Sandisk V-Mate

The Sandisk V-Mate arrived today, it's a little unit with external plug-PSU that connects to a video source and TV.

It only supports composite video, so quality will never be amazing, but as it's designed to work with portable players (like Sandisk's Sansa range or Sony's PSP) that should be too important.

It records to multiple memory card formats (Memory Stick Duo, SD Card, MicroSD etc) in various video codecs and formats: -

Codecs: MPEG-4 Simple Profile, H.263
Formats: MP4, 3GP, 3G2
Resolution: Up to 640x480 pixels
Frame Rate: Up to 30fps
TV Formats: NTSC & PAL

Depending on the which format and resolution is chosen it can store up to 3.5hours of video per GB.

It also has an IR emitter which can be used to change channel on a set-top-box or other video source.

It's a quirky thing but with the flood of video compatible portable players it could have a relatively big market - allowing users to watch programs they've missed on their daily commute.

US pricing is $129, so about £100 over in the UK.