Thursday, July 22, 2004
Will consumers buy portable video?
UPDATE (07/22/04): WIRED.com is featuring a much more positive spin on the new PVPs. The article also mentions Tivo's upcoming "TiVo to Go" feature that will allow users to copy content from their TiVo to a PC.
Original post (07/19/04):
This CNET article speculates on how successful the initial wave of PVP (Portable Video Players) will be. Of course, Apple is poo-pooing it by saying that people can't watch a movie in the car (like they can listen to audio with an iPod). However, I think this misses one of the big selling points for PVP devices which is the ability to take your video somewhere else and watch (as opposed to watching it on the way).
I could see myself using a PVP to record a TV show and taking it to a friend's house to watch. Or I might record a bunch of stuff off of my TiVo prior to going on vacation. I could then hook the PVP up to a TV in a hotel. I could also see my kids using it on long car trips where lugging along the TV-VCR or TV-DVD units is a big pain in the butt.
As much as Apple, who doesn't have a video product, or Sony, who isn't ready to launch their device, want to downplay these first-generation devices, I think PVPs are the gadget to beat right now.
UPDATE (07/22/04): WIRED.com is featuring a much more positive spin on the new PVPs. The article also mentions Tivo's upcoming "TiVo to Go" feature that will allow users to copy content from their TiVo to a PC.
Original post (07/19/04):
This CNET article speculates on how successful the initial wave of PVP (Portable Video Players) will be. Of course, Apple is poo-pooing it by saying that people can't watch a movie in the car (like they can listen to audio with an iPod). However, I think this misses one of the big selling points for PVP devices which is the ability to take your video somewhere else and watch (as opposed to watching it on the way).
I could see myself using a PVP to record a TV show and taking it to a friend's house to watch. Or I might record a bunch of stuff off of my TiVo prior to going on vacation. I could then hook the PVP up to a TV in a hotel. I could also see my kids using it on long car trips where lugging along the TV-VCR or TV-DVD units is a big pain in the butt.
As much as Apple, who doesn't have a video product, or Sony, who isn't ready to launch their device, want to downplay these first-generation devices, I think PVPs are the gadget to beat right now.
¶ 12:00 AM 
About Shawn Morton
Married father of 4, social media strategist at Nationwide, consumer electronics enthusiast, hair metal aficionado.
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