SanDisk lets you see video from PC on TV if you're patient
— -- SanDisk sndk wants to make it a breeze to copy TV shows off a computer and onto a big-screen television. Too bad its new Sansa TakeTV PC-to-TV video player is clumsy and there's not enough stuff to watch on it.
In its own way, the company famous for its data storage products is competing against less-portable and more-expensive products — Apple TV, Microsoft Windows Media Center Extenders, even TiVo.
SanDisk hopes TakeTV and a new companion Web service called Fanfare will let folks catch up on favorite shows in their own time. But with too few available shows and movies on the service, Fanfare is not ready for prime time.
Befitting SanDisk's roots, TakeTV is built around a roughly 4-inch-tall, 1½-inch-wide USB thumb drive that is conveniently concealed in a small holder. This stick, which you can easily stash in your pocket, is where you store video files dragged off a computer — about five hours of playback on a 4-gigabyte $100 version or $150 for an 8-GB, 10-hour version. The holder itself doubles as TakeTV's remote control. The remaining piece is a small cradle you connect to a TV.
Here's how it all comes together:
•Setup. Installing TakeTV isn't hard, but I still ran into snags during my tests.
Before you can transfer such shows as CSI: Miami and Penn & Teller from the Fanfare site, you plug the stick into a USB port on a Windows XP or Windows Vista PC. TakeTV doesn't work with Macs. The software to install Fanfare is included on the TakeTV thumb drive. Minor hassle: I had to separately download a couple of extra components to make this work, including the latest Adobe Flash add-on for my browser, plus Microsoft's. Net software technology for helping manage the service.
Moving shows onto TakeTV inside Fanfare is easy. You position your mouse over the episode you want to add and click on a "+" button; to free up space, you click on "—." I wish there were a "time remaining" indicator to tell you how long the process will take. A progress bar helps only a little. It took about 15 minutes to load a 33-minute episode of Showtime's Fat Actress. You can transfer more than one show at a time.
I had to remove an ethernet cable from one of my laptops before I was able to plug TakeTV into an adjacent USB port, because of how wide the stick is.
After loading video, you slip the stick into a docking cradle connected to a power outlet and a TV, via common S-video or composite-type cables. TakeTV doesn't work with the high-definition connector known as HDMI.
These audio and video cables are hardwired to the cradle. That seems like a good idea until you try to connect them to your TV and realize that people may require cables of a different length. You have to position the cradle close enough to the TV and a power outlet, plus you'll need a clear line of sight between the cradle and the remote control. It could be a challenge.
•Is there anything to watch? Not much, at least not yet. Fanfare is graphically pleasing, but it's still in an early beta testing phase and there's simply not a lot of content. CBS (Survivor: Fiji, 48 Hours Mystery) and Showtime (Brotherhood, Dexter) supply most of the currently available mainstream fare. Programs and films are also available from Smithsonian Networks, TV Guide, The Weather Channel and the Jaman movie service.
You must purchase TakeTV to extract shows from the site and watch on a TV. You cannot watch videos on a computer, except for a preview. For now, content is free; SanDisk says there'll be unpaid and paid fare at the site, likely at about $1.99 for a TV episode.
SanDisk says another major network is coming but wouldn't spill the beans. You can't use TakeTV with Apple's iTunes or other sites where you buy shows.
The service is compatible with MPEG-4, DivX and Xvid video formats, but you're on your own locating any movies or other such files on your computer. When you do find an acceptable file, you drag and drop it onto the TakeTV drive, just as you copy files onto a regular flash drive. I was able to watch family video I'd shot, but other transferred footage off my hard drive would not play.
•Playback. TakeTV cannot handle high-def programming. But the video quality of shows I watched was more than acceptable, roughly comparable to DVD. In techie terms, the maximum resolution is 720 x 576.
I despised the remote control built into the holder. My natural inclination was to hold it upside down with my thumb gripping the part where the play button resides. Oddly, a colleague and I had trouble even spotting the play button. It is much larger and on a different part of the remote control than the other buttons you press.
When I did hold the remote right side up, its bottom edge jutted into my palm.
And some basic functions are missing, such as an on-screen status bar when you fast-forward or rewind.
TakeTV and Fanfare have potential. But I'd wait for take two or take three before turning on SanDisk's new product.
E-mail: ebaig@usatoday.com