SanDisk Corporation has unveiled USBTV, a new storage device that allows moving digital content from a PC to a TV, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). USBTV uses a small flash memory-enabled media player that plugs and plays directly onto almost any television. Forget viewing media on your tiny monitor and make use of that big TV – without having to burn everything to DVD first. A multimedia processor will convert the stored files into various TV video/audio formats for direct playback on any TV.
At CES 2007, SanDisk demonstrated a product concept that employs a TV cradle that plugs into the standard A/V sockets and comes with a remote control. With industry-wide support, SanDisk hopes the USBTV players will be able to plug directly into new TV sets through a built-in port. SanDisk also announced the creation of the USBTV Forum which currently includes companies such as Akimbo Systems Inc., Guba (online entertainment destination) and Movielink (interested in protecting videos from piracy).
"USBTV has the potential to become an industry-transforming category as significant as the introduction of the DVD and VHS players, because in the convergence of the Web and home entertainment, USBTV solves in a simple, elegant way the "last 10 feet" of the content portability problem in the home between the PC and the TV," said SanDisk"s CEO, Eli Harari.
Expect the first generation of USBTV to hit the market in Spring 2007.