Many industry observers have predicted that the 1999 holiday season will be the best yet for DVD player sales, with prices finally falling enough that units could be considered a mainstream buying option.

Thanks to the surge in DVD player sales, several consumer electronics companies have developed a new class of DVD player which they call the "portable class," that offer small LCD screens and sufficient battery power to enable the user to watch DVDs just about anywhere.

The best of these high-tech portable DVD players introduced in 1999 is manufactured by Pioneer, the PDV-LC10.

Resembling a small WindowsCE palmtop computer, the PDV-LC10 offers a stunning amount of features within its folding clam-style shell, the best of which is its beautiful 7" active matrix LCD wide-screen.

And at a weight that measures just 1.5 lbs., the LC10 will allow users to enjoy its golden image quality both on the move, or even at home, thanks to its included remote control and Optical/S-Video Outputs.

Here's a cheat sheet on the major features of the LC10:

• 7" TFT Active Matrix 16:9 LCD Screen With Anti-Glare and Anti-Reflection Coatings
• 3 1/2 Hour Ni-MH: Nickel Hydrogen Battery
• Thinnest and Smallest in the Portable DVD Category
• Internal Stereo Speakers and Headphone Jack
• 36 key Credit Card Style Remote
• Auto Power Off
• 96kHz sampling frequency, 24bit resolution Audio D/A Converter With 96kHz/24bit digital output(when permitted by software provider)
• DVD Resume Playback(after stop)
• dts DVD Digital Output
• Twin Wave Laser Pickup
• Bit Rate display
• Pioneer Exclusive Viter-Bi RF Decoding process for improved DVD error correcting capability
• Accurate Digital Servo for precise data reading
• Automatic Gain Level Adjustment minimizes jitter of individual discs
• 10 Bit Video DAC