Echostar 'PocketDish' to Playback Video from DVR

Trip Ericson writes "Echostar has released its PocketDish, a portable multimedia player that will store audio, video, and images. Coming in up to 40GB flavors, with varying screen sizes up to 7 inches, the real news is that it allows for the transfer of content directly from a Dish DVR onto the player. From the article: "The PocketDish can download content from Dish Network digital video recorders (DVRs), enabling users to watch TV shows on the go. An hour of content can be transferred to the PocketDish's hard drive in about five minutes." Looks like Echostar is trying to beat the long-rumored iPod Video before it even hits the market."

Comments

i wonder..

[thegoogler]

what kind of DRM is involved here? can you copy the video/audio to a laptop instead of this overpriced thing? theres no reason you shouldnt be able to

i really wish they had added THAT function

Does anyone actually use these?

[CyricZ]

While I could see these sort of portable media devices being used in places like Japan or Europe, where they have developed mass transit systems that are widely used, are they used much in the more auto-dependent countries, like the US, Canada and Australia? I mean, chances are that if you're driving, you probably can't watch a movie or a TV show on such a device. Now I'm sure some people will try, but I'd image they'd get thrown through their windshield soon enough. But if you've got a 40 minute train ride to work, then yes, you might get by watching a movie on a device such as this.

Re:Does anyone actually use these?

[hb253]

Perhaps mass transit isn't used much in Montana or the Nevada desert, but in the NY/NJ/CT metropolitan area hundreds of thousands of people use mass transit on a daily basis. Actually, I'd be interested to find out the ridership figures for the metropolitan region compared to ridership in other major cities.

I commute into NY from NJ via commuter rail and then take the PATH subway to my destination. I see a good number of people watching movies on portable devices. The potential customer base is huge.

Re:Does anyone actually use these?

[Soaps]

I live in the chicagoland area, the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) is the mass transit for chicago and 40 surrounding suburbs. Buses provide about 1 million passenger trips a day and the elevated trains 'L' serve 500,000 passengers a day. this is just within the Chicago system. We also have a Metra rail system that runs out of 2 different stations in Chicago that bring commuting riders in from as far away af 50 miles everyday on 9 different tracks. They are forcasting about 78,437,000 passenger rides in 2005 with passengers riding over 1.7 billion miles total. On my own experience, when I took the metra before moving to chicago, i spent 47 minutes each way if i was lucky enough to be traveling on an express train. If i did not get an express the 27 stops it made took over an hour and a half. Would I use one? Hell yes. and i imagine there are hundreds of thousands in just chicago who would. Imagine New York Atlanta, ect and all of their public transit riders. Just my thoughts though.

Repackaged Archos?

[Shillo]

Comparing the device pictures on www.archos.com and www.pocketdish.com... they're the same. So are the corresponding brands (Archos AV400, AV500, AV700 vs Pocketdish AV402E, AV500E, AV700E). So is this really a new device?

Re:Repackaged Archos?

[andytuna]

As the summary states the real news is the integration with the PVR, and: "An hour of content can be transferred to the PocketDish's hard drive in about five minutes." This makes it a lot easier for the average consumer to use...

You must not have children...

[Overzeetop]

...or if you do, you don't take them on long road trips. There's nothing like having a stash of Dora the Explorer or a disc full of Charlie and Lola to keep them entertained for boring parts of the trip. (For those who do not have children, and/or have forgotten what its was like to ride for a couple of hours in the car as a child, the "boring parts" would include the time from when the key goes into the ignition until you actually get out of the car at the destination. License plate games, I spy, and all the rest are boring...just not as boring as sitting quietly.)

I've captured a bunch of stuff off my DirecTivo (via analog capture) and reauthored it onto disc. It not only helps on long car rides, but also expands the number of shows available when we're at home without filling up the TiVo needlessly.

USB to my DishDVR

[jank1887]

I've got a 522 DishDVR, I noticed the undocumented USB port on it the moment it arrived. So now, here's my first question: If the PocketDish can yank content off the DVR through that port... how long till someone figures out how to hack it for general PC access? That's out of my realm of expertise, but I'll be waiting. It sounds like they're not working too much on DRM, as the article states that the pocketdish basically relies on the fact that there's no video out method.

a side note: on the DishNetwork website, under software, there's already a lineitem for the PocketDish software and updates. Apparently you have to hook it up to your 942 receiver, and software updates will process through your 942. Sounds like they may use their some type of authentication at their receiver to lock out other methods of attempted USB access. Dish Network Software

TV is not an exclusive entertainment

[Overzeetop]

You're confusing "one way to entertain" with "the only way to entertain".

On a 6 hour trip, kids will get bored. My 3 year old "reads", colors, and watches TV on long trips, as well as listens to some childrens books on cd/tape. You may also be confusing Rugrats and GTA for more educational TV and games (you're allowed to put Sesame Street on if you feel that learning spanish and memory skills from Dora is too progressive). If you think that TV is not educational, I would say that you're not using it right. I would suggest you need to watch a bit more childrens television to find the programs which are useful. I've found very few "educational" books for my daughter that didn't require active adult participation. No that adult participation is bad, but reading stuff to kids for 6 hours in a car is not my idea of a relaxing trip.

I grew up when it was common place for kids to crawl around the back seat and count licence plates, do Mad Libs, color, sing, and ask "are we there yet" every fifteen minutes. I remember being bored out of my mind for most of the time, regarles of the number of games we had. I suspect that an hour or two fo Superfriends would have gon a long way to my childhood trips being more enjoyable. I can only imagine that beingn strapped into a 5-way harness as required by law can only make the process less enjoyable today.