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Amitabh Kumar
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3D Mobile TV may Debut Faster Than Expected!

June 22,2010

3D has been a craze, and mobile devices seem to be ideally suited for it. This is owing to the ease with which a 3D display can be implemented on a mobile device as well as inclination to shoot 3D videos using mobiles with dual cameras.

While the first Mobile TV channel in Japan ( 1-seg broadcasting) has been on air some time now, the focus is now shifting on local content as well ( movies such as Avatar) which can be downloaded and played in 3D. ( Not to mention Games and animation content which is spectacular in 3D). Adult content also seems to find its way, anyway.

So what should you expect in the next few months when 3D makes a mad rush?

3D is essentially very simple. All that you need is two pictures meant for left and right eyes to be delivered separately. If a film is shot in 3D ( such as Avatar) this is relatively easy, as it already has images for left and right eyes. Else it can be repurposed.

- 3D on mobile devices will be stereoscopic-meaning that you will not need to wear glasses of any kind to view 3D video. This is owing to the screens which will provide stereoscopic view to the two eyes. As the viewing angle for a mobile device is straight , this is relatively easy. There are many cell-phones now available with 3D stereoscopic displays. An example is the Nokia 810 which is a 3D phone.

-Can you make ordinary phones such as an i-phone show stereoscopic images? No. Stereoscopic phones need optics in the screen to deliver two separate images ( Left and Right).However there will be software available which will allow you to see 3D using glasses, if someone is hell bent for such use.

-Mobile with dual cameras are on the way. So when you shoot video using the mobile, it will record both the views and the video can be viewed back in 3D.

- Video for 3D is carried either as stereoscopic ( L,R) or 2D with depth information. In case of broadcast systems, the 3D video information is combined in a 3D media processor to generate a combined video stream with appropriate time reference information.

-Transmission of TV channel in 3D has already begun in Japan. One channel is being broadcast using 1seg broadcasting, which is the Japanese standard for Mobile TV. ( ISDB-T). There are a range of mobile phones which can be used to view such content. Examples are Woo Hoo1 by KDDI/Hitachi and SCH-W960 by Samsung ( This is a DMB phone for use in S. Korea).

-Trials of 3D mobile TV using other technologies have already begun. DMB trials are on by TU-Media using S-DMB. The technology will also be used un T-DMB( terrestrial broadcasting) where it will be backward and forward compatible with 2D and 3D.The associated data services will also support 3D images packed in standard formats such as .jpg or streaming
 
 

DVB-H in Europe

Jan 28,2010

A  recent report in Broadband TV News (Little progress with French mobile TV; By Robert Briel; January 26, 2010) (http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2010/01/26/little-progress-with-french-mobile-tv/) seems to present a common phenomena which mobile TV has been facing. It is equally surprising that it arises from Europe, the birthplace for  mobile TV services, and one which has adopted DVB-H as a preferred standard across Europe. Both  broadcasters and mobile operators seem to have an aversion, which needs to be evaluated by the DVB as well as countries now planning mobile TV.

ATSC M/H Standard ( A/153) Officially Approved: The Battle Begins Now !

The formal approval of the ATSC M/H as the mobile DTV standard A/153 was entirely expected after it was approved as a candidate standard in April 2009 and subsequent field trials. However the issue is how fast the action can pick up now. Mobile TV using FLO technology is now strongly rolling out through mobile industry leaders AT&T ( AT&T Mobile TV) and Verizon( VCAST). FLO had been earlier restricted to only select markets due to the lack of availability of a UHF channel. This hurdle has now been removed. The FLO service is at present operating using just one or two channels ( UHF channels 54/55) across the United states, in the markets where it is available. By all accounts it is a very successful service. It is designed for mobile devices and is not an adaptation of a large screen technology to “also” serve mobile devices. It provides nearly 20 video channels in a 6 MHz spectrum slot, which is way beyond its competitors.

In contrast, by all logic ATSC M/H has the support of TV broadcasters and is likely to have much larger resources at its disposal in terms of ATSC spectrum which is available with TV stations. The variety of TV channels available will also be larger with nearly 800 stations being a part of the open mobile video coalition (OMVC).

However the operators of ATSC M/H services will still need the support of mobile operators for successfully launching the services. This is where the scene gets interesting.

While AT&T and Verizon, with more than 50 % of mobile users amongst them are  for the moment committed to MediFLO, riding on and providing services on its infrastructure, FLO TV is having a robust growth. This leaves T-Mobile and Sprint as the other possible major mobile carriers.

 But looking at the broader market, MediaFLO it is also considering entering distribution on its own. AT&T and Verizon, also have their 3G based mobile TV services, CV and V CAST which provide live streaming mobile TV channels on the 3G networks which have been upgraded to HSPA. These carriers therefore have stakes in boosting their own mobile Video services. One must not forget that their associated businesses of IPTV ( Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-Verse TV) are doing exceedingly well with over 5 million customers and high ARPUs and they have every  reason to use their mobile customer bases which are their assets to leverage to provide 3G based mobile TV to retain the ARPUs at home. An external TV service, therefore is attractive to them only if they get a good revenue share.

