A reader recently asked for our suggestion regarding portable video for the car. Are you going to be traveling in a car for the holidays? What's the best solution to keep your family sane and keep the number of times you hear, "Are we there yet?" to a minimum? Read on.

Portable DVD Players

If you'd like something the entire family (except the driver!) can watch, pick up a portable DVD player. Powered by the accessory port, they include a headphone jack. You can use headphones or run a cord into your car's stereo system via cassette adapter or auxiliary in port. This way, even the driver can at least listen to the movie, and if it's a movie he's seen a few times (entirely likely), he can pretty much visualize the events in his head. That said, don't get too caught up in what's going on in your head lest you lose focus on the road.

For not much more, you can get a portable DVD player with 2 screens, which comes in handy for a couple reasons:

1. You don't have to turn it just right so kids on both sides of the minivan can see it.
2. If you have kids in the minivan's "way back," you can have a screen for each seat.

Most portable DVD players also have auxiliary in and out ports, allowing you to run the A/V from your iPod or other portable media player through it or maybe even feed it into the TV in your hotel room or at Grandma's house.

The portable DVD player does have some disadvantages, though:

1. The kids have to agree on which movie to watch. If you have more than 1 DVD, good luck with that.
2. If your car only has 1 auxiliary power port which you're already using to power your GPS, you'll need a splitter. They're affordable enough, but it's one more hassle.
3. Unless you have one built into the roof of your minivan (in which case you're not reading this), they're a hassle to set up. You have to rig the straps, run the cords...eventually, you'll get tired of it and stop using it.
4. If the adults in the car want to listen to podcasts or music while driving, you need to run headphones to everyone, which means more cords running through the car. Eventually, it starts to look like the back of your entertainment center, but your kids are wrapped up in it.

You can also get a portable DVD player for each kid, but keep in mind that these things eat power like crazy because of the big moving spindle, so they either need to plug in or have a 10 lb. battery attached. We had one, and the battery died in a few months.

Handheld Video

Your other option is to get each person in the car a personal video device like an iPod or the like. These give each kid the advantage of making personal video choices contrary to a sibling's preference. Get tired of something? Easily switch to something else. Batteries last several hours without having to recharge, and no setup necessary.

What are the disadvantages of this option?

Expensive. You can get a portable DVD player with 2 screens for about $150-200. Even a used iPod with video will set you back that much, and you need one for each kid, so if you have 3 kids like us, that gets pricey fast.

The family is isolated from each other. Is it really a family trip when each member of the family is in a separate personal world? You have to decide this for yourself.

Small screen. You can fit about 4 ipod screens onto a typical DVD player screen.

If you have a lot of movies on DVD, you have to use (technically illegal) ripping software to transfer them.

That said, our family opted for the separate iPod option. They can listen to music, watch movies, or set it easily aside to play games on a Nintendo DS or Leapfrog Didj.

Each family is different, so I can't honestly make that choice for your family, but I hope these considerations will help you make the decision that's best for your family. If you have other pros/cons you'd like to add, feel free to post below.

What does your family do for long car rides? Have you found a solution that makes the kids say, "We're there already?!" Post a comment below.