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Why don't modern devices take advantage of free OTA braodcasts? FCC regs? Power requirements? I remember reading about Japanese devices that could receive UHF/V
by ethagknight 12y ago
Why don't modern devices take advantage of free OTA braodcasts? FCC regs? Power requirements? I remember reading about Japanese devices that could receive UHF/VHF TV back in the day, and I always thought it was neat. Seems like a lot of freely available content that is being ignored in favor of more complicated, lower quality, and high bandwidth delivery methods.
- joezydeco 12y agoThe US and EU finalized DVB-H in the early 2000s. Digital broadcast television with a transmission standard that was good for battery life on mobile receivers. The current US broadcast standard ATSC-8VSB doesn't work well with a receiver in motion and needs a lot more receiver power. I worked on a number of prototype devices with this technology. Qualcomm even launched a service in the USA using their DVB-H variant called MediaFLO. Target and Best Buy sold MediaFLO player units! We were ready to go. Test transmissions were happening all over the world...and then the iPhone launched. People could watch YouTube on their phones and the desire for mobile broadcast TV evaporated, literally, overnight. MediaFLO shut down about a year after launch. (ATSC-8VSB eventually adapted to the technical needs for mobile, but nobody cares anymore).