Mobile TV
From Mobileradicals
As is the case with mobile phones, it’s expected that different transmission standards for mobile digital TV will be adopted in different world areas. In this project we are monitoring and analysing each solution in terms of both the technical challenges and the consumer acceptance.
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DMB
Digital Multimedia Broadcasting: This is an extension of the DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting)standard which was started in some European countries (including Germany and others) without success. The government of South Korea has invested heavily to extend the audio-only technologyto enable multimedia broadcast (now called DMB), and it appears likely that South Korea will adopt this standard, in both a Satellite (S-DMB) and Terrestrial (T-DMB) version. Recently, a technical trial of the DMB standard was conducted by Germany’s T-Systems in preparation for the World Cup 2006.
DVB-H
Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld: an extension of the DVB-T (Terrestrial) standard now being used for digital service to TV sets in Europe. Programming is fed from satellites to transmission towers, and then distributed to receiving devices. It’s designed to accommodate the unique reception requirements imposed by mobile users and the limits of an antenna embedded in the handset.
ISDB-T
Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial: a satellite-to-tower system similar to DVB-T, today used in Japan to provide digital service to TV sets and handheld mobile units. It has a bandwidth of 5.6MHz with 13 channels embedded.
MBMS
Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service: uses the 3G pipe to send streaming video and audio to subscribers via 3G cellular networks. There are 2 modes: broadcast, and multicast. However, many design issues remain in order to provide multicast service. Overlaying MBMS to 3G networks will impact the network capacity for individualized voice and data (for which the networks were originally designed – and which many operators have invested large sums of money to acquire.)
FLO
Forward Link Only: a Qualcomm-proposed technology and network that uses a limited number of high-power transmission towers. In one of its operation modes, the technology provides network-scheduled delivery of multimedia content over the network during off-peak hours. The content is then stored on the handset for future viewing.
IPDC
Internet Protocol Datacasting: an IP-based service used to deliver audio, video, data and graphics via virtually any type of broadband pipes. When the data/playload is TV content, it is also called IPTV. Both DVB-H and MBMS are a form of IPDC. Using IPCD, data can be multi-casted simultaneously to a large number of subscribers uni-directionally. Since the transmission of data is through the IP pipes, this scheme could take advantage of the emerging IP-centric interfaces such as WiMAX (806.16x), and WiFi (802.11x).