The market will therefore be determined by how fast ATSC M/H broadcasters can get deals in place with mobile carriers, to get the chips in the handsets and to get such handsets approved. Quite a list. Many of the channels will be free to air in the initial period, which makes it even more challenging, as there are no revenues to share. But there is no doubt that eventually all the major carriers will come in once the broadcasters have found ways to compensate them.

This of course opens up the market for multiple possibilities. There is little doubt that the broadcasters organized under the OMVC will need the support of mobile operators, some of which have conflicting interests, at least for the moment. But by early 2010, the services should begin to have greater visibility.

One would normally think that free to air mobile TV channels such as in T-DMB networks of Korea should be able to penetrate to a large number of handsets and users. But in Korea, this has required considerable support and push from the government. The situation is similar in Japan where the ISDB-T One segment mobile TV phones which can receive the free to air exceed 60 million. Upto 80% of the new phones sold come with mobile TV tuners built in. The US markets are somewhat different; however, as here the carriers have much greater control on the handsets which can be used in the networks. Perhaps FCC will step in at some point to ensure that handsets with DTV receiver chips do not face any hurdles. In China, the number of cities where CMMB services were available jumped to over 190 and every new 3G handset (TD-SCDMA) to be approved needs to have a CMMB tuner. This alone has boosted the number of users to over 20 million making China the fastest growing market for mobile TV in the world over the last one year. Obviously we cannot expect the same here but then what can we expect?

In any event, the developments in the next two months are like to be fast paced and may lead to some tie ups which may surprise even the seasoned industry observers.

Smartphones and Mobile TV: What has changed in 2009?

The last two years have shown a sharp growth in the use of smartphones and it seems likely that a major change in user behaviour is underway. More than 500 million smartphones are in use toady with capabilities to access internet via 3G, WiFi or other networks. More and more users are using the handsets to search the internet (say by using google mobile, Bing , msn or yahoo), look for offers for travel, weather information, food outlets or use webmail .Most mail sites such as hotmail or live! have mobile versions now. Teens also use it extensively for social networking such as on sites like  Facebook, Flickr! , LinkedIn, Twitter, itsmy.com etc. They also use it for sites relating to sex, stream videos and use MMS extensively. Smartphones are also being increasingly used for location based services such as using Mapquest, Google Maps, SirF Atlas and others.  Browsing sites such as amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, taking part in online auctions, using chatrooms are also common applications. It is expected that over 1 billion smartphones will be in use by end of 2010, with a significant number being driven by markets in US, Europe, China and India.

Mobile TV whether delivered as streaming video or via a terrestrial media therefore does not always imply buying an expansive phone. Most 3G phones support streaming video and as terrestrial networks become popular, more and more smartphones come with terrestrial tuners built in. In Korea and Japan, a majority of handsets now have a tuner for T-DMB or ISDB-T built in, both of which are free TV services for mobiles. In China, where the number of cities from where mobile TV based on CMMB is offered have jumped to 190 within a year of commercial drive and every new 3G handset to receive government approval must have a  CMMB tuner. These three countries today have more mobile TV users than any other country owing to this simple reason. Mobile advertising, so far small is also expected to pick up as the smartphones go beyond a critical mass of 1 billion.

It is imminent that with falling prices of devices like multimedia processors, the smartphones will tend to largely replace the use of the desktops as the medium for access to information, social networking as well as doing daily tasks such as checking mail, making reservations and secure banking transactions because these devices have better embedded security cores and malware is more difficult to propagate owing to the limited resource set and processing capabilities of these devices.

To the industry, the realization that the mobile devices should be considered as THE primary media rather than an extension of desktop experience came rather late. The initial mobile devices had browsers which could  view regular websites ( even via multiple screens) while development of websites specifically for mobile devices was rather slow. This accounts for relatively few websites designed for mobiles even as most biggies such as google, gmail , amazon , YouTube or e-bay have now dedicated sites for mobiles.

The launch of Twitter where the maximum size of the message is only 140 characters and where you can even shorten the website references you give in this short message is an indicator of how applications will completely transform to serve the mobile smartphone world. Twitter, for example can potentially reach all the handsets ( smartphones or not) with a potential reach of over 5 billion users. Sites such as itsmy.com are other examples  which are designed for mobiles and desktops are an extension rather than being the other way around.

There is now a scramble in the  industry to enable virtually all websites, whether these are for auctions, news, travel, weather, streaming videos( e.g. DivX mobile or Flash Lite),providing game downloads, music stores, internet radios,freeware and downloads specially for mobiles. Application shops for mobiles, which rarely sold a few thousand applications now sells millions ow downloads. For example, the iPhone application shop ( iTunes ) has over 100,000 applications developed by over 125,000 developers, and had seen millions of  downloads since its launch in Feb 2009. And this is only one of the application stores. There are over a hundred others including application stores from Nokia, Orange, Sony-Ericsson, RIM( Blackberry) and  others. 

