XM's Satellite Video Player

[JohnnyWalker]

One of the most impressive gadgets at CES is the new XM portable video device. I think the thing is killer, and not just because is uses On2 VP7 video.

The device is an untethered iPod. Instead of having to go to your PC to download audio and video content, it is downloaded directly to the device from the XM satellite and repeater distribution system. Why go back to your PC when you can get the content on the fly? What if you don’t even have access to your PC?

Content devices that get their material over the air have an inherent advantage over devices that you have to plug into a PC for content syncing. In the case of the iPod, you are tied to a single PC—if you sync the device with a different machine, all your content gets wiped and replaced with whatever is on the new machine. This new XM portable can offer have the same audio and video quality as an iPod, but its ease-of-use will be far, far superior. You don’t even have to do anything, the device can automatically download schedules content, kind of like a TiVo. When you wake up in the morning all of your new shows, news, etc. is ready to go with you out the door.

There may be a place in the market for both approaches, but I would bet that the cell phones with video and mobile satellite devices, like this new XM beauty, will have much, much broader appeal.

XM demonstated this "wearable video device" to analysts recently. It has the ablity to receive live video signal in portable mode. In live mode, each channel uses 256kb of capacity using On2's video compression. Should the XM/WCS deal go through, XM will have the bandwidth capabilities to broadcast at least 20 video channels in live mode.

Even without the extra WCS bandwidth, XM could still just send the content to be cached or XM could limit the number of video channels broadcast..

Looking at the photo, this seems to have the same style form-factor as the upcoming Helix/Inno - with similar controls and interface features as the two. The size looks somewhat more like the PSP than a 5G Video iPod. At this angle though, we can't tell the thickness of it.


What's the timeline on this? Not sure, but if a few priviledged people are getting the chance to play with this thing, one can only assume it may hit the streets this year. Before the Holiday Season maybe? Who knows.