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SEPTEMBER 29, 2000 ASIAWEEK

Showdown on Flight SQ1
Pioneer's portable DVD player takes on in-flight entertainment. Is there deliverance from drivel in the sky?
By YASMIN GHAHREMANI

Ilike flying. Not the airport hassles and all that taxiing but the part where you're up in the air, with the fasten-seatbelt sign off and your seat reclined. Nestled there between strangers and forced to sit still for hours at a time, it can be the most relaxing part of a trip -- especially if you can sink into a good movie.

That's a big if, of course. You have to be in a seat where you can see the screen and the airline has to show something worth watching. I was on an Aeroflot flight once from Beijing to Moscow, next to a guy who kept lighting up in the no-smoking section. Desperate for mental if not physical escape, I thought I'd lose myself in a film fest. But there was only one English movie for the nine-hour flight. It was the dopey 1989 hit Look Who's Talking. This was in 1999. I considered suing Aeroflot for crimes against humanity.

Okay, so that's an extreme example. But when I was planning my recent vacation to Bali, I thought I'd find out if it's feasible to insulate yourself from any such air disasters that might crop up in the future. Having heard about the line of portable DVD players on the market, I took the Pioneer PDV-LC10 for a spin to see just how realistic an alternative it is to in-flight entertainment.

The player is about the size of a slim notebook (19 cm long, 14 cm wide and about 3 cm thick), with a nickel hydrogen battery that fits neatly inside. Together with the battery it weighs about 1.2 kg, and I brought the credit-card-size remote, the AC adapter, charger and manual, adding another half-kilo or so. That's manageable, if not comfortable. Unfortunately the kit doesn't include a case so I carried the items loose in my shoulder bag.

As this was my maiden DVD flight, I rented the movie made for format: The Matrix. I'm not usually a sci-fi fan, but I did it in the name of good reporting (and with a leather-clad Keanu Reeves in mind). Adding three more movies to fill out my one-week trip, the rental bill, including overdue charges, set me back a whopping $57.

On Singapore Airlines, of course, the entertainment is free. And I have to say, the carrier represents the best of what airlines offer in coach today. Each seat-back has its own video screen, and there are a dozen or so movies to choose from. But the only ones I deemed bearable were Where the Heart Is and The Rock. As I was still a slave to the airline schedule, I missed the first few minutes of The Rock. With all the dimly-lit action on the glare-filled screen and the muffled audio, I was lost. So I switched to the easier-to-follow Heart, a formulaic feel-good flick that I was happy to join in late. In fact, I couldn't wait for it to end.

When it finally did, I pulled out the DVD player. (To my disappointment, there were no stares of envy from my cabin-mates. But this is Asia and people are used to seeing gadgets I guess.) Using the PDV-LC10 is intuitive. You press a button to open the disk compartment, close it, plug in the earphones and then follow the on-screen menu using arrow keys situated on the base. You can skip forward or backward to a scene, add subtitles in Spanish, French or English, and zoom in on the picture.

I hit play and realized how people who wear glasses must feel when they first put their specs on. The picture was as sharp as a knife, and the seven-inch screen is considerably larger than that of the seatback theater. Soon, the CD-quality sound-track transported me into Keanu's world. My hands began to sweat. I rejected all offers of rubber chicken, completely riveted by the movie. When it was over, I still wanted more. There were interviews and production clips to peruse. After all, that's why people go digital, right? Sadly, not on a portable. The 3.5-hour battery bit it soon after the 2.5-hour movie ended.

For that reason, the LC10 doesn't make sense on long-haul flights unless you buy a spare battery or two. Especially when you consider that at $1,000, the machine costs three times as much as a regular DVD player and the same as some computers. An expensive microchip and active matrix liquid crystal display are to blame for the cost. Low worldwide demand for these items keeps them pricey. But Timon Kong, a general manager for Pioneer in Hong Kong, says the target market is enthusiasts who want to show off. "Money is second. They want the newest model, even if they don't use all the features."

For the rest of us, it's hard to justify buying a portable player. Sure, you can plug it into your TV at home, but it's the portability you're paying for. If you travel a lot for business, you'd be better off adding a DVD drive to your laptop. You won't get as good a picture -- the screen on the LC10 is designed for entertainment, so it's brighter and shows contrast better than laptop LCDs. But at least you won't have to buy and carry around another piece of equipment. Otherwise, stick it out through those airline episodes of Friends and save your money for another vacation.