RF Shorts for May 20, 2013

Freeview TV Now Available for Tablet Viewers
Robert Briel writes about a tablet TV for Freeview on BroadbandTVNews.com. This Motive Television technology will allow tablet users to “watch all the programming currently available on the Freeview platform.” Motive's Tablet TV lets the user watch any broadcast TV channel anywhere without needing a hotspot or a fast Internet signal. No subscriptions are needed and Tablet TV includes a PVR for recording programs.

Briel reports, “Video viewing on tablets is rapidly increasing, with recent figures from the BBC showing that tablets have moved ahead of smartphones for its catch-up iPlayer service with 41 million requests in March 2013. According to recent predictions from CCS Insight, 1 billion tablets will be in use worldwide by 2017, and according to research firm Gartner sales of tablets are expected to grow 70 percent to about 200 million this year.”

Motive expects to demonstrate Tablet TV for Freeview later this year.

Tablet Includes Spectrum Analyzer
ElectronicDesign.com describes a spectrum analyzer integrated into a touch tablet in the article Spectrum Analyzer Brings RF Analysis To The Finger Tips. The RF-Vue T10 and RF-Vue T10X spectrum analyzers from Kaltman Creations are integrated into a 10-inch tablet with the full Windows 8 operating system. The T10 covers from 470-700 MHz and the T10X covers 40 MHz up to 2.5 GHz. Electronics/software only versions RF-Vue NT and RF-Vue NTX for USB connection to the user's own tablet or a laptop are also available.

Unique features include “Touch-to-Listen” and an “RF Congestion Scale” to gauge the severity of local RF interference. The RF-Vue T10X is priced at $1,995 and the RF-Vue TX extended frequency software version is priced at $1,350. As of May 16 the products had not appeared on the Kaltman Creations Website.

Comments and RF related news items are welcome. Email me at dlung@transmitter.com.

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.