LG-Harris Mobile DTV Platform Could Reach Market By 2009
LAS VEGAS -- The LG-Harris Mobile Pedestrian Handheld (MPH) mobile DTV system could be enter the U.S. market by February 2009 or within 12 months after adoption of a mobile ATSC standard, Harris CEO Howard Lance told a Sunday CES news conference here.
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LG is shipping sample quantities of the single-chip MPH decoder at the heart of the proposed system, with volume production possible by September and products following by February 2009, said Woo Paik, chief technology officer at LG. Much depends on the ATSC setting a standard for mobile digital TV by mid-year. The Advanced-VSB System being proposed by LG rival Samsung also is under consideration. Interestingly, Sinclair Broadcast Group, whose local affiliate demonstrated A-VSB at the 2007 CES, is providing the demo platform for MPH at this year’s CES.
MPH is suitable for cellphones, digital media players, notebook PCs, USB dongles and GPS devices, but LG’s initial thrust likely would be in GPS devices, Tim Alessi, director of product development, told us. Building TV reception into mobile products would carry a “minimal” cost, Paik said. LG is developing the MPH chip, which is compatible with H.264 and other compression technologies, outsourcing production of it to an unnamed contract manufacturer, Paik said.
MPH, which is backward-compatible with ATSC’s 8-VSB infrastructure, offers the ability to receive broadcast signals with a single antenna while moving as fast as 140 mph, LG and Harris have said. At trials in Columbus, Ohio, Chicago and Washington, broadcast stations simultaneously and successfully transmitted a primary digital HDTV stream and two MHP channels in the allotted 19.4 Mbps bandwidth.
To transmit mobile TV, a broadcaster needs an MPH- enabled exciter, company officials said. Harris expects to start making exciters in September, Lance said. Trials are expected to expand this year to include a consumer test, company officials said. Adding an MPH channel to an existing DTV transmitter facility will cost around $100,000, Harris officials said.
LG told the news conference it expects to ship a 47W LED-based 1080p LCD TV in May with four HDMI connectors, USB 2.0 and 120 Hz, Alessi said. The price delta between similarly sized LED and CCFL backlit models will be $600-$700 to start with, but LG needed to address competition and prices likely will fall rapidly in coming years, Alessi said. Last year Samsung introduced several LED-based LCD TVs. The 47W has 128 LEDs, said Alessi, declining to name LG’s supplier. LG also unveiled 50W and 60W plasma TVs with 30,000:1 contrast ratios and 47W and 52W LCD TVs with built- in 802.11n wireless. LG has no plans to add a 32W plasma TV it makes in South Korea, preferring to focus in the U.S. on LCD TVs, Alessi said. The same holds true for LCD TVs sold in Asia with 80 GB hard drives, he said. LG introduced hard drive models in 2006, but with limited success.