Mobile DTV arrives!

Yes, mobile DTV has been around for a while, starting with Samsung's demonstration of A-VSB at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in 2006 and continuing with dueling demo buses touting the benefits of Samsung and Rohde and Schwarz based A-VSB versus the LG/Harris MPH system at NAB 2007 and 2008. Thanks to the efforts of OMVC and OTAG and work by ATSC, a unified ATSC mobile standard, A/153 was finalized in October 2010. While many stations around the country began mobile DTV broadcasts, receiver options were limited. It wasn't until 2012 with the launch of Dyle TV by the Mobile Content Venture and the inclusion of a mobile DTV receiver in the MetroPCS Samsung Lightray smart phone that mobile DTV became a commercial reality. In November Elgato released the EyeTV mobile tuner for iPad and iPhones.

There is still work to be done before mobile DTV can be considered a commercial success. Early reviews of the devices had few complaints about reception, but many complaints about the limited number of channels involved. Reviewers also didn't like the extra antenna on the Lightray and the need to use an adapter with the EyeTV mobile tuner to connect it to the new smaller Apple connector. Picture quality didn't appear to be an issue with the Lightray but when the 416x240 base profile video was expanded to fill the iPad's screen compression artifacts and the lack of resolution became more noticeable. A/153 allows for higher resolution and increasing the data rate will reduce compression artifacts. The challenge will be finding the extra bandwidth for higher data rates without impacting station's main HD and multicast channels. The antenna issues may be aided through the use of tunable antennas. The growing number of bands now being used for smartphones and tablets has resulted in more research going into this area, as outlined the FCC forum on spectrum proliferation.

>We should get a glimpse of the next generation of ATSC mobile DTV devices soon at CES 2013 for both Dyle and MyDTV.

Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.