Gadgets Galore

By JOSHUA QUITTNER

Ah, consumer electronics. Are there any two words in any language that go better together? I think not (especially if you exclude "tongue sandwich"). That's why last week found me happy as a Teletubby on tequila, at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The big news there was that virtually every audio-video manufacturer is selling, or about to sell, an affordable DVD, or "digital versatile disc," player, which will play music as well as movies with a vividness and clarity far greater than that of VCRs playing videotape.

Industry analysts report that the DVD format suddenly took off this past holiday season, surpassing even their rosiest projections. A decade from now, they say, more people are expected to be using DVD than videotape.

I was impressed with the DVD 825 by the Philips Consumer Electronics Co. ($299, in March). It's upgradable so that new features such as better searching and zooming can be added via software discs later. Some parents may find the blocking feature (which allows you to lock out certain discs) useful. Another thing Philips announced: an under-$1,000 recordable DVD player that can record TV shows in real time. Look for that one in 2000.

For true DVD fanatics Panasonic's Mobile DVD Theater System is what people mean when they say fully loaded. The $2,800 in-car system, which will be available in April, includes a dashboard-mounted screen and a shock-resistant DVD player, as well as high-fidelity speakers. Since it costs roughly twice what my old Honda Civic is worth, I won't be buying it. Nor will I be outfitting my wreck with Visteon's Rear-Seat Entertainment Center ($1,300), a system that houses a monitor, a video deck and a Nintendo 64 video-game console. But I suspect a lot of other people will scoop the thing up. Visteon's rig can be purchased through Ford and Lincoln-Mercury dealers starting in April.

Another gadget my car won't get is Clarion's Auto PC ($1,200). It's a dash-mounted computer that's designed to accept simple voice commands, and will do everything from tune the radio or CD player to retrieve and read aloud e-mail or dial your cell phone from a contacts list. Sounds cool, but wait for the kinks to shake out; the person who demonstrated it for me couldn't get it to work properly.

Do you ever worry that you're not watching enough TV? Two new appliances, from Replay Networks ($699) and TiVo ($499), will help when they debut in the spring. The devices are slightly bigger than a VCR; each houses a huge hard drive that will store eight hours or so of programming. They attach to phone lines through which TV guides are constantly transmitted. Programming is as simple as calling up the week's listings, pointing and clicking.

You'll need to save your pennies to buy this stuff, of course. One possible solution is Uniden's Long-Distance Call Manager. When you make a long-distance phone call, a Uniden wireless phone ($49.95) automatically connects to a database that instantly searches more than 60 of those "10-10" calling services and finds the best deal at the time. It works with whatever long-distance plan you already subscribe to (using that, if it happens to be cheaper than the 10-10s.) There are no monthly fees, and it should be available in May.

Finally, for expectant mothers: Bebe Sounds ($29.99 by Unisar in New York City). Hold its little amp up to your belly, and listen in on the headphones as your fetus flops around. Even I was tempted to buy one--to listen to that tongue sandwich I had for lunch.

See our website at www.timedigital.com for more on products mentioned in this column. E-mail Josh at jquit@well.com