Will we ever again see a "wristwatch TV"?

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by scrivener

... if cellphone makers wanted to, they easily could equip units with the ATSC m/h mobile chip. But they won't, because they want Americans to PAY for broadcast TV, and they've convinced a segment of the broadcast industry (which increasingly has become the wanna-be PAY TV industry), to go along with their plan to require that Americans SIGN UP to receive mobile TV signals, even those that simulcast existing TV stations.

Correction: the cell phone makers are eager to do this. But cellphones are marketed through cellphone service providers who subsidize the cost of the phones and determine what features go into the phones.

[jr_tech]

Anybody here had a chance to play with a ATSC M/H receiver yet... is it really much more robust for mobile applications?

jr

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Anybody here had a chance to play with a ATSC M/H receiver yet... is it really much more robust for mobile applications?

jr

Yes and yes.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

Yes and yes.

Care to mention a brand and model number? Other than USB tuners for computers, I am not finding anything like a portable TV that uses the ATSC M/H scheme. I should have 4 stations in my area... I wanna play!

jr

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Care to mention a brand and model number? Other than USB tuners for computers, I am not finding anything like a portable TV that uses the ATSC M/H scheme. I should have 4 stations in my area... I wanna play!

jr

Sorry, don't know where you can buy one yet. There have been demos at CES and NAB conventions, and a long-term trial in DC.

[scrivener]

RCA introduced a line of ATSC m/h hand-held sets a year ago -- and quietly discontinued the line late last year. Radio Shack was selling a non-mobile hand-held DTV by Auvio which worked well while stationary, but never even tried to market the mobile version. Why? IMO, there is a conspiracy to make mobile DTV a subscription medium with pay channel add-ons, but to get the "free" OTA channels, the industry wants a registration requirement. This is truly creepy and fascist, reeking of Big Brother. Broadcasters are now controlled by broadband interests, and FREE OTA TV is endangered. That is why I have posted this modest proposal for a wristwatch mobile DTV on the Facebook pages of Timex, Seiko, Armitron, Swatch, RCA, Sony and other companies. Take a look at the "everyone" posts at those Facebook pages today and you may see my proposal.