AfterDawn: News

TakeTV simplifies the journey from computer to TV

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

Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 22 Oct 2007 9:56

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• 10 comments

• maryjayne

  I have been looking for something like this product for my mother. Hopefully it will not be overpriced. If only it had better quality output, then I may consider getting one.
  
  I wonder if you can hookup an external HDD instead of using the USB drive.

  22.10.2007 13:19 #1

• spydah

  Sounds cool i might have to look in to this.

  22.10.2007 16:41 #2

• chaos_zzz

  Originally posted by spydah: Sounds cool i might have to look in to this.
  me too sandisk has never let me down

  22.10.2007 22:00 #3

• P51ride

  More DRM served up as a cow chip

  22.10.2007 23:00 #4

• jb2453

  sorry, but my xbox running XBMC can do everything this does, plus a whole lot more. At (most likely) a fraction of the price. Without DRM. Without ads. Without the "premium" download service Fanfare. Without all the other hoops they will probably make you jump through to use this product.

  22.10.2007 23:34 #5

• borhan9

  I like this idea if this goes ahead and becomes fully mainstream it will work to have a usb connection on a TV device or DVD player much easier to manage avi files than to convert them to DVD's.

  24.10.2007 17:00 #6

• rick5446

  Why not just buy a DivX DVD Playes.I've got a HDMI connection from my computer to my TV with a remote control for the computer.T his solves all my problems

  25.10.2007 08:52 #7

• gsweet11

  Who needs to do the conversion to DVD. I have a D-Link media center that streams music, photos and movies over my wireless network. Simply download the file to your computer (it is limited to Xvid and MPG support as Divx is licensed) Then with my media center connected to my TV I select the menu and get a list of all the files on my computer and push play. Works Great!

  26.10.2007 09:13 #8

• NHS2008

  DAMN!! even PS2 does that! LAN or USB through SMS.

  2.11.2007 15:39 #9

• Tvoncomp

  Sandisk is by far one of the top software companies. Here in Silicon Valley they rank among the top 10
  
  Tv on your computer

  30.4.2009 14:47 #10