD card slot for additional memory). We don't know how much it'll cost, but the portable DVR will start shipping this May.

Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Portable DVR hands-on photos

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