/personal tech/gadget/

DVD: From PC to TV

BY ERIC GRIFFITH

The problem: You'd rather sit in the living room La-Z-Boy, not in your computer room, to watch your latest DVD movie rental, but you don't have a DVD player in your home entertainment system. DVD Anywhere 2000 (800-675-3044) may be the answer.

If your computer has a DVD-ROM drive, hook up the included transmitter to your computer's DVD decoder (not every computer has one) and DVD Anywhere's wireless receiver to your television. Install the software, put batteries in the included remote and then start wirelessly beaming the movie to your television.

For its "wireless" solution, DVD Anywhere still uses a number of wires for setup. If you already have a lot of equipment for your television or computer, the wiring can be complicated. You'll need a good grasp of the basics of home entertainment system setup to get DVD Anywhere to work.

Setting up DVD Anywhere to broadcast through walls provides enough picture degradation that you might think you're watching an old videotape. Since watching DVD movies is as much about the quality of the image as it is the extras, this will frustrate anyone but the truly thrifty. But at $69.99, DVD Anywhere can be a significant savings over a stand-alone DVD player for the living room.

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DVD Anywhere 2000