SD cards to be one focus at CES

Toshiba expected to showcase new line of products

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 12/31/2008

DEC. 31 | Forget DVD burning. At CES next week, consumer electronics companies are expected to turn instead to SD cards, the same as those used to store photos on digital cameras, as a way for consumers to easily download and save digital movies and music for playback on everything from portable video players to TVs.

The idea is that consumers could download movies or music to the cards at home or through retail kiosks and then play the content on any device with an SD card slot.

Toshiba is expected to show off a prototype line of devices with SD slots, while other consumer electronics manufacturers are expected to include the slots in more of their set-top and portable players.

Already a feature on some TVs and set-top players, SD slots are an inexpensive add-on for manufacturers and a cheap storage device for consumers, MOD Systems CEO Mark Phillips said.

In September, MOD announced a partnership with Toshiba and ATM-company NCR to launch new kiosks that offer digital downloads to SD cards.

Phillips expects to see more SD slots in HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc players, digital video recorder boxes, cell phones and portable devices at this year’s show. He notes that even Blockbuster’s new 2wire set-top box includes an SD slot.

Competitor Polar Frog Digital reinvented its kiosks in the fall to offer download to SD and micro SD cards and to USB devices. Polar Frog has plans to roll out kiosks to 200 universities, where they will target a consumer base that regularly uses iPods and mobile phones to watch digital video.

Nonetheless, Polar Frog president Todd Rosenbaum isn’t as bullish about the future of SD cards as a home entertainment format, believing DVD burning will be more popular because most people already have a player.

“I don’t see people taking a card out of their Blackberry to download a movie,” he said.

Both companies are hopeful that virtual movie inventories stored in kiosks will be more appealing to retailers looking to save money and space in a down economy, finally kick-starting their businesses.

“A vast virtual inventory, that’s the Holy Grail for retailers,” Phillips said.