Absolute ANUBIS review

Ever wished you could watch your DVD player and TV on the train, bus or in the car?

It'd make wiling away the hours of congested travel more palatable. Absolute's ANUBIS portable DVD Player lets you do just this. DVD, thumping sound and a colour screen - all in a dinky box that'll fit into your rucksack or briefcase.

Unwrapped and sitting in my lap, the ANUBIS was pretty svelte and light. Then I found and attached the battery pack. This bulked the player up to a porky 1.5kg. In testing the battery lasted for 3.5hrs - enough for a couple of films. A good result, and compensation for the weight.

Next comes the 6.8in TFT screen. Though it was plenty big enough for viewing movies, the screen lacked definition, being especially fazed by fast-moving action scenes. Despite this, it was comfortable on the eye, even during long periods of use.

Sound is improved by a feature called 'Dynamic Sound Normalisation' - designed to maintain a relatively constant sound level. It avoids the situation in which you crank up the volume during quiet bits - and, as a result, make your ears bleed when some loud action kicks off. Despite the addition of DSN, the built-in speakers do not offer the visceral power to make the most of DVD's sound quality.

There are connections for all conceivable applications. The machine has an optical output for hooking up to a suitable DTS/Dolby Digital amplifier, an SVHS out for improved picture resolution on TVs that support it, a car adapter to save excessive battery use on long car journeys. There's also the requisite battery charger and mains supply rolled into one.

Back at home, all these sockets mean you can link the player up to your TV and wire it into your hi-fi or surround system. I did just this, and found the ANUBIS was easily a match for my DVD player. The system can also play CD-Rs, CD-R/Ws and discs packed with your favourite MP3s. Good stuff if you get bored of watching movies.

If I were spending my own money, I'd think twice about the ANUBIS. Not because of minor faults such as the sound and screen, which were not quite perfect. More because, for just a few hundred quid more, I could buy a notebook with a built-in DVD drive.