Guess which TV players had one of the largest downloads? It was the TVUplayer for iPhones and iPods. These trends have set a scramble for mobile players and even Microsoft has announced Silverlight for Mobiles. Guess where the action is for development of gaming? It is for mobile games including multiplayer mobile games. Websites are coming up with free stuff for mobiles including wallpapers, screen savers, ringtones and free mobile websites for individuals or companies. Employment websites such as monster.com, Mp3 download websites and popular search engines are now targeting the use by mobile devices.

Mobile TV is one of the applications which now exists on the smartphones together with a host of others which enable navigation, multimedia, and secure shopping. It is no longer an isolated application requiring a separate handsets which users would rather ignore. As services based on terrestrial broadcasting such as MediaFLO ( AT&T and Verizon) and ATSC M/H roll out, multi-standard tuners are likely to become popular in most phones.

The mobile operators initially tried to provide locked phones, secured application downloads and firewalled websites but the launch of newer and newer devices with open systems such as Android has finally put the fear of God and they have decided to go with the FLO. Vonage, for example, became available for mobiles using Wi-Fi, bypassing the cellular networks. In CTIA wireless, AT&T announced opening up its mobile network for applications such as VoIP ( Skype, Vonage,Gtalk etc.). Even the iPhone application store has now an application for Vonage mobile.

A new frontier is now being launched as Comcast and Time Warner start broadband operations using WiMAX. This will provide an alternative to Wi-Fi with high sustained data rates which can support video. 

Mobile Video is now riding on a massive wave, which is transforming the way the net is accessed and media is delivered. Almost all popular channels already have their mobile versions such NBC mobile or ESPN mobile and are available via 3G as well as terrestrial broadcast networks. It is now amongst a community of over 500 million devices which can be potentially addressed. Technologies such as FLO TV are set to reach over 200 million users by end of 2009.

The new medium is now already on a path to becoming universal, even though some of the users may start seeing more of it by end of 2009 or early 2010 when more stations with ATSC and FLO go on air and as HSPA networks from major carriers roll out with greater speeds. It will be imperative for all businesses big or small to target the new world through mobiles as they started doing through internet a while back. A lot of content and applications are right now being repurposed. But one thing is certain – the future growth of mobile TV and video is set to surprise most people.

 

CTIA 2009 Oct 7, San Diego

The FCC chief was quite right in saying that Spectrum is Oxygen. However it seems that he is forgetting that the Oxygen is across the globe.

Some of the recent spectrum actions of FCC are putting it more and more out of phase with the spectrum allocations in Europe and Asia, with the result that common uses and roaming in the future may be seriously compromised.

The Digital dividend bands, for example are different in Europe and USA. This is in itself not bad, but the fact is that these are likely to be used for LTE as AT&T and Verizon may be major winners. This would make the "American" LTE operate in different bands than "European LTE".

Globally harmonized allocations of Spectrum, which happen in WRC seem to have lesser and lesser importance as major countries and regions assign spectrum. The bands in USA such as BRS,AWS, WCS have no parallels. Most the services in these bands interfere with each other. The very reason that there were different bands and guidelines was that there should be lower incidences of interference.

As wireless devices increase, we are entering into the era of unpredictability as well.

http://www.wimax-home.com

Why not more Spectrum for such a successful service?

The FLO service is at present operating using just one or two channels ( UHF channels 54/55) across the United states, in the markets where it is available. By all accounts it is a very successful service. It is designed for mobile devices and is not an adaptation of a large screen technology to “also” serve mobile devices. It provides nearly 20 video channels in a 6 MHz spectrum slot, which is way beyond its competitors. ‘

The question is that why such an efficient service is not being used across more spectrum slots, delivering more channels? One reason is that the spectrum in UHF is very tightly held by TV stations. However that is not entirely true. The last dividend auction has resulted in many players getting UHF spectrum. One would imagine that with such an efficient spectrum use more users would be attracted.

Another plausible reason is that the digital dividend spectrum is largely held by AT&T and Verizon, both with deep pockets. However is not interesting that it is these very players which are providing the FLO TV services under the VCAST and AT&T mobile TV brands? The same players wish to retain the spectrum for future services. is it to do with the licensing policy? It is also interesting that FLO has now started the direct to consumer initiative, which puts a question on the present sellers of the service, AT&T and Verizon. Is it because FLO will use all carriers? AT&T has a history of walled gardens—the iPhone is an example. What future does FLO has on iPhones? Is the conflict of interest of 3G carriers such as AT&T and Verizon in data revenues too high with FLO? Why would they let the streaming revenues go away for the FLO services of $8.99 a month? What would be their approach to ATSC M/H services?

It will be interesting to watch these developments.

http://www.wimax-home.com

HSPA 7.2 Now Enabled!

