USBTV: Watch Desktop Videos on Your TV, Easily

I finally got a chance to stop by the SanDisk booth on the last day of CES, and I'm so glad I did. As Chris wrote in an earlier post this week, SanDisk has a strong lineup of innovative music and video players such as the Sansa Connect and the Sansa View. I can't wait to gush about those in future posts, because they're quite impressive, but I also wanted to mention yet another innovative SanDisk debut: USBTV, a handheld USB device (and format) that lets you play videos off a PC on any TV.

It works like this: You just plug the device into your computer's USB drive, drag and drop the video files you want, then plug the device into a cradle that's connected to your TV via S-Video or standard composite. Then you can access the video content using the remote control (which doubles as a storage case for the USB module) and onscreen guide that are included with the device. The USBTV has built-in processor that converts videos into file formats suitable for watching on TV—no software installations or other configurations necessary.

The device is DRM-protected, so you'll be able to watch content from Guba, Movielink, and Akimbo, for starters. SanDisk is working with TV manufacturers such as LG, Mitsubishi, and Pioneer to have a special USB input included on all their TV sets. And the company is also making the USBTV technology available to other USB drive manufacturers, in the hopes of creating a standard.

I love the ingenious design of this device (namely, the built-in remote), but I'm even more impressed by the convenience. Just as I prefer to transfer files from computer to computer using USB drives rather than dumb, annoying-to-pair Bluetooth, I can't wait to get my desktop video on my TV using this simple device. Who, after all, wants to bother with the hassle of setting up a glitchy home-media streamer when they can just use this simple device? And don't get me started on the clutter created by all those DVDs I've been burning so I can watch Battlestar Galactica on my parents' TV.

With one strong new gadget after another at this year's CES—in particular, the potentially Zune-killing Sansa Connect—SanDisk is truly on fire right now. 

Related links:

SanDisk Rocks New Audio and Video Players