Let’s face it. Sometimes trying to get a video from your computer onto your television can be a cumbersome process. A product from Sandisk called "TakeTV" recently appeared on Buy.com’s website with the tagline, "The smart way to take your video from the PC to any TV!"
The basic idea here is that you plug an 8GB USB flash drive into your computer, transfer your video files onto it, and then plug it into a dock connected to your TV.
"Introducing the Sansa TakeTVTM video player! From the leader in flash memory, a new breakthrough device that gives you a smart, convenient, and affordable way to take video from the PC to the TV, where it belongs! Now enjoy your video on your TV instead of your computer screen.
Its as simple as using a USB flash drive: just drag files to your TakeTV player, slip it into the TV cradle, and press play on the included remote. No confusing WiFi set-ups, no waiting to burn DVDs. It really is that easy."
Here are some more specs…
- Vista, XP only (sorry, no Mac)
- Standard RCA outputs, although there appears to be an S-Video out as well
- Remote control
- DivX, xVid, MPEG-4 support (no word on WMV or other formats yet)
- NTSC and PAL support
- DVD resolution, up to 7Mbps bitrate
- 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios
- DivX Home Theater profile profile and DivX DRM compatible
It also works with a service called "Fanfare" (currently in BETA, of course) that "gives you access to a growing list of TV shows and movies that you can download and watch on your TV - whenever and wherever you want."
No word on pricing yet but given that the above specs aren’t necessarily super high-end (no HD, no component, no HDMI, etc.) I’d expect this setup to be pretty affordable compared to AppleTV and any of the myriad of wireless extender boxes on the market now. Perhaps no more than $99 or so? If it came in at $49, however, it’d be a no-brainer.
SanDisk TakeTV media player leaked [Electronista]
How can something that was announced and demoed at CES be leaked 10 months later?
Amazing, huh? Probably some sort of worm hole.
Ah, regardless of any so called leak, this device seems like it’s way late to the market.
There are already dozens of media player devices like this, and ones that do much much more, and they have been around for years. What am I missing here?
I have a Philips DivX/DVD player that has upscaling and multiple outputs like HDMI, it plays various formats from optical discs as well as a USB port for hooking up flash drives or any other forms of USB storage. I bought it probably over a year ago, and I only paid about $70.
Is it the “dock” concept that makes it unique? I know there are small video players out there, maybe not a “dock” though.
Just seems strange to me that this device is being described as any kind of a “new” and special thing.
Ah, regardless of any so called leak, this device seems like it’s way late to the market. There are already dozens of media player devices like this, and ones that do much much more, and they have been around for years.
I have a Philips DivX/DVD player that has upscaling and multiple outputs like HDMI, it plays various formats from optical discs as well as a USB port for hooking up flash drives or any other forms of USB storage. I bought it probably over a year ago, and I only paid about $70.
Is it the “dock” concept that makes it unique? I know there are small video players out there, maybe not a “dock” though. Just seems strange to me that this device is being described as any kind of a “new” and special thing.
Am I missing something here?
The advantage this would have over a DivX/DVD player is that it saves the need to burn video files onto optical media (all of the Phillips Divx/Xvid players I’ve seen that have a USB port only play jpeg, mp3, or wma content from usb devices). But I hope that’s not the only advantage. For this to be even moderately successful, it would have to be easy to upgrade codecs on this thing. Xvid, Divx, Mpeg4 is a great start, what about H.264 or even mpeg2? The lack of better video connectivity on it makes it much less appealing to me.
Actually many players now play movies via USB. The specific model I was referring to is the Philips DVP5982/37.
Search the net and you’ll see it’s been a common feature for some time now.