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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.