[opendtv] Re: Public M/H information
- From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:32:28 -0800
2.8 = 2.0?
Actually, I don't think there -- at least initially -- will be much
"competition" between free mobile tv and paid mobile tv.
Basically, in your situation, M/H -- when/if offered on a sprint phone [big
ifs currently in the carrier area, by the way] will 'compete' with something
that you don't use.
If a "critical mass' of broadcasters provide a "crucial core" of current
broadcast fare [sports would appear to require new contractual
relationships] via M/H in a significant national footprint, M/H will drive
-- for the first time -- adoption of mobile video-enabled mobile media
devices.
It's failed in every market where it's been tried, in the sense of not being
a commercial success aside from Japan and China with dedicated national
bandwidth.
But, none of the other systems have involved existing broadcast
infrastructure, and the profit point is high due to high infrastructure and
content costs.
Sports will be an important draw. But, note the language aired in most
sports broadcasts about the content being "licensed for private in-home
viewing." M/H is clearly outside of such license terms. In some cases,
network agreements might not permit inclusion of network content without
additional agreements.
John Willkie
-----Mensaje original-----
De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En
nombre de Tom Barry
Enviado el: Friday, December 19, 2008 4:02 AM
Para: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Asunto: [opendtv] Re: Public M/H information
Yes, I pay for Sprint PCS Vision, but to get unlimited internet at maybe
500-700 kbps, not for TV. A few TV channels like CNN then come free
and others can be subscribed, though I don't. Nor do I really watch CNN
on my phone, but I can.
And my Sprint HTC Mogul phone has 2.8" diagonal screen with a 240x320
(or 320x240) resolution. Like the iphone it can be switchably viewed in
either portrait or landscape mode but is not a wide screen aspect ratio
like M/H recommends.
I'm not claiming my phone is the neatest thing since slice bread but
definitely do believe the mobile phone services will compete with M/H
for low bandwidth video, offering a base line that must be matched.
BTW, I've always liked math and been rather good at it. Take that as
you will. ;-)
- Tom
John Willkie wrote:
> It's always interesting to see what people come away with when they are
> exposed to new things.
>
> Tom, do you actually pay for Sprint PCS Vision? If so, that's funny. You
> don't' get 30fps video in 16:9 with that phone, Tom. And, you only get
> pre-digested clips. As for the iPhone, Craig and I went into that a few
> days back. You see, the iPhone screen is taller than it is wide, Tom.
It's
> 240 wide. And, Tom, a "single screen" handset here is wider than high.
> And, it's 240 high, and 416 wide. Are the numbers hurting your head?
>
> But, it will be possible to stack the video with other video, or map
> presentations, or other data, so that you can have two video sources on --
> say -- a suitably-equipped iPhone, stacked one atop another. The video
size
> is appropriate even in the rear seat of a car, but it might be just a bit
of
> a stretch.
>
> Did you note the part about the possibility of having SVC (scalable video
> coding) in a pay sub-channel, with the main video free? In other words,
> it's possible, bandwidth willing, to offer enhanced video, and even to
> charge for it!
>
> Indeed, with proper business and technical arrangements, it might even be
> possible to have enhanced video (SVC) offered on say a MediaFlo type
> network, and the lower-resolution video on M/H. I could say more, but
much
> of the early, basic considerations, including "system requirements" have
not
> been made public, and will probably never be made public. I'll go out on
a
> limb and say that with M/H it will be technically possible to, say, drive
up
> I-95 and have the same "service" on your screen continuously usable,
despite
> shifting from transmitter to service to service area, and back again.
It's
> all in the metadata ...
>
> I strongly doubt that your 2" wide phone screen presents as much as 240
> pixels, and it certainly doesn't present 416 pixels. The three screen
> heights is for "home viewing" and not too many people will want to watch
m/h
> content at home, where higher resolution screens are available.
>
> It will be very difficult to present M/H content in the same transport
> stream with HD content, at least if there is much motion in the HD
content.
> However, there are several ways of provisioning this service, and Ion
> Networks for one has indicated that they will be interested in talking to
> other broadcasters about providing some of their content in an M/H
> broadcast.
>
> Only time will tell.
>
> Also, there are several ways to charge or not charge for this content.
The
> point is that your Sprint phone cannot offer you network or local content
on
> a day and date basis. M/H can do just that. If you want to watch
> pre-digested clip casts and pay for the privilege, you are free to do
that,
> but you don't pay for cable tv, right? That's why I doubt you make much
use
> of Sprint PCS vision.
>
> PEOPLE DON'T WATCH TECHNOLOGY, they watch content. Ubiquity is the word
> here -- and "don't miss a second."
>
> What you were exposed to in this presentation is a technology that
> broadcasters can use to repurpose (most of) their existing content to a
new
> arena, at a cost of less than $300k.
>
> You were also exposed to at least one hand-held receiver that would
support
> DVB-H, ATSC M/H, MediaFLO, etc in a single unit, with -- ahem -- a unified
> Electronic Service Guide. You were also exposed for the first time to a
> rich media environment (OMA-RME for traffic maps, and eventually
> location-based presentations. One that ALSO works across all the above
> media platforms.
>
> What you talk about is the "chimp" of Sprint PCS Vision (a unicast, not
> broadcast) system, and screen size. You are lucky if your 2" phone even
has
> 120 pixels across, Tom.
>
> 120 pixels across a 2" screen is 60 pixels per inch. Which is a fairly
high
> dot pitch. It's simply math, but Barbie says "Math is hard."
>
> John Willkie
>
>
>
>
> -----Mensaje original-----
> De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En
> nombre de Tom Barry
> Enviado el: Thursday, December 18, 2008 8:19 PM
> Para: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Asunto: [opendtv] Re: Public M/H information
>
> Interesting. I'm not sure 240p will be enough even for mobile. It has
> to compete with what I can get already as part of my Sprint PCS Vision
> plan and is I think already less than the rez of an iphone.
>
> Supposedly at a viewing distance of 3 screen heights the sweet spot for
> human vision is about 1080p. I guess I view my 2" high phone screen
> (sideways) at maybe 8 screen heights viewing distance so it would peak
> out at about a resolution of 1080p * 3/8, or about 405 lines even for
> that very small screen. I'm guessing even smart phones will soon have
> an average resolution of above 240p.
>
> But maybe a free advertising supported mobile simulcast of the network
> HD broadcast could still be viable. ??
>
> - Tom
>
> John Willkie wrote:
>> http://www.oab.org/cffm/custom/PDFs/Jay%20Adrick%20presentation.pdf
>>
>>
>>
>> which tends to open the tent door quite a bit .
>>
>>
>>
>> John Willkie
>>
>>
>
>
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