Lots of products and services that allow you to catch your favorite television shows anywhere you go are available now, from devices that stream straight from your television like the Slingbox to next generation mobile phones that pick up TV straight from your cellular carrier, like Verizon's upcoming LG 9400 and MediaFLO service.

SanDisk is attempting to get around the matter of streaming video entirely by allowing you to record and take your favorite television shows with you, with the SanDisk V-Mate Video Memory Card Recorder. Unveiled at CES in January, SanDisk's V-Mate sits on top of your TV and has connections for component video and audio straight from your television and mini USB, to allow you to plug up your cable box, your TiVo or other PVR, your VCR or DVD Player, whatever you like. Once connected, the V-Mate can be controlled from your TV and you can configure future recordings based on start/stop times, channel, date, or even daily or weekly repeating programs. Multiple types of memory card are supported, including SD and its variants, multiple Memory Stick models, and multiple MMC types.

Once your favorite TV shows are stored on the memory card of your choice, you can carry them around with you and play them on any device that supports video playback and has a slot for your memory card; meaning you can catch up on the newest episode of 24 on your PDA, or alternatively watch that Discovery documentary you missed on your cellphone or your laptop. You can even take the media card to your computer and convert the video for playback on your iPod or other portable video player. SanDisk hasn't said whether or not you'd be able to directly connect PDAs and cellphones using the mini USB port, but it looks like it might be possible. Also, don't expect high-definition or crystal clear quality, the video has to be compressed pretty heavily to fit on a memory card. The V-Mate is available now for $129.99, and with a little effort, might change the way we think about portable video.