CTIA Wireless 2009

The new devices such as HTC Tilt 2 which are available from AT&T and T-Mobile, will now allow the use of HSPA 7.2, which is great news. It also has GPS which will make the navigation applications operate in a flash.Being a Windows device also helps.But the market remains operator driven to too large an extent, perhaps even undesirable. Most markets now have dual SIM phones, which are useful for many purposes. GSM/CDMA combinations are equally popular and let the users make best of calling plans etc. Hopefully this will happen someday.

 
FLO TV Services Expand in 20 Additional Markets Post Digital Tranistion on June 12,2009
FLO TV Inc. whichoperates the MediaFLO network in the United States has expanded its services to 20 additional markets post the completion of digital transition on June 12. The expansion was held up earlier as the spectrum was not free with analog transmissions continuing. AT&T and Verizon are service providers for the FLO services. These services are offered by AT&T under the brandname AT&T Mobile TV, while Verizon offers these as V CAST. There is a difference of two channels between the two operators, else the services are identical.
The channels offered include CBS Mobile, CNBC, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, FOX Mobile, FOX News, MSNBC, MTV, NBC2Go, Nickelodeon, CNN Mobile and Pix.
The services in June 2009 had expanded to an additional 20 markets( a total of 80 markets), getting closer to a countrywide coverage. The additional markets included Boston, Charlotte, Cleveland, Houston, Miami, Milwaukee, Sacramento and San Francisco.

 

 ATSC M/H services Set to Create a Ubiquitous market for Mobile TV

 Jan 15,2009

Mobile Tv has received a lukewarm response so far in most markets with subscriber numbers stagnating to a few hundred thousands and operators unable to make profits from this new medium. Not surprising considering that the mobile operators need to handle a number of issues ranging from availability of handsets to operating network and spectrum costs. It is only the broadcasters such as those using the ATSC M/H standards who will be able to provide services at only marginally extra cost. Also these services will be Ubiquitous, inexpensive and be available on all handsets. This is the only way to create a large alone user base, have current programs in good quality available and provide extra market reach for broadcasters at marginal cost beyond the fixed TV market.

The stage for this was set with the ATSC approving the new ATSC standards and the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) bringing together a number of broadcasters to launch ATSC Mobile broadcasts by the second half of 2009, if not earlier.

This also turns the Mobile TV opportunity back to broadcasters from the clutches of Mobile operators where it has belonged so far. But with the operators strapped for spectrum,, limitations of 3GPP technologies for broadcast TV and multiple encryption standards, the market was so chopped up that it could not rise to any significance in any market. The broadcasters are likely to now back in business with a new subscriber base.

 

 

 ATSC approves Mobile/ Handheld Standard

 

 

The Advanced Television Systems Committee ( ATSC) today approved the draft standards for Mobile/ Handheld television. The new candidate standard is based on the use of Vestigial Sideband Modulation( VSB) and is backward compatible with existing recievers. It employs MPEG4 encoded video channels together with HE-AAC coded audio.

 

 

The approval of new Mobile/ Handheld standards is the most important step since the approval of ATSC standards themselves, now a part of the Digitalization of TV in USA and other countries. The ATSC-M/H standards makes it possible to make minor augmentations of the broadcast equipment to include channels for Mobile TV within the same bandwidth. There is no need for additional spectrum or the use of new transmitter network, making the ATSC- M/H standards as “ ready for adopt across the country” as ATSC transmitters replace older analog equipment.

The new standard also specifies data broadcasting modalities for Internet and interactive services to be enabled. There has always been a provision in the ATSC standards for data broadcasting but it had never taken off owing to the need for defining the modalities for use of data.

The new ATSC standards have been supported by Open Mobile Video coalition ( OMVC) which has been interested in a common and inexpensive augmentation of the ATSC standard for Mobile TV. OMVC has also been involved in the trials of the new standard.

The new candidate standard is specified in eight parts, as per the norms of candidate standards in ATSC:

 

 

The announcement of the standards is expected to pave the way for new networks going on line and new mobile devices with ATSC M/H receivers becoming widely available. The ATSC M/H is expected to mount  a serious challenge to MediaFLO and 3G based networks which provide Mobile TV today in the next three years. Broadcasters can now simulcast their channels to fixed as well as Mobile Tv sets without having to worry about the receivers.

In the meantime, in anticipation of the standards, vendors have been already moving ahead with receivers for ATSC M/H.

 

 

  Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) commences tests on the new ATSC Mobile – Handheld Standard

Nov 10,2008

The OMVC, which is a body of over 800  major terrestrial TV stations  in the United States, has commenced trials on the performance of the ATSC Mobile/ Handheld add on units. It may be recalled that the OMVC proposes to enable all existing ATSC digital TV transmitting TV stations to also transmit to mobiles.  This is by adding on the stream for Mobile TV in the ATSC multiplex with appropriate error correction attributes.

This upgrade promises to enable a relatively low cost upgrade to any ATSC station with projected costs being below $100,000 per station. This is an order of magnitude lower than a comparative upgrade using a new technology which operates independent of the broadcast network.

