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TV On Cellphones Ever Closer
Yurian writes "Seems that the new breed of cell-phones are being readied to receive digital TV. The standard has been finalized and handsets are in test.
The emergence of DVB-H explains a puzzling purchase made last year by Crown Castle of Houston, Texas. The company, which runs the BBC's transmitter network in the UK, paid $12 million for a 5-megahertz slice of coast-to-coast radio spectrum in the US.
At the time no one knew why. But Crown Castle transmitters near Pittsburgh are already broadcasting DVB-H to prototype Nokia mobile TV phones. That purchase may turn out to be an amazing bargain, considering other operators paid billions for 3G licenses which were originally meant to deliver video services."
Near Pittsburgh? I live in Pittsburgh. Is there a way I could obtain a cell phone that could tap into the digital TV service?
-b0lt
got sig?
Who really needs to watch TV on a cellphone?
Why is this necessary when some networks and/or aggregators are already allowing content providers to send content via the 3G cellular network? Isn't this a better path anyway, being circuit switched and having a return path for video, audio and interactive feedback?
A quick search on Google for "video short codes" brings up:
3
MX TELECOM
So I watch the news on my phone, and the battery gets drained faster then me after 10 beers. Great going. For me phones need to do 2 things: 1. Being able to make a phone call 2. Being able to send a short message. THe rest is voodoo mumbo jumbo. Who concurs?
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I've seen a prototype 3G phone playing a live TV stream. I agree with a lot of others - what's the point? I've heard that FOX is already developing short clips targeted at mobile phones. This sounds just like another annoying thing people will do with their phones in public places without using headphones.
Perhaps someday I'll understand why the mobile phone has become a target for all entertainment. I never thought ringtones could become a multi-billion dollar business, but it is. Maybe TV-on-mobile will become the same way. Or maybe it will lose its novelty quickly. Either way, the carriers stand to make cash from it.
That doesn't mean we need more technology to make already irresponsble drivers even more so. Speaking on cell phones is dangerous enough while driving. Do we really need them watching TV at the same time? If you insist that they won't watch it when driving, when will they? At home? No. They will most likely do it while driving.
A blog like any other.
Will UK users have to pay TV licensing fees for these TV phones?
Online backup with Mozy, sounds like Ozzie, but more!
Here in Australia, Optus Zoo have been streaming the ABC (that's the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) and CNN live for quite some time now. It's been available ever since I got my Nokia 6600 phone, and that was back in March or so.
:(
It's not exactly something I do a lot of, but it is cool to show people. The quality is roughly equivalent to RealMedia files circa 1997. Damn Optus and it's slow GPRS network
The parent poster was being facetious, but according to a presentation on sleep disorders that I saw recently for this class (sorry, no slides posted for the sleep lecture) insomnia is prevalent among professionals* because they are too good at occupying time with their own thoughts. From a system of schooling, and from the high pressure careers that result we become very adept at multitasking, and the brain itself becomes fond of churning out a continuous stream of thoughts. You may have noticed this yourself as your mind races through some current problem as you lie awake at midnight.
/. readers are multitasking professionals of some sort.]
[* "professionals" implied physicians in this case, but this is just as relevant for programmers. And sorry for the "they"/"we" shift -- I'm assuming
The speaker is the medical director of the sleep program of a major regional hospital, which in itself is a high pressure position. Despite this he places a priority on getting 8.5 hours of sleep/night. Among the tidbits in his lecture was advice to train ourselves to turn off the chatter of the brain. This would be both to allow for restful and quick sleep and for safer driving, to mention another relevant example where having one's head filled with thoughts may not be ideal.
Given the above, it might not be so ridiculous that some might want to tune out without thinking when riding on the subway to or from work. On the other hand, I do hope that no one turns off their mental chatter while driving only to substitute watching TV on their cell phone...