EchoStar, the second-largest U.S. satellite television service provider, is now the first pay-TV company to enter the portable video player market with its new PocketDish player, which can hook up to DISH DVRs via a USB 2.0 connection.
The PocketDish can store video, games, music (MP3, WMA and WAV) and photos -- and will be available in three different hard drive sizes (20, 30, and 40 GB) in addition to 2.2", 4" and 7" screen size options.
Combined with its DVR compatibility, the PocketDish is also capable of recording video and audio from other input sources, and offers the fastest download speeds when paired with a specific Dish receiver, but works best with the Player-DVR 942 (a full-length movie can download in less than 10 minutes).
Prices vary accordingly from $329 to $499 to $599, and judging by the ads, they're aiming to do for portable video players what the iPod did for MP3s.