The trials being carried out in Chicago (Sears Towers) and Fort Lupton, Colorado. The initial results have validated the performance. The conclusion of tests will pave the way for adoption of standards and universal deployment in the year to come. This will also enable the development of many new mobile devices with capabilities to showcase broadcast channels.

Mobile TV Launch by AT&T set for 4th May 2008
The long awaited launch of Mobile TV services based on FLO technology is now scheduled for 4th May 2008. This will be the second FLO based network in addition to Verizon which already provides FLO based mobile TV services since March 2007. A total of ten channels will be transmitted which are grouped into three subscription levels, with the “ Limited” package with $13 per month subscription having four channels ( CBS Mobile, Fox Mobile, NBC and NBC News). The next level, (Basic plan) has nine channels by adding on CNN Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN, MTV and Nickelodeon at $15 per month. The Premium packages adds on the movies channel (PIX) with subscription going to $ 30 per month. The premium package will also have AT&T’s MediaNet cellular access package. AT&T’s Mobile TV service will be available on two phones ( equipped with MediaFLO receivers) to begin with( LG VU, a touch-screen phone and Samsung Access).
Both AT&T and Verizon use MediaFLO’s network in the 700 MHz band which provides for upto 14 channels in the allotted bandwidth slot. The PIX and CNN mobile will be available exclusively to AT&T customers. Verizon also has its two exclusive channels ESPN Radio and MTV Tr3s. The channels are not live transmissions but rescheduled or repurposed content suited for mobiles ( 2GO channels). The PIX channel is a full length movie channel from Sony Entertainment Network.
The new FLO service will find its competition in the MobiTV service which is also available on the AT&T network using 3G and is priced at $10 a month for the basic package. MobiTV has over 4 million customers across all the carriers it covers. However the broadcast content is expected to bring in a better viewing experience to the users.
In case of Verizon only about 4.6% of the users are reported to have opted for the FLO based Mobile TV service. The usage is expected to grow as the ecosystem of handsets and applications grows. There is a certain inertia for the users to change handsets just to be able to view mobile TV and the launch of iPhone in 2007 did not help in users buying more of FLOTV compatible handsets. MobiTV service on the other hand can be viewed on any phone supporting 3G or GPRS.
This is however a common problem around the world where the users need to buy specific handsets with DVB-H or DMB-T tuners.
AT&T FLO™ based Mobile TV Service to go Live in May 2008

CTIA Wireless, April 2008

Putting to rest a lot of speculation in the industry, AT&T has announced that its MediaFLO based mobile TV service will be going live in May 2008. With this launch MediaFLO becomes the preferred technology solution in the US till date with Verizon already having launched its services last year. While Qualcom is at present promoting the service using channel 55, which it owns, with AT&T also having won the 700 MHz spectrum auctions on a nationwide basis, the company is in a position to also leverage other technologies or use it for open access technologies such as WiMAX or use them for mobile services.
NAB 2008, following closely on the heels of CTIA 2008 will clarify how fast the ATSC-MPH (mobile pedestrian/ handheld) services can be delivered in the US markets.Looks like that despite the EU having embraced a single standard for mobile TV, the US market will remain fragmented with multiple technologies.
What are the implications of this decision? To understand the potential of this decision, one only looks back to see what adoption of GSM did to the mobile industry.The decision will help the handset manufacturers to incorporate DVB-H in handsets widely as these will now have a large market not only in Europe but large parts of Asia and the Americas. This is like adding bluetooth or WiFi capability to a handset. For the operators it means the ready availability of the large base of users in the handsets which have compatible devices and hence the ease of launching a new DVB-H service. Till now this was a major factor before operators while planning launch of this service. For the application developers it a signal to make the new medium the target of their innovative rich media applications.
 
 
The DVB-SH technology which involves the use of S-Band and a satellite transmission with terrestrial repeaters is making steady progress. Recently DiBcom has launched a reciever  component for DVB-SH, thus paving the way for its introduction in 2008 in commercial devices. The year 2008 is set to witness at least two DVB-SH launches. One is from ICO Global called Mobile Interactive Media (MIM) and the second in Europe using a yet to be launched S- Band satellite. China is also expected to launch a mobile TV service based on STiMi via a satellite with launch scheduled in May 2008.In India the ISRO is readying the Insat 4E satellite for a scheduled launch in 2009.
 
 
 
LG Unveils Mobile Pedestrian Handheld (MPH™) technology
 CES,Jan 2008, Las Vegas

LG has unveiled the MPH technology for delivery of TV for handhelds in the United States and other countries using the ATSC standard. This could be one of the most important developments in the field of Mobile TV for North America, which does not have the advantage of DVB-H technology being able to ride on the DVB-T networks being installed currently in many regions of the world including Europe and Asia.

This time, the advantage, however appears to be with the MPH technology as it does not need any additional spectrum. The MPH can enable any device for mobile TV by the use of miniature cards or USB attachments.

This implies that within a year, all mobile devices, such as personal media players, gaming devices or cell phones could be enabled for mobile television programming reception. The reception is possible upto 90 Kilometers per hour, which is a reasonable speed in city conditions.

