Disqus
N96: rocks DVB-H goodness!
Echoing what I have been saying recently about DVB-H vs DVB-T “Mobile” TV, Broadband TV News has a piece on exactly that. Essentially, devices that have a DVB-T tuner can take advantage of FTA terrestrial services, breaking any kind of value chain that could have existed if the device’s tuner were DVB-H.
The article does take in a new report from Juniper Research which is talking about the effect of these DVB-T handsets – however, instead of going over that, I’ll break the situation down for y’all very quickly myself….
DVB-H - made for mobile devices, very advanced error protection in broadcast, and clever use of time-slicing of signal that preserves battery life by switchin of receiver for up to 80% of the time. However, massive network rollout costs, and getting installer user base to buy new handsets are huge obstacles to mass adoption.
DVB-T – made of home-based receivers, such as TVs – as a standard, not great when applied to mobile devices as you usually need a large antenna (show me a mobile device that doesn’t have a big antenna….!). Also wears battery down on Mobile devices as receiver has to be on all the time. BUT, mobile devices with a DVB-T tuner can access free-to-air existing services, and no additional network investment needed. Operators make nothing from FTA services, so they are not behind adoption of DVB-T!
So that’s pretty much it – opposite ends of the spectrum, and there are devices in the market for each standard. Interestingly, the Mobile TV chips vendors are variously making I/C chips with all the Mobile TV standards – nothing like hedging your bets!
[Via: Broadband TV News]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
-
Simon Sage
