RoverTv Offers Portable TV Player/Recorder
June 22, 2006 | by Geoff Duncan
Doghouse electronics has released its RoverTv, a hand-held video player with SD card support which can record directly from TV without a computer.
Alabama's Doghouse Electronics—nope, we've never heard of them before either—has announced the availability of its RoverTv, which claims to be a first-of-its-kind portable media player which supports SD media and can record programming directly from a television without a computer.
"RoverTv establishes a new category of handheld TV recorders andplayers", said RoverTv designer Jim Howard. "Hard drivesare chunky and fragile—they were never made to withstand the day today handling that's a normal part of enjoying a portable media device." Instead, the RoverTv uses Flash memory storage, and ships with both a 1 GB and 2 GB SD card for additional capacity, and simple transfer of content from either a Mac or PC.
Available in two configuraitons—"Big screen" with a 3.5-inch, 320 by 240 pixel LCD and "Wide Screen" with a 4-inch, 480 by 272 pixel LCD—the RoverTv offers USB 2.0 connectivity, A/V output and output, and a built-in FM radio receiver. The unit can record directly from TV or DVD to MPEG4 video using the unit's A/V input and record audio from CD, FM radio, or a computer the same way. The RoverTv supports MP3, MP4, and WAV audio, JPEG, BMP, and GIF images, along with video transfered via TiVo's TiVoToGo software, iTunes, Burnlounge, and other digital media providers.
The units operate off a rechargeable lithium ion battery which Doghouse claims provides up to 12 hours of audio playback or 6 hours of video. Video stored on the RoverTv can be played back a PC or on any television up to 42 inches via the units A/V output. The units are designed with all their controls on the side, so the screen occupies almost the entire front face without inelegant buttons and controls getting in the way.
The Big Screen edition of the RoverTv is priced at $299, while the Wide Screen edition will run you $349. The systems ship with USB cable, battery charger, A/V cable, TXB earbuds, and the aforementioned 1 and 2 GB SD cards. We admit to being skeptical about a company which has better product shots of its SD cards than its brand-new flagship product, but we'll suspend disbelief until we learn more.
Post Your Comment...Comments
hifitrends on Jul 14th, 2006 at 11:12 PM:
This is a bogus company. Can you say VaporWare!!! They do not make this thing it's chineese crap. http://www.long-horn.com/eng/lh_product/detail.asp...
Jason Howard on Jul 16th, 2006 at 5:03 PM:
They are selling them on their site it looks like. I'm not saying they aren't crap since I havent seen one in person, but thats a pretty blind/ignorant statement hifitrends. Who care's if another site is also selling them. I'm sure they'll badge them up however a company wants, as long as they pay the price.
Why do you think they are crap? They seem to have decent specs from that long-horn site.
think on Feb 23rd, 2007 at 10:43 AM:
My mom just got one in the mail. She went to the Rachael Ray show over the holidays and this was one of the give-aways to everyone in the audience. I haven't used it yet, but I've held it in my hands and it is solid, and very cool looking. I'm going to give it a spin and we'll see how it stacks up. I'm hoping the people at the Rachael Ray show tested it first such that they're not giving away total crap.
fyi - if memory serves me, the ipod's coolest feature, the flywheel, only exists because they first licensed the flywheel tech from a UK company.
Mike Martino on Oct 17th, 2007 at 7:28 AM:
I bought a rover tv wide screen last November..I have asked several times by phone and email for information on what format the ebooks reader component reads and have never been answered ..I have been told that rovertv is compatable with TiVo to go..thats not true it is NOT compatable with tiVo to go or even the 25 dollar up grade for tiVo to go..I now need repairs under warranty and I have been emailing for help for two weeks with out reply. The phone number listed is disconected..I have even writen and called the registrant of the web page..Nice gadget but it looks like a rip off in the after sales
Mike
Shane on Nov 6th, 2007 at 11:08 AM:
I am looking at purchasing one for my girlfriend. Is it a good buy. Really looking at if for music and maybe some video.
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James on Jun 22nd, 2006 at 12:27 PM:
Wow this looks like an amazing product, it looks great and supports a ton of formats. The name "Rover" is terrible though. I like that you do not need a PC either if you do not want to use it.
12 hours of playback sounds too far-fetched though.