NextBase 2

If you've ever been in a situation where you wanted to watch DVDs on a small portable LCD screen - at the cottage, on your boat, in your car while stuck in traffic - you've probably wished you had the thousands of dollars it costs for those kinds of gadgets. Thanks to e-commerce sites such as Merconnet.com, you can have the same experience for about $500 (Canadian) - although you will have to make some sacrifices. Merconnet is offering a number of packages that include a portable DVD player and an LCD screen, including some that offer LCD screens designed to be mounted in a vehicle. The review unit I tested consisted of a seven-inch LCD screen made by GMX with built-in speakers and a remote control, and a NextBase DVD player. Separately, they cost $230 (U.S.) and $125 respectively, or Merconnet sells them as a bundle for $370 along with a few extra pieces of hardware to make installation easier. In other words, although it could take a certain amount of fiddling and/or engineering work on your part, you could have a portable DVD player and screen in your car, van or boat for only a few hundred dollars. In contrast, depending on what kinds of features you want, having a DVD player and screen installed in your vehicle after you buy it can cost several thousand dollars.