Another interesting video toy

OK, this isn't quite as cool as Roku's Netflix box, but it's got some serious potential. It's a "TV HD Media Player" (link) that helps to bridge the divide between computer content and HD content... but, while the idea's cool, I don't know if the market will be there for it to really take off.

For some time now, people (especially younger people) have been downloading or ripping content from discs, and storing it on a portable device, such as a laptop or external USB drive. Of course, laptops have to be lugged about and recharged, and USB drives you have to find a computer to plug into. Now, in the past, I've seen a USB drive with composite TV outputs attached specifically to get around that problem, but they're a marginal oddity, really. The nice thing about this device is that it's a standalone item that you can leave plugged into a TV, either through composite jacks or HDMI (a good thing in this high-def age we're entering), and plug any USB device into it... hard drives, flash drives, maybe your PSP or digital camera... all sorts of possibilites for existing and yet-to-be-made USB devices are there for the playing.

The problem that I see for this is... who's going to buy it? I mean, the two big uses that pop to mind aren't necessarily for the media-holder. You could use it as a relatively easy way to get digital content to older folks... but I wouldn't think they're all that likely to pay $100+ for something that they don't know how to use themselves, and have gotten by without for years. Another great use for this would be for bringing a movie to a friend's house on a flash drive... but that depends on the friend already having this device, and if they're already tech-savvy enough that they're working with digital content, they may well have a network set up with a centralized storage server and some sort of TV media player already. In either of those cases, if the place you're wanting to show/play something doesn't already have this box, you have to lug this thing, and its associated cables, from place to place, which isn't that big of a step above taking a laptop from place to place... and I know my TV already has a PC input, so that limits the market even further.

It's a lovely idea, and I hope it catches on... heck, I kind of hope that this sort of functionality gets built into later TVs, so you just plug your whatever into a USB port on the TV and run with it. At any rate, I do like how it makes media more portable, especially without that "could lead to piracy" tinge that seems to color most cool new media toys.