Handheld digital TV: U.S. market is still waiting
March 9th, 2006Watching local digital TV broadcasts on mobile devices is becoming a reality—in Europe. Why is the U.S. market still waiting?
Part of the reason is our homegrown ATSC digital TV standard, which isn’t really built for mobile reception. (Recall that the American DTV system is designed to work with an outdoor antenna. Got room for one of those in your pocket?) When wireless operators talk about digital TV plans, they involve setting up separate transmissions rather than using local broadcast signals. DVB-H, related to the European DVB-T standard for terrestrial DTV broadcasts, or MediaFLO technologies are likely contenders.
That said, we will eventually see handheld ATSC receivers. Last week, Microtune announced a tiny, inexpensive tri-mode tuner that could show up in mobile devices one day. They tout the MT2131 tuner’s reception capabilities, saying its performance exceeds an ATSC recommended practice. (Doug Lung at TV Technology, who also notes its minimal power requirements, gives us the nitty-gritty.) How small? Way smaller than a Life Saver. How cheap? Under $3 “in volume quantities.”
Reception improvements are nothing to sneeze at. However, I don’t hear Microtune making any promises about mobile reception, especially given remarks like these:
…the MT2131 is engineered to solve each of the three technical problems commonly identified by consumers as sources of DTV dissatisfaction…. In fact, it also significantly improves TV reception using in-attic antennas, another major consumer-related concern associated with today’s digital broadcasts.
(Emphasis added.)
Consumers may want digital TV on the go, which, to be sure, doesn’t mean on the roof.
• Links: TV Technology, press release