MPH is based on highly efficient MPEG4 encoding coupled with VSB transmission of mobile TV content. The key advantage of the technology appears to be the use of the existing frequency spectrum used for standard definition or high definition digital television transmissions as well as the existing transmitter infrastructure, with only an additional exciter.

This can turn out to be a major differentiator, as spectrum costs can be very high. Many countries ( such as India, for example) are set upon auctioning the mobile TV licenses based on the fact that it needs to use additional spectrum. The license pricing is essentially the price of the additional 8 MHz spectrum.

The new technology, once in place will create a totally new universe of receiving devices with personal media players(PMPs), gaming devices, Standalone TV mobile receivers coming into vogue.
 
 
Motorola Announces Mobile DVB-H Device

CES, Las Vegas, January 2008
Motorola, in a first of its kind development, and perhaps setting a new trend, has demonstrated a mobile TV device( personal media player) which is not a mobile network smartphone. The new device called DH01 has a 4.3 inch screen and is based on DVB-H reception. The large screen size gives it capability to have a wide quarter video graphics array (WQVGA) resolution.The wider resolution ( 480x272) gives a superior viewing experience,particularly when associated with a full frame rate ( 25fps) video. The resolution is same as that of a Sony PSP, leading to the potential position of Mobile TV as add on to a host of existing media and gaming devices.
Keeping in view the requirement of mobile usage, DH01 goes beyond just displaying only either live TV or pre-stored video. Instead it provides a 5 minute storage for pausing during shows or having DVR type capabilities. (90 minutes of Video at 25 fps can be accommodated in a 256MB secure digital/multimedia card; SD/MMC).

This introduction can be said to be a forerunner to enable personal media players today mostly based on MP3 audio and MPEG4 stored video) to get connected for live news, updates, sports and events. The broadcast mode of DVB-H will eliminate the hurdles current connectivity limitations on mobile or WiFi networks as well as the high associated cost.
It will also be a first by providing a user independence from mobile networks (e.g. 3G HSPA or EV-DO networks) in regard to what type of content can be viewed.
 
 
 
Indian regulator TRAI issues Draft Recommendations for Mobile TV Licensing in India

In a region characterized as the largest mobile TV market in the world, with Korea, Philippines, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and others having launched mobile TV services, the Indian regulator TRAI has now issued draft recommendations for licensing of mobile TV services. The draft recommendations come after a brief consultation process. India is the fastest growing cellular mobile market in the world with over 8 million users being added every month( nearly a 100 million a year at current pace) but is beset with serious policy issues of licensing, spectrum allocation and regulation. 3G spectrum is not yet allocated in the country and time is running out for many companies which target mobile multimedia services.

The TRAI has recommended a bidding process for licensing of mobile TV services, with a one time entry fee as being the sole criteria for the selection of bidders. Upto 74% foreign direct investment will be permitted in mobile TV companies. Technology neutrality has been permitted in the licenses; i.e. the licensees can roll out networks based on any of the commonly used technologies for mobile TV. Each successful bidder is to be allocated one spectrum slot of 8 MHz irrespective of technology.

The regulator has proposed to allow all mobile companies to start providing mobile TV services without any entry fee or any additional license fees. It has however not elaborated how these will be provided in the absence of allocation of 3G spectrum.

For the terrestrial transmission based mobile TV services, however a very severe regime has been proposed. Only those technologies are to be allowed which have a base of at least 100,000 users. This may be difficult to meet for many technologies, which have undergone trials but the networks are under launch.

The yearly license fees for such companies is to be 6% of gross revenues plus 5% of the highest bid for one time entry fee. As the license fees for entry can be very high, the yearly license fees is set at an unprecedented high scale. However mobile companies providing identical services need to pay no such license fees.

Mobile TV licenses have been offered separately for Terrestrial broadcast and Satellite based services. The roll out times provided are 1 year, otherwise the bidders need to agree to forego a performance guarantee of $5 million. ( For whole of India).

The regulator has chosen to be silent on how a satellite system can be coordinated and made operational within one year.
The present recommendations are in a draft form and the regulator will issue final recommendations after 10th Jan 2008. The government is then expected to come out with policy to regulate and issue licenses in the sector based on these policies.


Previous recommendations of the TRAI on digital terrestrial broadcasting issued in 2005 are yet to see the light of the day in the form of policy announcements for licensing.

