Mustek mixes porta DVD and Freeview

Sedentary habits are an inevitable part of life for die-hard telly addicts – or are they? Mustek’s new portable DVD player-cum- digital TV receiver may do nothing to curtail square eyes, but it will release hostages from the sofa in their droves.

It’s not fantastically pocketable. The DTV407 is 210mm wide and 60 mm deep with a 7in widescreen and its sister product, the DTV 408 (above) has an even larger screen at 8.4inches. But since portable DVD-and-TV gadgets are still pretty rare, it’s wee enough to catch our glinting eye.

The telly bit can store up to 1,000 channels – plenty for the Freeview footage you’ll be enjoying – so all you have to do is hope the bundled antenna picks up digital TV signals on our train commute. For those moments when you drop out of coverage, it’ll spin all the discs you’d expect, including DVD, DVD±R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, (S) VCD, MP3, Kodak Picture CD and JPEG.

The player also packs in Freeview’s electronic programme guide, teletext support, a personal favourite list and comes with a mini IR remote control. So, obviously, it’s great when you’re on yer tod. But, if you’re in company and can summon the goodwill to share, you can watch TV, DVDs and listen to music together using the built-in stereo speakers or the two headphone jacks.

The only real kicker is battery life, which is a rather poor 2.5 hours – you’ll have to limit yourself to short Adam Sandler flicks.

The duo both come with antenna, rechargeable battery pack, power adapter and car cigarette lighter adapter. You can pick them up now. The Mustek DTV407 is £210 and the DTV408 will set you back £250 via www.mustek.co.uk.