And You Thought Phones Were Just for Talking...
The couch potato is sprouting legs. Hollywood is finally unshackling video from theaters and televisions, which suggests you can start watching your favorite shows and movies on iPods and cellphones. So far, the promise outshines the reality--the program choices are too limited or too much hassle to convert and download.
Still, Apple made a breakthrough last fall when it launched the video iPod ($300) and Disney-owned TV shows at $2 an episode. Downloading from the iTunes store is quick and easy, and the iPod displays the fare well on its 2.5-inch screen (while also storing and playing music). But hit shows are limited to a few from ABC, including Lost and Desperate Houswives, and even they are available only after they've been broadcast.
To download more TV to more devices, a good option is TiVo ToGo, a free add-on to the TiVo digital recorder's $13-a-month service. But it takes time to get shows from the TiVo to a PC and then to your Windows-powered hand-held--perhaps an hour or two for an hourlong program. TiVo has said it will soon also support the video iPod and Sony's PlayStation Portable ($250). The Sony portable, by the way, might be as popular for watching movies as it is for playing games, with Sony selling several hundred movies on special disks.
News feed. For live TV on the go, you need a cellphone from carriers like Sprint Nextel and Cingular. Sprint offers news and entertainment channels on select handsets in its Sprint TV Live service, which starts at $10 a month on top of voice and data plans, and includes a special live feed from ABC News, plus the same Fox News Channel that's on cable. The carriers also offer canned clips, such as movies and sports (recorded video is all that's offered so far by Verizon on its V Cast network, which starts at $15 a month). But few of the choices are compelling.
To watch TV from any of the carriers, you'll want a high-end phone, such as the Sanyo MM-9000 from Sprint ($230 with contract) or the LG VX8100 from Verizon ($150 with contract).
Most shows are surprisingly watchable on a small phone in metro areas served by the carriers' high-speed networks, although lips sometimes lose sync with the audio and videos stall for buffering. Also, don't be confused by Sprint commercials that suggest customers can watch live NFL games--only clips and highlights are available. And none of this is push-button easy. It can take a minute or two of navigating menus and downloading to get a wireless video to play, meaning it can take as long to prepare snack TV as it does to consume it.
This story appears in the February 20, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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