SanDisk a well known maker of handheld media players and flash based devices has unveiled a new platform called USBTV aimed to make it easier for consumers to view digital content on their television without involving setting up a wired network, using a wireless network or the time consuming process of writing content to DVDs. The company expects this to have the potential of becoming as significant as the introduction of DVD players and VCRs, with how simple they claim USBTV will be at solving the issue with playing PC content on the TV, particularly with purchased downloaded content, since even the market for online video content stores is growing, most consumers still prefer to watch content on their TV. To help improve USBTV's growth, SanDisk has also announced the creation of the USBTV Forum.
A USBTV will be a small flash based media player that could easily be plugged into virtually any TV, easily carried about and also act as a USB storage device when connected to a PC to allow quick and simple drag and drop operations to it. At the CES, SanDisk demonstrated a product concept consisting of a TV cradle with a remote control that could be connected up to pretty much any TV without any changes required to the TV. The first pocket-sized USBTV players are expected to become available this spring, which will feature an on-screen guide.
This platform aims to offer new product possibilities for manufacturers of USB flash drives and consumer electronics. Initially the player will consist of a cradle that connects to the TV via AV leads where the USBTV player can be easily attached to. New TV sets may in the future may possibly feature an on-board port for these players, particularly as SanDisk has consulted leading CE manufacturer experts on product and port requrements to encourage the direct support for USBTV on TVs and monitors. The main advantage USBTV will have to offer for content providers will be the ability to allow consumers to place protected content on it for viewing on their TV, as security features (DRM) are in the process of being developed for USBTV.
From what I can see, the concept of being able to take content from a PC to the TV using flash memory is certainly nothing new, with many DVD players and some new TVs featuring built-in memory card slots and USB sockets. Some handheld media players, such as Creative’s Zen Vision support drag & drop on the PC to the player and have a video lead to watch the content on a TV. However, one thing in common with the vast majority of these devices is the lack of DRM support for video content placed on flash memory cards and USB pen drives, which obviously means that the major content providers will not allow purchased to be transferred to flash memory cards or pen drives for playback on DVD players and TVs that can play from these. In fact, if all downloaded and recorded content was infected with DRM with no ability to cirvumvent the DRM, the memory card and USB slots on most TVs and DVD players would be useless apart from playing digital photos and home video and sound recordings.
Further detailed information on USBTV can be read at Maktoob here.
