I'm a huge fan of British comedy, and when I found out that one of my favorite series, "The IT Crowd," a delightfully geeky comedy about what its like to work in tech support, was out on DVD in the UK, I wanted a copy. When I found out that there was a special subtitle track that subtitled every episode in l33tsp34k, I really wanted a copy. Unfortunately, the DVD is region locked, so I don't think I can play it in any old set-top DVD players. Lots of foreign film fans have found themselves in the same position.

The Freeview DVD Tablets are a promising answer to this problem. The Xoro HSD 7500 and 7510 Multi-region Portable DVD Players are region free portable DVD players, small enough to be installed in a car, or tossed in a bag for long flights and trips overseas. The HSD 7500 sports a 7-inch LCD screen and the 7510 has a 9-inch screen, and both feature high quality color 16:9 displays. They both play Multi-region DVDs, VCDs, SVCDs, MPEG-1, 2 and 4 Videos, standard audio and MP3 CDs, and display both JPEGs and Kodak Picture CDs. They're also made of soft black rubber so they can withstand a drop or two when you're on the go.

The Tablets also have 2 USB ports to connect external devices like digital music players and cameras, so you can listen to music through the Tablet or view the photos or movies on your digital camera or camcorder. Both units come with a carrying case, in-car charger, included headphones, power adapter, remote control, and, if you're in the UK, Freeview TV-a free over-the-air television service. The Tablets also function as digital picture frames, and have a stand for desk or table top movie watching. Unfortunately the Freeview DVD Tablets are only available in the UK at the moment, 209 pounds (approx $410 USD) for the 7-inch version and 249 pounds (approx $488 USD) for the 9-inch version, but we can hope that region free DVD players like these will make their way across the pond soon.