Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/09/sandisk_touts_usbtv/
CES 2007 SanDisk this week used the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to launch up its latest industry consortium chartered with furthering demand for USB Flash disks. A couple of years ago, it was the U3 takeway-apps technology (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/07/u3_flash_drive_platform/). This time it's the USB TV Forum, a body whose goal is to persuade TV makers to equip their products with USB ports and the ability to display content stored thereupon.
Here's the plan: folk have photo, video and audio content stored on computers kept away from their TVs. According to SanDisk, USB Flash disks are the ideal way of getting all that material from the PC to the TV. Forget about authoring and burning DVDs, just drag and drop stuff you want to watch onto a Flash disk.
It's not an entirely original notion - Panasonic, for one, makes TVs with integrated SD card slots for much the same reason. And a number of vendors are beginning to equip - or think about equipping - their products with wired and/or wireless networking, again to help consumers get media off computers, NAS boxes and the like onto the small (ish) screen.
Indeed, Philips already makes TVs with USB ports. If the USB TV Forum has its way so will others. SanDisk named LG, Pioneer and Mitsubishi as consumer electronics companies who've taken an interest in the scheme.
But it's not just Flash disks that the USB TV Forum has its eye on. It wants handheld media players - such as SanDisk's own Sansa line - to be able to work in the same way, making it easy for users to connect their MP3 players to their TVs without resorting to TV-out ports. Crucially, it puts the TV remote in control of the content selection process rather than the handheld.
Again, all this isn't new - plenty of iPod dock accessories ship with TV links and remote controls, but a USB-based approach would at least provide a measure of uniformity, and potentially cut the number of remotes from two - TV and dock - to one, the TV's. ®
Read our complete CES 2007 coverage at Reg Hardware (http://www.reghardware.co.uk)
SanDisk launches Flash video player for TVs (22 October 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/10/22/sandisk_launches_sansa_taketv/
SanDisk and DivX shake hands (27 June 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/06/27/sandisk_divx_sansa/
SanDisk to replace Flash in photography? (27 February 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/02/27/sandisk_read-only_memory_card/
SanDisk cuts 250 jobs on falling prices (20 February 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/02/20/sandisk_job_cuts/
Kingston offers multi-format SD card pack (13 February 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/02/13/kingston_microsd_pack/
LG pulls TV-PDA-GPS combo gadget out of pocket (31 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/31/lg_unveils_n1_pda_tv_gps/
Vendors pledge to make Flash as easy to upgrade as RAM (22 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/22/onfi_spec_launched/
Creative rolls out X-Fi audio booster kit for iPod (11 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/11/creative_unveils_xdock/
Sony develops little'n'large OLED TV panels (11 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/11/sony_develops_oled_tvs/
Sling preps TV show-snippet sharing service (10 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/10/sling_preps_clip-sharing_service/
Windows Vista to connect to Xbox Live (10 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/10/windows_vista_xbox_live/
Griffin Evolves wireless speakers (9 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/09/griffin_unveils_journi_evolve/
Xbox 360 to become internet TV (9 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/09/gates_demos_xbox_360_iptv/
Microsoft previews Halo 3 at CES (9 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/09/ms_previews_halo3/
AMD launches PC sticker programme (9 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/09/amd_betterbydesign_scheme/
Nokia revamps Internet Tablet as 'multimedia computer' (9 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/09/nokia_revamps_internet_tablet/
CES' top ten weirdest gadgets (9 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/09/ces_top_ten_weirdest_gadgets/
Newton preps ExpressCard-sized mouse (9 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/09/mogo_mouse_bt_adaptor/
SanDisk readies Wi-Fi music, widescreen video players (8 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/08/sandisk_updates_mp3_line-up/
Sling shows SlingPlayer-for-TV gadget (8 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/08/sling_launches_slingbox-for-tv/
Matrox upgrades multi-monitor dongle with DVI ports (8 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/08/matrox_upgrades_dualhead/
Belkin readies iPod music recorder, mixer (8 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/08/belkin_tune_studio/
Intel releases workstation-friendly quad-core Xeons (8 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/08/intel_ships_four-core_xeons/
TDK touts compact Blu-ray Disc format (8 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/08/tdk_mini_bd/
Sonos adds Windows Media DRM to multi-room music system (8 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/08/sonos_supports_windows_media_drm/
Samsung unveils second-gen Blu-ray Disc player (8 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/08/sams_second-gen_bd_player/
Sony to bring Flash-only UMPC to US (8 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/08/sony_flash_umpc/
Samsung preps ultra-slim music player (8 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/08/sams_k3_music_player/
Toshiba expands HD DVD player line-up (7 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/07/tosh_expands_hd_dvd_player_line/
LG unwraps slick Blu-ray, HD DVD player (7 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/07/lg_unveils_multi-blue/
Netgear brings media player into HD era (7 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/07/netgear_eva8000/