News

posted on 14 May 2008 12:36

A Planex external hard drive's software will enable one-click YouTube video download, and video upload to Apple's iPod and iPod Touch hand-held players.

Planex (PCI) is a Japan-based manufacturer and distributor of networking products for both home and office which has recently begun focussing on networked entertainment.

According to Tech-On, the PL-35STU-500 is a USB-attached 3.5-inch hard drive that is supported by Windows ME, 2000, XP and Vista. It comes with Video Versatility software through which users can download YouTube videos with one click (and store them on the hard drive). Such videos can also be uploaded to Apple's iPod portable players.

If the Planex drive is hooked up to a DLNA-compatible media server then the videos can be viewed on a TV connected to that server.

The drive is also supported by Apple's Mac OS X 10.3 and later versions but, ironically, the Video Versatility software won't run on Mac OS X, or on Windows ME.

The device is 218mm by 40mm (height) by 121mm, supports USB 2.0 and weighs just under 500g with its base unit.

^{[Paul Roberts, news editor.]}