Rich Fiscus
22 Oct 2007 9:56
SanDisk hopes to revolutionize the way consumers get video out of their computers to watch on a television. Unlike traditional systems which require that the user either transform video to a standalone player format like DVD or figure out how to connect their computer to the TV directly, SanDisk's new TakeTV only requires that you be able to make the same connections required by a DVD player and a USB flash drive. If you can do both of those things you have all the technical expertise required to use it.
TakeTV, originally called USBTV when it was unveiled earlier this year at CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, essentially consists of two components. For your TV there's a special dock that connects much like a DVD player or cable/satellite receiver. Once connected it's intended to stay with your television. The second piece is a USB flash drive with either 4GB or 8GB of storage (depending on which model you buy). Once you plug the drive into your computer you can simply drag video files to it. Once your video is copied you can simply unplug it and plug it into the dock for viewing.
Today SanDisk will also begin a public beta of a "premium" download service called Fanfare. Fanfare will offer both free (ad supported) and pay content, and not surprisingly it will use DRM compatible with the TakeTV devices.
Source: infoSync