[opendtv] Re: Public M/H information
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:02:53 -0500
At 11:29 AM -0800 12/21/08, John Willkie wrote:
Craig;
At the last NAB, LG, Samsung and Audiovox showed ATSC m/h prototype
receivers. It looks like the patent disclosure statements for A/153 aren't
public, but each of the above have significant included patents.
Yes, I saw all of these and wrote about them.
Of course, it's 'kind of foolish' at this point to say that anybody is
putting M/H into phones since they have to embed their stuff into silicon,
and we don't have even a publicly-available candidate standard, but that
should change within a few weeks.
It is foolish to say that they will put these into phones, as no
carrier in the U.S. has even shown much interest in the M/H standard.
As I said, it will fall upon the broadcasters and CE companies to
build the market for the service - if it is successful then, and only
then, is it likely that the telcos might sell phones that support M/H.
Boy, oh, boy do you go out on a limb continuously to fan Apple. "i-tunes"
tagging in non-iPods and iPhones is an example of Apple playing in the HD
radio space? One of the reasons I won't consider an iPod or iPhone is
because neither permits me to use radio, and I would like to carry fewer
portable devices, not more. (I usually carry an am/fm radio.)
iTunes Tagging is a feature built into MANY HD Radios that ALSO
include support for the connection of an iPod:
http://www.hdradio.com/iTunes_Tagging/
This is the direct result of Apple working with manufacturers of HD
radios to create and support a feature that is viewed as being
valuable to the consumer, thus enhancing the overall HD radio
experience. This feature is also heavily advertised in the current HD
radio campaign.
You are among a significant population of end users who would like to
have radio capabilities included with an iPod - I would note that
this is one area where the Zune has an advantage over the iPod.
There are third party radio adapters for the iPod, but the main focus
to date has been to use an iPod as an accessory to a car radio or a
radio/speaker system with an iPod dock.
http://www.hdradio.com/buyers_guide.php?prime=itunes&price=any#BuyersGuideController
There has been considerable speculation that Apple will add an HD
radio tuner to future iPods, but nothing has appeared to date.
I can safely say that it is quite unlikely that M/H will offer much in the
way of useable bits for iPods or iPhones -- like content tagging -- absent
one or the other offering -- say -- an ATSC m/h reception capability.
It is also safe to say that iTunes tagging is built upon the metadata
that broadcasters provide as part of the HD radio service. Apple did
not need to get broadcasters to add a feature to support the iPod,
they worked with CE manufacturers to exploit a standard feature of
the service. This can easily be done, if broadcasters provide useful
bits in the M/H service, beyond the elementary audio and video
streams.
I don't see Apple listed as an ATSC member http://www.atsc.org/members/ but
Microsoft, MobiTv, Samsung, LG, Qualcomm, and many others are so listed.
i don't see these companies having significant market share in
mobile/hand held devices, and it is certainly a stretch to believe
that supporting M/H is going to change this marketplace reality.
Apple is free to play catch-up. If they start now, they can have their hype
in full-swing by next Christmas, when many of the others will be at a fever
pitch.
Catch-up?
With who or what other than themselves?
Regards
Craig
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