Sansa TakeTV 8 GB Video Player

 (37 customer reviews)

This is a great item, especially for the people out there that download a lot of video content online. It's small and very easy to set up. The quality of the video obviously depends on the quality of the files, but they seem to be generally in line with the comparable quality of burning a file onto a DVD and playing it through a DVD player. It does exactly what it advertises at a reasonable price.

A few nitpicks: 1) the resolution of the menus looked absolutely terribly on a hi-def set (the borders were not straight and the text was very jaggy, 2) the remote is very awkward -- buttons are not terribly responsive and it seems like the IR signal is pretty weak, 3)the power plug connector is bundled with the A/V plugs and not part of the base unit, so if you use a front inputs on your tv, you need to run the power cord right up to the tv, 4) the dowloadable content on fanfare.com was not of great video quality.

It is believed that some of these issues will be...Read more

My Sansa TakeTV arrived today. As a piece of hardware, it seems to deliver what it promises although I have not checked out file types other than Divx. I agree with the observation another reviewer made on the location of the power cord connector - very awkward placement. However, the Fanfare video service associated with the TakeTV is dead-on-arrival for me. Very, very, very slow download speeds. Admittedly, it is in beta and perhaps they are having technical problems tonight but I would not advise buying a TakeTV with the intent of using it with the Fanfare service. Fanfare gets zero stars - I'll give the TakeTV hardware a four.

These further comments are added after I have owned and played with the unit for a day. If I could change the rating I made earlier, I would reduce my rating to 2 stars. This unit is just not ready for prime time - wait until they get the software/firmware updated which hopefully they will do.

It does work well on DivX files and...Read more

Got the 8 gig unit and am using it to view DIVX and HVID files. Works well with good resolution (I am not using it on a hi def TV). Haven't tried it with mov or mpeg2 files, but I assume it won't work. The remote has a button to cycle between original, letterbox, pan and scan, fill, etc. which is nice.

A few limitations: It takes a long time (2 minutes) to load a full length movie. The fast forward is only 16x. It does not accept any other flash drive (even if you manage to get the USB connector to fit), so get the 8 gig unit.

I use it for when I am on the road, plugging in to hotel TVs to catch up with my favorite programs, and its great for that. At home I use the Philips DVD player with USB input that also works well with the Sansa flash drive part of the unit. Haven't used the download service that is bundled with it.

Regarding the above comments on the power cord - the power line is on the outside of a flat ribbon - just strip the cord back...Read more