Mobile
Dell netbooks fuel DC mobile TV field trials
Michelle Clancy ©RapidTVNews | 03-09-2010
Dell is using chipsets from MaxLinear to power netbooks for the ATSC-M/H field trials now ongoing in Washington, DC.
The MaxLinear-equipped mobile devices see use in a nine-station mobile TV consumer trial sponsored by the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) . More than 200 consumers have been equipped with the specially designed beta Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Netbooks, and join the 160 users with Sprint-Nextel Corp. mobile phones as part of the trials which started in July and will run through October 2010.
MaxLinear is also inside "USB stick" DTV receivers from Hauppauge Computer Works, which are also currently rolling out.
More than 100 TV stations in the US alone are broadcasting mobile DTV services in the ATSC-M/H format, including stations in 15 of the top 20 local markets. For TV stations, the cost of broadcasting channels in both ATSC and ATSC-M/H formats is relatively minor and opens up new ways to reach consumers. Even though the U.S. is the largest consumer market using the ATSC broadcast standard, it has also been adopted by Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Honduras and others.
"Consumers are expected to rapidly adjust to being able to view digital broadcast TV anywhere, any time on just about any device, an activity made possible by ATSC-M/H technology," said Jim Clardy, mobile TV technology strategist at Dell, in a statement. "Dell has been an ardent supporter of ATSC-M/H technology and considers it a key element of the Dell product strategy to merge personal technology with digital TV entertainment."
