A laptop with LOTS of uses is far better than a little DVD player that
will only play STORE BOUGHT DVDs and CDs...

What are you talking about? I have 3 DVD players. One at home, one at
work, one on boat and they all play DVD's I've burned. (The one at home
was also easily converted to region free and no copypro via a hidden
menu I learned about on usenet.)

How much jooce does that laptop require? I run 15"LCD & DVD off a cheapo
70W invertor.

I do think the device is great for easy HD if one has a fast laptop. But
that laptop probably costs twice or more what a dedicated HD set might
cost.