 
 
 
WiMAX and Mobile TV
WiMAX is now appearing as the "dark horse" of the mobile content delivery business.Just as the WiFi technologies came into their own after the advent of the WiFi chip in 2003, the WiMAX technologies are at an identical stage.At the time of introduction of WiFi chips, the computers could be enabled for WiFi by using PC cards. Within 2 years, every laptop shipped was WiFi enabled. At this time , WiFi was being embedded in all PCs and laptops using mini PCI cards as the means to mount the WiFi enabling modules. The modules however were still too large for the PDAs and Cellphones.
With the availability of tiny footprint chipsets, WiFi entered the domain of PDAs, cellphones and portable music players. In 2005 120 million WiFi chipsets were sold rising to 200 million in 2006 and 1 billion are expected to be sold in 2010. The number of WiFi hotspots has risen to 1 million in 2008.The prices of WiFi modules fell from over $50 when introduced in 2003 to under $5 today.
WiMAX is said to be at a similar stage today. The Chipsets such as UMobile™ from Wavesat implement the WiMAX solution in one chip. The products are being certified by the WiMAX forum which makes them interoperable with WiMAX networks universally. It would therefore be no surprise if the WiMAX products which provide high speed connectivity with QoS across the city should become ubiquitous by 2009.
The release of the client devices for WiMAX has been dependent on three major factors:
(i) Finalization of the standards and release of certification profiles by the Wimax forum.
(ii) Availability of Chipsets based on the profiles released.
(iii) WiMAX certification after interoperability testing in Plugfests and WiMAX authorized labs.
The use of client devices is further subject to spectrum available in individual countries to network operators. It is no surprise therefore that the initial WiMAX client devices which made their debut were the Fixed WiMAX ( IEEE802.16-2004) devices. The WIMAX forum has completed release 1 testing for all parameters and over a hundred WiMAX certified products are available for fixed WiMAX. So far as the Mobile WiMAX is concerned, the certification process has already been underway. The release of wave 2 devices which support MIMO has been accelerated and products are being certified every quarter as “WiMAX certified”. New devices such as chipsets, USB attachments, PC cards etc are being announced almost weekly and are compliant with IEEE802.16e-2005 mobile WiMAX standards. In many cases, certification follows later. With the products being software up-gradable in most cases, and the new technologies being backward compatible, it is expected that once introduced in bnetworks, they will continue to function for their useful life.
 
Mobile WiMAX TV demonstrated on Ultra Mobile PCs
In Chapter 5 of the Book (Overview Mobile TV technologies) WiMAX based mobile TV has been described as one of the potential technologies for mobile TV with a high future potential. It is already available in the Korean Mobile Wimax band ( WiBRO) but is yet to gather steam.

In the meantime MobiTV, one of the best aggregators of content for mobile TV with over 2 million customers has demonstrated Mobile TV based on Mobile WiMAX standards ( IEEE 802.16e). The mobiTV demonstration is an implementation of Mobile TV using a Broadband Wireless Network based on 802.16e and is a first example of its kind. The broadband wireless delivery to mobile handhelds provides a service paralleling the multicast and unicast services provided over 3G networks.( Verizon , Sprint etc.).

TV over Mobile WiMAX can be delivered using either the unicast mode or Multicast mode. With client devices for Mobile WiMAX expected to be widely available in the future, the development portrays the recognition of a significant trend i.e. to bring a host of internet delivered services including YouTube™, Skype™, ITunes and Video on demand seamlessly to handheld devices. The trend addresses the new range of Internet enabled mobile devices, which today use Bluetooth or WiFi but will use Mobile WiMAX in the not too distant future. ( Refer to Section 5.18.2 of the book on Mobile TV for Mobile WiMAX).
The launch of new Internet enabled devices ( including but not necessarily cellphones) is to address the exploding need to share pictures, videos, music in a multilateral environment and not necessarily merely a broadcast network reception. The availability of Metropolitan Area Wireless networks based on Mobile WiMAX is likely to lead to new application, business models and internet devices.

The IEEE802.16e infrastructure for the trials at the NAB was provided by Runcom.

The extension of the unrestricted internet to the cellphones is likely to be prompted by the spectrum allocations for WiMAX which have been put on a fast track in most countries. The spectrum for Mobile TV on the other hand continues to be highly restricted and expansive as it competes for the same resources as voice in a 3G network.( Please see Chapter 10, Spectrum for Mobile TV services).

 

Updates from the NAB 2007 on Mobile TV

Advanced VSB (A-VSB) demonstrated for ATSC transmitting stations

We had mentioned in the book (Chapter 5, Overview of Mobile TV Technologies) that the ATSC systems which use single carrier for modulation ( i.e. 8VSB) have severe limitations for carrying the Mobile TV channels as compared to OFDM based systems such as DVB-H or FLO. The ATSC systems also have limitations in forming Single frequency networks (SFNs) owing to the absence of synchronization timing information which could be used by adjacent transmitters.
OFDM based systems are highly resistant to multipath fading as experienced in Non-line of Sight (NLOS) and mobile handheld environments. The DVB-H technologies in fact take advantage of the structure of DVB-T to add on additional features for error correction and power saving in handsets. Using 4096 carriers (4K mode), for example, reduces the possibility of any significant Inter-symbol Interference. Also as detailed in Chapter 8 (DVB-H Technologies), the DVB-H standards have been designed for additional Forward Error Correction (FEC) and Multi-protocol Encapsulation (MPE) to provide error free transmissions in the mobile environment.

As the DTV transition is moving ahead strongly the ATSC is also adding on features to support mobile TV by some enhancements to the ATSC standard.

