Dawn Chmielewski reports that, thanks to a collection of new digital video players, TV is becoming as portable as music or photographs. Apple Computer's new IPod, for instance, plays video as well as music. You can go to Apple's ITunes Music Store to buy downloadable videos, film shorts, and a few popular TV shows. Feature films? Not yet, and that's probably fine for now. After all, it takes about 10 to 20 minutes to download an hour-long TV show and move it to the IPod. Less, obviously, for short films or music videos, but still tedious. Then there's the battery life. When you're watching video, the IPod's battery lasts a little more than two hours. That's a problem if you're planning on watching TV shows throughout a cross-country flight. And, like every IPod ever made, the new one doesn't have a removable battery.
The IPod is by no means the only portable media player out there. Companies like Archos, Creative Technology, and Samsung make portable media players that store digital photos, music, and video the way the new IPod can. These devices have bigger screens and bigger batteries--but they won't exactly fit in your pocket. For movies, some of these can work with legal download sites like CinemaNow and Movielink. But the download experience is neither as fast nor as glitch-free as with Apple. And TV isn't widely available.
Dawn tried a mobile video service called TiVoToGo that lets TiVo subscribers transfer shows they've recorded to a portable player over home networks. But moving a half-hour show from the television to the portable player can take as long as two hours assuming everything goes smoothly--which was not the case in her first test. And players that work only with Windows Media Center computers have problems of their own.
Verdict? Lots of great screens, too many compromises. Lots of great programming, too hard to get it. If you're looking for the cheap, easy way to enjoy video on the go, your best bet is still the good old DVD.
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