Panasonic's progressive-scanning DVD-LX9 offers the versatility of a portable DVD player alongside the performance of a sophisticated home-theater component--and you can use it as both. The player handles DVD-Video, high-resolution DVD-Audio, DVD-R, and DVD-RAM playback--as well as standard and recordable CDs, including MP3- and WMA-encoded discs. Its slender chassis holds a massive, 9-inch widescreen (16:9) LCD screen and a built-in rechargeable battery (good for about 2.5 hours between charges).

Whether your living room is currently home to an HDTV or you're merely thinking of "someday," the DVD-LX9 stands ready to deliver the full potential of DVDs. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture. The included docking cradle offers switchable

Designed to take full advantage of both audio and traditional video DVD formats, the DVD-LX9 delivers the immersive six-channel surround sound of the DVD-Audio music format. DVD-Audio offers super high-fidelity (192 kHz/24-bit) sound, in both multichannel and stereo. The DVD-LX9 performs its own decoding of DVD-Audio signals, passing high-resolutionanalog, not digital, audio to your surround receiver. This means you'll need an audio/video receiver with multichannel analog-audio inputs to appreciate this feature. Audio features include DTS and Dolby Digital decoding with 5.1-channel analog- and digital-audio outputs, included stereo speakers, and Dialogue Enhancer for DVD movie viewing. Advanced Surround Sound (VSS) simulates surround effects from any two speakers or from headphones.

This player is HighMAT compatible. High-Performance Media Access Technology is a standard co-developed by Panasonic and Microsoft to improve interoperability for digital media programming between PCs and electronics devices. HighMAT provides an efficient method for arranging digital photo, music, and video collections on recordable media.