It was great though to see that even this early DVD recorder offers a Digital TV-like 480p progressive scan resolution as standard, however the storage capacity of the recordable DVD disc formats need work as the first 2-hour DVD-RAM discs will cost approximately $25 - $30 each.

You've got to crawl before you can walk, and all of the new DVD video recorders we saw at CES surely will beat the hell out of a 20+ year old VHS-tape bound VCR solution any day.

DVD-LV75: We promised we'd get to the newest portable DVD player from Panasonic earlier when we talked about Sony's first foray into the emerging market with their DVP-FX1, and that moment is finally here.

The Panasonic DVD-LV75 is an amazing testament to miniaturization, with the player offering a full 7" TFT LCD 16:9 screen in its ultra-thin casing, along with full Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS decoders integrated in the sleek package.

That's amazing to us as it wasn't long ago that consumers looking for integrated full-size component DVD players with integrated surround sound decoders had trouble finding them, let alone in a device the size of a hardback book.

Panasonic created the portable DVD market a year ago when they introduced their first unit, which offers a smaller 5" screen.

Now they're looking to redefine the standard for the sector by offering the DVD-LV75, which leaves absolutely nothing to be desired compared to a standard component-sized DVD player. An included lithium-ion battery powers the DVD-LV75 for up to three hours, and a full-featured slim remote control is included.

Sharky Extreme opinion: The price range that all of the portable DVD players hover in, $1,000 to $1,500, seems high and truthfully it is. In fact, for about $500 more users could buy a PC laptop with a much bigger screen that can play back DVDs as well as these small dedicated portables do.

But if you're only interested in portable DVD movie playback, and you're looking to fulfill your home theater's need for a DVD player, one of the portables might be the right choice for you.

Let's face it, some frequent travelers aren't slaves to their laptops as we unfortunately are, and in that instance there's no similar-sized device in any area save for the smaller Nintendo Game Boy that offers any degree of entertainment value on a plane, or in an airport terminal.

Panasonic's DVD-LV75 has a great display that produces rich color and images in our opinion, and it's also got the engineering experience of two generations of previous portables working for it.