Mobile Applications – Mobile Digital Television

1. Mobile Applications – Mobile Digital Television Nour El Kadri University of Ottawa Based on Jani Kurhinen notes

2. Mobile digital television • Fixed location television broadcast is already digitalized. • Television is the only major media still missing from mobile terminals. • Mobile television is the next logical step. • It provides possibilities to enrich viewer experience. • Not for replacing, but to support fixed television.

3. Mobile digital television • EU requires a common strategy for mobile TV in Europe. • Economical, legislative and technical understanding. • Several pilots in different parts of the world. • Increasing number of running services. • A few technologies exist. • Broadcast and unicast.

4. Mobile television users • Currently the users are not average people. • Technology-oriented, young generation. • Anytime-anywhere information access is a natural service. • TV is just another information channel.

5. Mobile television users • User behavior differs from fixed TV. • Shorter watching periods. • Selected content. • Helps killing time. • Or exploits waiting time. • In some cases mobile terminals turn TV to a personal service. • In-home mobility.

6. Mobile television users • Users expects new type of content. • Existing content is also required, but is not enough. • Content and presentation are crucial elements. • Time critical services. • Location related services. • Entertainment, news, …

7. Mobile television users • Mobile handset is an interactive device. • Note: Mobile TV != Mobile multimedia. • User studies have shown that TV still has a special status. • It is somehow different from web-based multimedia. • Probably because mobile TV is not yet part of our everyday life.

8. Mobile television business opportunities • Mobile phone penetration already high in the Western countries. • Numbers are increasing fast elsewhere. • Mobile television has been expected to rise already many times. • Not yet there • Terminal/service availability, pricing, content.

9. Mobile television business opportunities • EU prediction: in 2011 500 million users globally. • Gartner: in 2010 360 million users. • Asian countries developing fast. • Attitudes towards new technology open minded. • Adoption of mobile television at the same time as mobile telephony.

10. Mobile TV pilot in Helsinki • The world's first commercial mobile TV pilot • The pilot was conducted between March and June 2005 with 500 users accessing mobile TV using DVB-H technology. • Mobile TV users spent approximately 20 minutes a day watching mobile TV • More active users watched between 30 to 40 minutes per session.

11. Mobile TV pilot in Helsinki • Participants wanted to watch familiar program offerings • They would also welcome mobile TV content that is suitable for short and occasional viewing. • Participants watched mobile TV at different times than traditional TV peak hours.

12. Mobile TV pilot in Helsinki • Mobile TV was most popular • while traveling on public transport to relax or • to keep up to date with the latest news. • Also proved popular at home for entertainment and complementing participants' main TV watching.

13. Mobile TV pilot in Helsinki • 41% willing to pay for the service. • Pilot members were charged a monthly fee of 4.90€ • Half of those that took part thought 10€ per month was a reasonable price to pay. • Users preferred a fixed pricing model • Many were also interested in a pay-per-view model

14. Requirements for quality • Transmission bandwidth, frame rate and resolution set the basic technical parameters. • Technical quality does not directly reflect to experienced quality. • Human physiology sets another requirements. • Not too close, but still close enough. • Pixel size must be relative to less than half meter watching distance.

15. Requirements for quality • Conflict in user requirements: • Devices should be small and light. • Bigger screen is more approachable and easier to remember.

16. Quality of experience • How does a user see, hear and feel the service? • QoE correlates strongly on acceptance of technology. • Ear is a sensitive organ. • Monitors even small changes in audio signal. • 25 pictures/sec is enough to create illusion of moving pictures.

17. Quality of experience • Quality parameters: • Sharpness of the picture • Naturality of the picture • Smoothness in motion, colors • Video/audio synchronization • Clarity of audio • More important than video quality in many cases.

18. Quality of experience • QoE studies: • QoE requirements are relative to content. • Subtitles set a limit for video.

19. Quality of experience • QoE studies: • With small screens, resolution affects more than with bigger ones. • Slower frame rate does not necessary weaken QoE if other parameters are fine. • Users accept different problems with narrowband and broadband technology. • Requires that the user understand the meaning of a transmission technology.

20. Mobile TV technologies • Broadcast or unicast? • Transmission method depends on several user-related parameters. • Scheduled vs. on-demand • Communication cost • Additional technology requirement • Transmission range, off-line • Quality

21. Mobile TV technologies • DVB-H is the major broadcast technology. • DVB-H is part of the DVB-T standard that is currently used to deliver terrestrial digital television content • It benefits from existing DVB-T infrastructure components • Reduces initial investments • DMB and MediaFLO are other competing technologies.

22. DVB-T • DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting —– Terrestrial; • It is the DVBEuropean-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television • This system transmits compressed digital audio, video and other data in an MPEG transport stream, using COFDM modulation • Also used in Europe are DVB-C and DVB-S • Another well-known protocol is Digital Video Broadcasting–Multimedia Home Platform (DVB-MHP)

23. DVB-H • DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) is one of three prevalent mobile TV formats. • It is a technical specification for bringing broadcast services to mobile handsets. • DVB-H was formally adopted as ETSI standard EN 302 304 in November 2004.

24. DVB-H • DVB-H offers high-speed streaming video that can be used either on its own or as a piggyback signal on existing mobile telecommunication networks • The signals are designed to account for the limited battery life of small handheld devices by employing a technique called time-slicing, in which bursts of data are sent periodically and then stored, avoiding the need for a constant battery drain • The signals are also designed to account for the varied environments in which DVB-H viewers watch those signals • A portable video viewer can be taken many places that cable-bound TVs can't.

25. DVB-H • From March 2008, DVB-H is officially endorsed by the European Union as the "preferred technology for terrestrial mobile broadcasting". • The major competitor of this technology is Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB). • DVB-SH (Satellite services to Handhelds) now and DVB-H2 in the future are possible enhancements to this technology, providing improved spectral efficiency and better modulation flexibility.

26. Mobile TV technologies http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/mobile-tv-opportunities-and-challenges

27. Mobile TV technologies • Unicasting over cellular data network. • Smaller bandwidth, poorer quality. • Existing infrastructure. • Transmission and receiving! • Point-to-point connections in practice the only solution. • Some other technologies exists, but are irrelevant globally.