Moving Pictures
Thanks to digital music players, listening to MP3s is commonplace. But what if you want video on the go? Here's how to pull it off.Dan Tynan
It seems reasonable enough: If you can put your entire music collection on a portable music player, why not videos? Wouldn't you like to watch Desperate Housewives while waiting in line at the supermarket, or The Simpsons while getting your oil changed?
In fact, there are several portable devices that play digital movies as well as MP3s. Finding music to put on these players is easy: From ITunes and Napster to Rhapsody and Sony's Connect, there are a dozen sites happy to sell you the latest single from Coldplay or the Black Eyed Peas. And, of course, you can always copy (or "rip") CDs you've purchased onto the device.
But finding portable video is another story. Thanks to digital copy protection, you can't just pop a DVD into your computer and legally transfer its contents to your portable player, although, depending on the device, you may be able to record movies directly from your stand-alone DVD player. And there are no ITunes-like online stores offering large collections of downloadable video (though rumors of one--as well as an Apple video IPod--have been swirling for months).
Most online video content--such as the clips you'll find at AOL.com Videos, Real Movies, and Yahoo Music Videos--is streaming media; you can watch it while you're online, but you can't save a copy on your hard drive for viewing later. That's fine when you're sitting at your desk or at a Wi-Fi hotspot, but not so useful in the checkout line.
Despite all these barriers, you can still find portable video on the Web. Depending on the device, you may be able to watch Hollywood movies or even tune in a live TV broadcast. But what you find, and where you can find it, depends a lot on whether you use a notebook, a portable media player, or a cell phone to display the goods. Let's run down your options.
Those Lovable Luggables
Laptop luggers enjoy the most mobile entertainment options. Going on a long plane trip? In the time it takes to pack, you can buy or rent movies online from CinemaNow, Movielink, or Starz Ticket. Rentals cost from $1 to $10 per flick, but the selection is often limited, and the sites have strict digital-rights-management rules. In most cases you must watch the movie within 30 days of renting it and complete your viewing within 24 hours of starting; after the allotted time, the file is deleted from your hard drive. Be sure to check each site's terms of service before you sign on.
For $20 a year you can download brief video clips from MSN Video Downloads. These videos will run on your laptop, Windows Portable Media Center-based player, or PDA--as long as the device supports Windows Media Player 10. You'll also find free video on IFilm, Food Network, HGTV, and on Web sites for major cable news and sports programs. Many of these run on Windows Media Player and other players such as QuickTime and RealPlayer.
If you've got more testosterone than brains--or you like to watch people who do--check out TotalVid. This site specializes in 30- to 90-minute videos on extreme sports like skateboarding, surfing, paintball, and something called "extreme life." (Don't ask.) Rental costs range from $2 to $4 and you have a week to watch the videos before they expire.
Laptops can deliver the ultimate in portable video: a direct feed from your television at home. Yes, plug Sling Media's $250 Slingbox into your home network and you could be clear across the country, watching your local news broadcast as if you were sitting in your living room.
As you might imagine, the quality of the video varies greatly depending on your connection, and for now it only works with Windows, so you can't use Slingbox on a PDA or cell phone. Plus, you really are watching your TV at home, so if someone back at the ranch wants to change the channel, you're in for a struggle over the remote control. Read "First Look: Take Your TV With You" to see what PC World's video expert, Richard Baguley, thought of the Slingbox.
Portable Media Centers Do Windows
Probably the best-known players are Windows Portable Media Center-based devices such as the Samsung YH-999 and the Iriver PMC-120. These players resemble 4-inch flat-panel TVs, and they weigh from 8 to 12 ounces. They cost between $400 and $500. Each has a 20GB hard drive that's able to hold approximately 80 hours of video, or around 10,000 music files. Getting video onto one of these suckers is easy--provided you own a Windows Media Center PC, which lets you record TV shows and transfer them to the portable device using Windows Media Player. But even if you don't own a PMC system, you have other options.
If you own a TiVo Series2 DVR, you can use TiVoToGo to transfer recorded shows to a PMC player. You'll have to connect your TiVo Series2 to your home network and download the content to your PC using TiVo Desktop software.
As an incentive, at press time Iriver announced a deal that allows buyers of its PMC-120 to get a TiVo Series2 and a one-year subscription to TiVo service for free.