There were two approaches which were demonstrated at the NAB 2007 for supporting mobile TV and future incorporation in ATSC standards.
Advanced VSB (A-VSB)
The Advanced-VSB approach was demonstrated by Samsung in cooperation with Rhode and Schwarz and ATSC. The A-VSB attempts to address both the issues of Synchronization in Single frequency Networks (SFNs) and the high error rate in a typical handheld mobile environment due to sharp variations in signal strength from point to point as well as multipath propagation in NLOS environments. The issue of timing is addressed by adding a Supplementary Reference Sequence(SRS) in the transmitted signal.
This helps the receiver to stay locked in an NLOS environment characterized by severe frequency selective fading as well as mobile handheld environment where the variations in signal strength can cause occasional loss of received signal. The second mechanism to permit mobility is the feature of turbo coding which is in essence incorporation of high FEC so that the received signal can be reconstructed after removing errors in the received signal during the short periods of sever fading. The turbo coding ( for example half rate) is used to add additional error correcting bits which are used for error correction in the receiver. The A-VSB is designed to add Turbo coded streams within the main transmitted stream carrying DTV.
It was claimed that by using the SRS and Turbo coding the Synchronization problems between adjacent transmitters can be resolved while making the signal more robust for handheld reception. If ATSC transmitters are able to operate in SFNs as in the case of DVB-H or DVB-T, this will help improve the quality of reception as the signals of adjacent transmitters add to the received signal ( owing to being in phase) and make the reception by handhelds more robust.
Mobile Pedestrian Handheld (MPH™)
An alternative technology for enhancing the capabilities of ATSC transmitters for delivering TV to the mobiles was demonstrated by LG Electronics in cooperation with Harris Corporation and was termed as Mobile Pedestrian Handheld (MPH).
The MPH is based on the use of Enhanced VSB (E-VSB) modulation already approved by the ATSC. E-VSB primarily improves signal reception in far flung areas rather than in the urban areas as it still does not fully address the problem of multi-path propagation.
An advantage of E-VSB standard is the support for MPEG4 and Windows Media 9 (VC1) standards for advanced compression. These are better suited for Mobile TV than MPEG2 as detailed in Chapter 1 of the book. (Introduction to Digital Multimedia). There will need to be a wider availability of receivers for E-VSB for success of this technology.

ATSC-M/H standard
In the meantime the ATSC is working towards finalizing the ATSC-mobile/ handheld reception standard on the lines of the DVB-H enhancements to the DVB-T to enable the reception by handheld terminals.
The proposed ATSC-M/H standard allocates a part of the 19.39 Mbps Multiplex to carry the Mobile/ handheld signals without affecting the transmission to the standard or high definition DTV receivers. The modulation method (8-VSB) does not undergo any change retaining backward compatibility.

Importance of ATSC based standards for Mobile TV

The ATSC based standards are important for USA which has a rapid transition underway for DTV.( To be completed by Feb 2009). Over 1500 stations are already in operation in the US.The availability of a technology which can be used by broadcasters to deliver broadcast signals directly to mobiles presents a very important opportunity. The ATSC based transmissions when introduced will compete with DVB-H technologies such as Modeo and Hi-Wire which are based on the utilization of wireless towers infrastructure rather than broadcast transmitters. ATSC based mobile transmissions have much greater potential for local content and can present an entirely new and niche segment for broadcasting.



 
Mobile TV and iPhone™
With the launch of iPhone™ around the corner on June 29th, the excitement is high. The new mobile device is a 3-in-1(Phone, i-Pod and Internet communicator). The iPhone provides internet connectivity using WiFi (IEEE 802.11b/g) or EDGE. This can enable the use of many applications while in the WiFi Hotspots such as mail( Yahoo or Gmail), browsing and media downloads. Google( including Google Earth™) and Yahoo search engines will be available with the phone.

iPhone has also been enabled for YouTube™ which is a fine way to upload and download vides or watch them streaming. Videos on the phone will use the Apple format and will be based on H.264.

With high projections of sales and penetration, there are some questions on whether the iPhone is targeted for live mobile TV? Watching streaming TV channels is certainly possible using the WiFi or EDGE but the phone has not been enabled for cellular video. Nor will it support MobiTV which is aggregated content as delivered via various operators. With MobiTV ceasing UK operations the US offering form the major base for innovative deliveries which were initiated by MobiTV.

Does it indicate a direction which Apple wishes to set for the industry?
What about the DVB-H, MediaFLO and DMB based Mobile TV broadcast systems?
Or Cellular videos delivered via streaming? Does it have something to do with what Apple believes to be the future of live TV on Mobiles?

iPhone also does not support Flash based videos nor does it support Java. In fact Steve Jobs has been quoted as saying “The iPhone will not support Java applications. Java’s not worth building in. Nobody uses Java anymore. It’s this big heavyweight ball and chain.”

Many of the weather bulletins or animated videos are therefore out if they are based on the use of Flash or Java.

 

Watch out this space for more news!


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