DVD player offers movies wherever you go - except on a plane

The CineTrek portable DVD player weighs only 685kg and has plenty of battery power.

The "clear plastic bag" policy hastily brought into place for air travellers following the foiled plot to blow up several transatlantic airliners has proven to be a nightmare for people travelling to the US and Britain.

The delays at airports are one thing. But now anyone embarking on long-haul trips to those destinations can forget the idea of passing the tedious hours cooped up in economy class watching movies on portable DVD players and laptops or listening to music players.

It's certainly will not impress owners of gadgets like the CineTrek.

This portable DVD player weighs just 685g and has enough battery power to get you through a movie or several hours of music playback, which makes it ideal for flights. Luckily, it's also very useful as an in-car entertainment system, which is its primary function.

It has an 8.5-inch LCD screen which displays movies in true 16:9 format.

While the CineTrek has speakers mounted on its front, there's also a built-in FM transmitter so your car stereo can send it to your speaker system. A neat slot drive accepts CDs and DVDs, including the 8cm variety. All types of disc formats are supported so the video you've burnt to disc on your home DVD burner is likely to play back on the CineTrek.

All of those features are pretty standard, but the CineTrek's screen quality is surprisingly good. It's not as nice as watching video on a bright laptop screen, but it's better than many portable DVD player screens and has a wide viewing angle so several people can see the full picture.

The big advantage of the CineTrek over other portable DVD players I've used is its support for digital media carried on external flash devices, such as memory cards and USB drives.

A slot on the top of the CineTrek takes SD, Memory Stick and MMC cards and there's a USB connection where you can plug in a portable flash drive. There's an advantage to playing video stored on a flash card over playing a DVD because without the motor having to turn the DVD, there's less power used and you can use the CineTrek for longer without having to recharge it. The same thing goes for music playback.

The CineTrek's support for digital formats is reasonable. It will play mp3 audio files and DivX video files burnt to disc or stored on memory cards. I'd like to have seen support for wma and wmv files as well.

In the car, the CineTrek can be powered via the cigarette lighter and comes with a case that allows it to be strapped to the driver's headrest for viewing in the back seat.

There are a few useful technical features, including composite video in and out for viewing video from a video camera or using the CineTrek as a DVD player on a full size TV screen. There's optical digital audio for decent audio and support for Dolby stereo sound.

There's the option of buying a TV tuner and infra-red earphones set-up for the CineTrek as well, making the CineTrek a flexible little multimedia device ideal for long trips.

CineTrek WDR800

Pros: Slot drive, screen quality, memory card slot
Cons: Limited file formats for digital content
Price: $549
Herald Rating: 7/10