Film fans can download movies from CinemaNow (though not from MovieLink or Starz) and transfer them to a PMC via Windows Media Player. At press time, CinemaNow offered more than 700 films for Windows PMC, from Baptists at Our Barbecue to Dirtbags--Armpits of Metal, plus a handful of films you may have actually heard of. Titles cost $3 to rent or $10 to buy.
You can also download clips from Comedy Central, MTV, Major League Baseball, TotalVid, and others. For links to more sites with content, some of it free, visit Microsoft's Portable Media Center site. You may need to pay subscription fees or convert files before they'll play correctly; be sure to check each site's FAQ for the nitty-gritty.
Other Players, Other Operating Systems
Though Microsoft might want you to believe otherwise, Windows PMCs are not the only players in the portable video game. Creative recently began shipping its $400 Zen Vision, with 30GB of storage and a proprietary operating system. The Zen Vision can access CinemaNow movies using Windows Media Player, but also supports a wider range of video formats than the PMC.
Then there's Zvue's $100 MP4 Video Player. The 5-ounce Zvue comes with a 128MB flash memory card, which holds slightly less than 2 hours of video; you can buy one with a 7-hour, 512MB card for $160. Zvue offers a number of free downloads that lean toward the wacky and obscure, like the infamous "duck and cover" nuclear safety video from the 1950s, as well as independent films and shorts. For $15 a month you can sign up for LikeTelevision and select from a wide range of old movies, TV shows, commercials, and public service announcements for your Zvue.
Video Without Boundaries' MediaReady FlyBoyis a $400 Linux-based portable media player that holds up to 40 hours of video on its 20GB hard drive. You can transfer TV shows captured with Video Without Boundaries' own MediaReady personal video recorder, or plug the 8-ounce gizmo directly into your DVD player to transfer movies.
Finally, Archos' AV 700 mobile DVR can record directly from any TV, VCR, or DVD player. A 100GB hard drive holds up to 400 hours of video, displayed on its 7-inch, wide-aspect screen. Like Windows PMCs, it can use Windows Media Player to transfer files, including movies rented from CinemaNow. But at 21 ounces it's almost as heavy as some ultraportable laptops, and at $800, it's nearly as expensive. An equally hefty 40GB version sells for $600.
Smart Phones Meet the Boob Tube
The ultimate portable video device might end up being your cell phone--it certainly will be if the carriers have their way. And though you likely won't download many movies to watch on that tiny screen, you may get news, sports, and music videos.
What you can get depends on what kind of phone you have, who your carrier is, and what you're willing to pay for the privilege. For example, Sprint Nextel just launched Sprint TV, a $10-a-month service featuring 19 broadcast channels including ABC, Fox, and Discovery. To tune in, you'll need a Sprint multimedia handset, such as LG Mobile's new MM535.
Subscribers to Verizon Wireless's high-speed EvDO wireless network can pony up an extra $15 a month for V Cast, which features prerecorded highlights from ESPN, breaking news from CNN to Go, and breathless gossip from the E channel, among other offerings. V Cast works on smart phones like the Motorola E815 or Audiovox CDM8940.
Idetic's Emmy-winning MobiTV has been delivering small-screen content to users of Cingular Wireless, Sprint, and Midwest Wireless for about 2 years. MobiTV's 25 channels include major news and entertainment stations, plus specialized programming for fashionistas, sports extremists, toonheads, gamblers, and geeks. The service typically costs $10 a month and is best experienced using a handset capable of displaying high frame rates, such as the Nokia 6620, the Samsung MM-A700, or Palm's Treo 650.
The best (or worst, depending on your point of view) may be yet to come. Early next year Sprint plans to roll out Mobile ESPN for sports nuts who can't wait to find a TV set. Warner Music and MTV are planning to offer music videos to a variety of cell carriers. And Cingular says it will roll out RealNetworks' OnlineTV to its customers by year-end, though it has yet to reveal pricing or content partners.
The good news? The next time you tell people you only watch a little TV, you may actually be telling the truth.
Award-winning journalist Dan Tynan writes the Gadget Freak column for PC World and TechSmart for Attaché magazine. His new book, Computer Privacy Annoyances (O'Reilly Media 2005), is available at fine booksellers everywhere, but not on portable media players--yet.