March 03, 2000 - If you're looking to add DVD and all its benefits to your entertainment center-- to "get your DVD on," as we say here in the IGN office-- the notion of shelling out for a player, plus a Dolby Digital-ready amplifier may be a bit intimidating. Well, two companies (so far) have heard your pleas for mercy and come out with all-in-one DVD solutions: a player with an amplifier and Dolby decoding built in.

GoVideo Power3 DVD System

First off there's the Go Video "Power3 DVD System," (DVS 3000) from Sensory Science. It plays DVD, CD, and audio CD, offers 500 lines of video resolution, and has composite and S-video outs. Nothing special there-- any DVD player's got that stuff.

But the DVS 3000 also has 200 watts of amplification, delivering 40 watts to five channels, and has on-board Dolby 5.1 and Dolby Pro Logic decoders. This bad boy's dimensions are 16.5" by 4.7" by 13.3", and the thing weighs a whopping 28 pounds-- so make sure your shelf is strong.

Not too shabby, and for $499 it's a whole lot cheaper than buying player and amp seperately.

Sony "DVD Dream System"

For its part, Sony is introducing what it calls a "lifestyle DVD system"-- whatever that means-- named the DVD Dream System (DAV-S300).

In addition to its DVD and CD playback capacity, the DAV-S300 has a built-in 180-watt amp with an AM/FM reciever and Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS decoding built in. This baby's got color-coded speaker connectors, which anyone who's ever set up a 5-channel surround system will appreciate. Setup on the "Dream System" is said to be less than 5 minutes.

The "Dream System" will be available in March, for around $600.

-- Alex Castle would probably go this route if he didn't already have his DVD on.