Kenwood gives MPHT boost with mobile TV receiver

First comes the technology, then come the devices. Just eight months after Mobile-Pedestrian-Handheld Technology was announced to enable local broadcasters to deliver digital signals to portable TV screens, Kenwood USA Corp. has harnessed the technology to design a mobile TV receiver for over-the-air broadcasts in North America.
In just a few short years, TV viewership has gone from an at-home experience to one that gives viewers the option to watch wherever they go. Fast-moving vehicles have come well within that reach. The prototype in-car Kenwood MPHT receivers are designed to bring terrestrial broadcast digital TV to viewers on the go, particularly those in fast-moving vehicles.
No product is being introduced at this point because the MPHT system has not yet been adopted as a standard for mobile digital TV broadcasts. Kenwood USA is, however, demonstrating the technology on a prototype that will be featured at the 2008 International CES next month.
“At Kenwood, we have been watching the emerging market for mobile terrestrial digital TV with great interest,” said Shoichiro Eguchi, president of Kenwood USA. “With technologies like MPHT paving the way, the in-car digital TV market will be enormous.”
It’s yet to be seen whether MPHT will make any waves in the cellphone market. For the moment, its backers appear to be focused on delivering digital television to handheld devices, such as battery-operated TV sets or TV screens installed in the headrests of vehicles. However, if MPHT gains enough steam-and it very well could considering the fact local broadcasters could deliver the transmission alongside their digital TV broadcasts all while requiring hardly any new equipment or cost-the impact on cellular-based TV services could be significant.
Moreover, few traditional wireless carriers would allow a chipset to be included in their cellphones that might circumvent their network and provide little to no revenue. MPHT can be spearheaded directly by local broadcasters, and give broadcast stations an opportunity to reclaim some control in the mobile environment.
The mobile broadcast TV market has become rather convoluted of late. At least 11 technologies are competing for designation as the ATSC-M/H standard, which has clout in the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Canada, South Korea, Guatemala and Costa Rica as the adopted digital TV standard.
That field has been cut to at least three competing technologies, said Dave Glidden, VP of marketing operations at Harris Broadcast Communications, a company that helped develop the MPHT technology. Glidden anticipates the Advanced Television Systems Committee will designate a standard in the next six months.
One could assume that whatever standard rises to the top when the group makes a decision for mobile, the technology would likely be paramount for the offering in each of those countries.
“There’s a lot of interest and need to get this technology out and prepared and ready for the broadcasters so they can come to market with solutions at least when analog goes away,” Glidden added.
MPHT debuted last April at the National Association of Broadcasters convention.