Samsung Demos Mobile DTV Format

Samsung demonstrated at CES 2007 an upgraded, backward-compatible over-air DTV standard that would enable broadcasters to transmit TV programs to portable and mobile devices, including cellular phones, installed car TVs and battery-powered hand-held TVs, according to TWICE Magazine.

The A-VSB (Advanced Vestigal Side Band) upgrade to the current 8-VSB standard could be implemented by broadcasters at low cost, possibly with just a software upgrade, said John Godfrey, VP of government and public affairs for Samsung Information Systems America, a corporate R&D lab. Without hampering reception by current DTV sets, A-VSB would enable stations to broadcast HD signals to future DTV sets and portable units with improved reception while sending standard-definition (SD) to in-vehicle mobile receivers at highway speeds, he contended.

Samsung has teamed with Sinclair Broadcast Group to promote the standard to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), which adopted 8-VSB as the U.S. DTV standard and has begun formal tests of A-VSB, Godfrey said. The tests could be completed in early 2007, and adoption could occur as early as the first half of 2007 if the committee likes what it sees, he said.

Without scuttling 8-VSB's current modulation scheme, the proposed standard will improve 8-VSB's ability to cope with dynamic, or rapidly changing, interference of the type occurring when a vehicle is in motion or when pedestrians or vehicles move past a hand-held digital TV in a public setting.