110

Apart from the deterioration of the tapes themselves, when subjected to sea air, the tapes are quite bulky to store, which can be a major problem on a small to medium sized boat. The video playback machine and monitor (TV) also take up a sizeable chunk of space and usually require 110v or 220v to power them.

Plug in a set of headphones and you can watch that movie no-one else wants to see right now, without disturbing anyone! If the laptop's internal battery hasn't enough time left on it to see the movie out, you only have to have invested a modest amount in the appropriate connection device and you can plug into the boat's 12-volt battery system, probably less wasteful of power than using the 110v or 220v connection which is having to reduce all that power to somewhere in the region of 15 volts! 

Before you shriek in dismay at the thought of the laptop sucking the lifeblood from the boat's 12-volt system, you may be relieved to hear that the average laptop computer consumes between 3 and 5 amps per hour, according to those with whom we have consulted!

Provided you keep the discs themselves out of the dampest parts of the boat and, preferably in those handy self-seal plastic bags, and handle them respectfully (like CDs they should be handled by the outer rim or central hole and the working, underside, surface should not be touched), your DVDs should be replaying your favourite movies as perfectly after a circumnavigation as they did the first time you used them. Storage-wise, you can fit three DVDs into less space than one video tape takes up, if you leave them in their storage boxes. 

If you purchase a special CD/DVD storage unit (there are dozens of different designs on the market, from soft padded cases to rigid box-type containers with concertina slots, through 'books' with transparent envelopes to slide your discs into) you can fit heaps more into less space.

When you've finished watching the movie, the laptop, which doubtless has many other functions aboard (keeping a log, navigation planning, notes for the next refit, letters to be sent by e-mail at the next port of call, to name but a few of the possibilities) takes up a fraction of the space required by the equipment for watching video tapes and can be stowed away a lot more easily.

After we had changed region five times, it could not be changed again, which was extremely inconvenient. We cannot figure out why this should be. Perhaps someone would care to enlighten us. There are 'pirate' programs, apparently, that enable one to disable this annoying restriction but decent people should not be put in a position of having to consider breaking the law in that way. Why the machine should be geared to preventing it's user from purchasing DVDs wherever in the world the machine happens to be, at any given time. is beyond us.

We can quite understand the use of such restrictions on machines that are capable of churning out reams of copies but a common laptop is hardly likely to be the first choice of bulk pirate copiers who can us any old PC equipment to produce their illegal wares on. The whole point of investing extra money in a laptop is to enable one to carry the computer on one's travels. These days, that tends to mean worldwide, rather than local travel...

If you already use DVDs and we're preaching to the converted, the next question is one of how to get hold of DVDs as you travel.
DVD rental stores are springing up in or near the marinas of the world, they will be everywhere before long. In Spain. some inexpensive magazines even give away a DVD movie with every issue! They almost always offer an English language alternative. Some of them contain such dreadful old movies that they are only fit to use as seagull-scarers but most contain a film worth watching, at least once.

The zany Scary Movie seems to have been quite a hit with a lot of the younger generation...does that include you? Or maybe you were grabbed by The Patriot? We'd love to see some reviews from readers... we are often fascinated by the difference between the jaundiced views of some critics and the enthusiastic recommendations of the purchasing public on the same topic. 

The latest Titanic movie got slated by several critics and is possibly not to everyone's taste but we absolutely loved it and so did many of the people we have asked. We've watched it several times since it came out and we still find it an enchanting film, albeit with one or two irritating moments. If you haven't seen the movie, don't let those who knock it put you off - you may be missing out! In case you don't have a copy available to you or you're an avid Titanic collector, here are some DVDs you can buy direct from Amazon. By purchasing through this page you will be helping to support MarineZine and keep us online, too!