Portable DVD next big thing for entertainment on wheels

The highways and country roads of New Zealand supply some great scenery for those long, summer road-trips. But when the conversation dries up and the CD collection is spent, even the sweeping vistas can't stave off passenger boredom.

However, watching a DVD in the back seat of a car moving at high speed is a compelling pastime.

Now car stereo makers such as Alpine, Pioneer and Blaupunkt have branched out into in-car DVD systems. They are great but have hefty price-tags and are thief-magnets. A good alternative is a device like the Next Base in-car DVD player.

It's a compact DVD player with built-in 18cm LCD screen. The drive comes with a leather pouch allowing it to be fitted to a car headrest. An adapter plugged into the car's cigarette lighter provides power and the DVD drive also comes with a rechargeable battery that will supply around three hours of playback.

The drive is a bit like some of the tablet PCs on the market; there's no cover that folds over. I suppose this makes the screen more vulnerable to scratches, but I liked the streamlined design.

Suddenly you've a lightweight DVD player you can fit into the glove compartment and set up easily in the car. The full-colour screen gives surprisingly good viewing with a wider viewing angle than most laptops.

A number of buttons along the front of the device control basic play and fast-forward functions, while a remote control gives more options.

Sound comes through two small speakers that you'll easily be able to hear over the engine, but there are other options. You can plug in headphones or take advantage of some neat wireless technology built into the drive.

The Next Base DVD player emits an FM audio signal which communicates with your car stereo on set frequencies. Tune to the right frequency and the movie's audio will be piped through your in-car stereo.

The drive also has a number of jacks allowing you to plug in everything from a video camera to a PlayStation games console. That opens up endless possibilities for holiday entertainment. It will play CDs, mp3 CDs and DVDs and still images you've burnt to disk yourself. The drive is selling at present with a bonus game pad with several simple games to keep the kids occupied.

You can buy a special mount to fit the DVD player to a sun visor if you want to watch a movie from the front passenger seat and a screw-in tripod for easier mounting of the DVD player is another option.

The drive has built-in anti-shock technology. Hit a big pothole and the DVD will pause for a second or two but most of the time DVD playback is smooth and continuous.

The DVD player also comes with a power adapter so you can also use it in your own home. Imagine this scenario - plug the DVD player into your TV to display the movies on the big screen and use the wireless transmitter built into the DVD player to feed the sound through your home stereo system. It becomes a cheap and easy home theatre set-up. Watch it in bed for more personal viewing.

We've all got used to DVD - the players now sell for as little as $60. But devices such as the Next Base in-car system show how versatile and portable the technology can be.

Next Base DVD

Pros: Easy to install, good anti-shock system, lightweight
Cons: Battery slightly bulky
Price: $799
Herald Rating: 8/10