I Want My M(obile) TV!

[Pat Logsdon]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.dottocomu.com/b/archives/001255.html' target='_blank'>http://www.dottocomu.com/b/archives/001255.html</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/logsdon_20040409_e805tv.jpg" /> <br /><br />According to Dottocomu, Toshiba has put a TV tuner in a phone. "Vodafone Japan's latest handset, out in late April, is its second phone with a built-in TV tuner. The Toshiba-made V401T one-ups the previous model, NEC's V601N, by including an FM tuner as well as the TV, plus a 2.2-inch QVGA screen that should take some of the pain out of viewing at such reduced dimensions. It's possible to record stills and movies from TV broadcasts, though the lack of an external memory card limits you to 12 minutes at five frames per second using the 24MB of internal memory."<br /><br />The TV tuner apparently sucks a lot of juice from the phones (they only last about an hour), but that's to be expected - cell phones don't have very large batteries. Could there be a mockup somewhere deep in the R&amp;D bowels of Toshiba that integrates a TV tuner with an e-805 form factor, screen and battery? Combine the tuner with the already excellent ATI graphics chip in the unit, and you'd have a seriously killer device. What do you think? Would you like to see TV in a future Pocket PC, or would you rather rot your brain in a more productive way? :mrgreen:

[piperpilot]

I don't know if I would want a built-in TV tuner--the antennae make the device look a little to "retro" for my liking--but I would definitely be interested in an SDIO-based TV tuner that I could carry around in my Podzilla to kill time at the airport or to tune in to breaking news.

[Horus]

I'm about 95% sure that Samsung did ship a PPC in Korea that had a built in TV tuner. Mobile video is seen as an important business segment particularly in Asia.
They must have better stuff on their broadcast channels than we have! I'd need a dish on my PPC to be happy. :-)

[piperpilot]

I'd need a dish on my PPC to be happy. :-)

Now you're talking :rock on dude!:

[possmann]

That would be cool - pop in an SD card that has a TV tuner and an attahcment (maybe) for an antenna...

Not a bad idea!

[24va]

have the TV card, and antenna separate. Place BT in the antenna and BT the signal to the PPC

[manywhere]

I'm wanting DVB-H TV, which should be well formatted for the Pocket PC and consumes little power. Just like on the Nokia phone 7700 (http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,6771,47550,00.html) coming out sometime...
Plus the MPEG-2 DVB format isn't that hard to decode either. I just wonder how the IP datacasting works on a radio technology basis...

[Aerestis]

haha, no thankyou

[Zack Mahdavi]

have the TV card, and antenna separate. Place BT in the antenna and BT the signal to the PPC

This sounds like a great idea... it would be nice to have a "TV module" that you can connect to your Pocket PC via bluetooth. It's like the new GPS modules that are coming out in groves.

[Dermot81]

sorry unless the picture comes in high def, i'm not interested!

[enemy2k2]

I wouldn't mind a tv tuner add on, it would be a cool option. But to build it in is probably not a great idea - it would just kill the battery in no time and add a lot of bulk. Radio tuners on the other hand are a great idea to have built in with none of the above disadvantages - and they're cheap. Make it so. Thanks :D

[Horus]

TV tuners don't need power when they aren't in use - it is exactly the same as a radio tuner, they are both RF.

[enemy2k2]

yeah, I worded that wrong. Radio tuners take minimal power when on. I was referring to the tv tuner being in use, which is why it would make a nice option but not as part of a PPC it would add a lot of cost as well. It would be nice to have the option to buy a PPC with built in tv, but I think the module idea is better for those reasons.

[The PocketTV Team]

Whow!

Now, thats a real "PocketTV" :)

[ultraman]

Here is the image for the TV Phone.

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/images/2707_large.jpg

[Steven Cedrone]

But isn't the Gov't (at least here in the U.S.) trying to kill "broadcast" TV? Don't they want to reallocate the part of the spectrum that broadcast TV uses?

Steve

[Janak Parekh]

But isn't the Gov't (at least here in the U.S.) trying to kill "broadcast" TV? Don't they want to reallocate the part of the spectrum that broadcast TV uses?
Yes, but it's not going to happen overnight. In fact, I think it'll still take 5+ years for it to happen... I think 2007 is the earliest possible.

--janak

[Steven Cedrone]

Yes, but it's not going to happen overnight. In fact, I think it'll still take 5+ years for it to happen... I think 2007 is the earliest possible.

In that case, I'd probably buy one! :wink:

Steve

[jlp]

Here is the image for the TV Phone.

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/images/2707_large.jpg

Duh!! with an image the size of a thumbnail -litterally- this phone is useless as a TV.

OTOH fullscreen on a 4" VGA screen might be acceptable.

AFAIK someone already makes a CF card TV tuner for PPCs 8)

[jlp]

http://www.eopstech.com/

[Sven Johannsen]

But isn't the Gov't (at least here in the U.S.) trying to kill "broadcast" TV? Don't they want to reallocate the part of the spectrum that broadcast TV uses?
Yes, but it's not going to happen overnight. In fact, I think it'll still take 5+ years for it to happen... I think 2007 is the earliest possible.

--janak

And with the current requirement for Broadcasters to supply HDTV signals, and the resulting requirement/desire for consumers to get HDTV receivers based on those broadcasts, I'd think it will be a while before broadcast TV goes away altogether.

[manywhere]

http://www.eopstech.com/
Seen that before on PPCT. The problem is that it requires additional AAA batteries and the CF card itself seems so clumsy that I wouldn't like carrying that around... 8O
Anyways, analog TV is so out after 2008 (or when was it again?) whereafter the only TV broadcasts in Finland are digital DVB-T, -C and -S... and DVB-H I hope! :D

HDTV for Pocket PC is nothing to hope for in the near future, rather it seems to be something way, way into the future when PPCs have XVGA displays, voice enabled control and fuel cells. :lol:

[MrPlastic]

is everyone forgetting satellite tv? samsung is developing a chip for use in smartphones and ppcs, and i saw the ceo of xm satellite radio in an interview just last week saying that company is considering offering tv in the future. it's amazing, but apparently the technology is close at hand for a satellite receiver small enough to fit in a handheld. how about them apples?

[Zack Mahdavi]

is everyone forgetting satellite tv? samsung is developing a chip for use in smartphones and ppcs, and i saw the ceo of xm satellite radio in an interview just last week saying that company is considering offering tv in the future. it's amazing, but apparently the technology is close at hand for a satellite receiver small enough to fit in a handheld. how about them apples?

Now that's incredibly awesome. I'm surprised they can slim down those satellite receivers that much, as just a few years ago, those now practically-deprecated Globalstar satellite phones were much larger than a regular cell phone.

[MrPlastic]

i would imagine it would be a run-of-the-mill phone (GSM or CDMA) with an integrated satellite tuner for the XM radio and (possibly, hopefully) TV function. More likely they'll develop an app for the PPC first, since I can imagine the circuitry being a bit more complex within a phone. but it's coming, and soon. the microantenna for the XM Roady is already less than half the size of your palm, and only millimeters thick. So we'll be seeing some really cool devices in the not-too-distant future! Imagine the power of a PPC with all it's various program options, plus a phone, plus a 3-4 megapixel cam with movie capabilities, plus the satellite TV/radio/GPS! But no one will build all that into one device cuz you'd never need to buy anything again... Capitalist pigs! hehe! jk...