14 DAY TRIAL // LG Electronics and its U.S. research subsidiary, Zenith Electronics, announced they have joined forces with Harris Corporation to develop a new in-band mobile digital television (DTV) technology. The MPH (Mobile-Pedestrian-Handheld) in-band mobile DTV system will make its debut at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention, April 14-19 in Las Vegas.
"The results of our joint development with LG Electronics are in response to our customers' interest in a compelling, in-band mobile solution. The versatile, robust MPH system is the first that strikes the right balance for broadcasters looking to deliver both high-definition programming to fixed receivers and standard-definition programming and datacasting to mobile and handheld devices," said Tim Thorsteinson, president of Harris Broadcast Communications.
The MPH system is a multiple-stream approach, with the main service stream for existing DTV and HDTV services, and the MPH stream for one or more mobile, pedestrian or handheld services. The key attributes of the MPH system include: backward compatibility with the existing ATSC 8-VSB transmission and receiving equipment; the capability to receive broadcast signals at high speeds with a single antenna; the use of practical, small handheld receivers without the need for multiple antennas; power savings in handheld receivers; flexibility in both data rates and robustness; data-rate efficiency; and the use of advanced video and audio coding in the MPH stream. The MPH system has the additional advantage for broadcasters of involving neither outside service providers nor spectrum-pooling arrangements.
During the NAB convention, in addition to conducting the live mobile demonstrations, LG Electronics, Zenith and Harris will disclose results of field testing under real-world conditions for mobile and handheld services. Further details will be discussed at a joint Harris-LG press conference in Las Vegas on April 15.