ATSC-MH Mobile OTA DTV Technology

[Xauto]

How big was the screen? Is it better than for cell phones (416X240)?

[sputnik]

Peru has just recently chosen ISDB-T.

http://www.dibeg.org/

"....April 24, 2009
On Thursday, 23 April 2009, Mr. Enrique Cornejo, Minster of Transport and Communication in Peru announced that Peru has decided to adopt ISDB-T as the digital terrestrial television standards for Peru"

[NCEngineer]

We used a couple of different models. One was an LG cell phone, another was a hand held unit about 7" or so. The last was a USB unit that plugged into a laptop. The screens on the buses are show in this article:

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4948031/

[99gecko]

From the article posted by NCEngineer (thanks ) in post above

In a few years, Goodmon said, most cell phones will include a receiver so people can obtain a mobile DTV signal on hand-held devices.

Note:Jim Goodmon mentioned above is a broadcasting executive (Capitol Broadcasting Co. Chief Executive), not a wireless executive.

Part of me wonders if this might be wishful thinking. If I was a wireless service provider, the last thing I would want is people using my hardware to get data services that I can't charge them for. Most cell providers offer their hardware at low cost as a loss leader to obtain market share, knowing that they will easily recoup that loss later in locked in contracts and additional and surplus data charges. We've already seen how some wireless providers are yanking their free texting services from entry level plans.

I suspect the wireless co.'s are scrambling about how to prevent this potential revenue diversion.

BTW, it was really hard to tell but the PQ seemed a lot better than I expected based on the slide show images I saw in the link from the article. However most of the screen seemed to be taken up by rather static images and advertising , and the active dynamic window was rather small.

cheers.

[roger1818]

Interesting. Looking at the picture below, it might be difficlut to see anything on a small screen like a cell phone without a magnifying glass.

[stampeder]

Hee hee, ya that's one of the shortcomings of video on any handheld device. Talking heads on a news broadcast are one thing, but with movie spectacle such as the Ben Hur chariot race, the epic final Lord of the Rings battle scene, etc. etc. it would be turning the sublime into the banal. More likely with sitcoms it will be turning the banal into the more banal.

Nevertheless there is a big market for handheld real time video, and Mobile DTV is one of the answers.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by stampeder

Nevertheless there is a big market for handheld real time video, and Mobile DTV is one of the answers.

I agree, but suitability for handheld devices needs to be considered when choosing programming for Mobile DTV.

[stampeder]

RFTechnology has an interesting status update on the first ATSC Mobile Standard ballot that closed on July 3, 2009:

http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/84004

The title of the article omitted the key term "Mobile" but the article gives good details on future field tests.

[99gecko]

Mobile TV advertising expected to buck the downward trend, says Juniper Research

[JamesK]

Addtional info about mobile ATSC can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC-M/H

[stampeder]

The results of the July 3, 2009 ballot on approving a new ATSC Mobile DTV Standard have been announced:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=114351

[tvlurker]

There's a news item at TVNewscheck about an upcoming mobile ATSC Single Frequency Network test in the Ottawa area to be conducted by Industry Canada's CRC division.

The Industry Canada database lists four CRC Ottawa transmitters for channel 46:

CRC-DT-2 3.176 kW at the CRC in Shirley's Bay
CRC-DT-3 450 W from the top of the triangular condo building at Prince of Wales and Dynes road
CRC-DT-4 318 W from Condo Corp 441 on St Laurent just north of Montreal Road
CRC-DT-5 104 W from a building in downtown Hull behind the hotel on hotel-de-ville

I have no idea when these stations were, are, or will be running...

[stampeder]

Very cool, and its nice to see Industry Canada's CRC taking a leadership role in Mobile ATSC technology.

If only we could get our hands on some Mobile ATSC devices so that we could drive around and observe the handoffs from one transmitter to another.

[tvlurker]

If only we could get our hands on some Mobile ATSC devices so that we could drive around and observe the handoffs from one transmitter to another.

I'm wondering if they will include a standard ATSC data stream to mimic a real world application? It would be interesting to see how reception of the standard ATSC stream works with the SFN.

To that end, I've also asked Andy at TVFool if he would consider adding the CRC entries when he adds the other TO entries (CBC/SRC Montreal and CTV Calgary) at the next database update. We could then get a feeling for the relative power levels of the 4 different transmitters in a given location. Of course, most of the benefit of an SFN in an urban error will be to overcome shielding by buildings, which AFAIK are obstacles that TVFool can't currently take into account.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by tvlurker

To that end, I've also asked Andy at TVFool if he would consider adding the CRC entries when he adds the other TO entries (CBC/SRC Montreal and CTV Calgary) at the next database update. We could then get a feeling for the relative power levels of the 4 different transmitters in a given location. Of course, most of the benefit of an SFN in an urban error will be to overcome shielding by buildings, which AFAIK are obstacles that TVFool can't currently take into account.

A SNF is much more complicated to model than a single transmitter, as you will end up with a combination of constructive and destructive interference from the different transmitters, some which will be filtered out by the receiver.

I wonder if they will do as they did in Raleigh and put TVs on buses? If so, what an awesome way to promote OTA. Imagine being able to watch the news while taking the bus to/from work. So as not to disturb others, audio could be transmitted with a low powered FM transmitter.