Motion Pictures

HDTV broadcasters plan to get into mobile video

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

Even as high-definition televisions are eclipsing entire walls in homes, tiny screens are proliferating on cell phones, pocket PCs and portable media players. The telecommunications industry has long considered supplying video to nomadic subscribers its next big opportunity after voice calls and text messaging, so wireless carriers have been upgrading their systems to third-generation, high-speed networks for that purpose. But thanks to new transmission standards, another industry plans to enter the field, one with much more experience in video delivery: digital TV (DTV) broadcasters.

Currently the market for mobile video seems largely untapped, as consumers have yet to become enamored with existing systems. Forrester Research, a technology and market research firm, found that only 1 to 3 percent of people surveyed in 2006 said they would care to access video on a handheld device. The chief reason is cost. Verizon Wireless subscribers, for example, pay an additional $15 per month for its so-called V Cast service. Moreover, a quality-of-service issue plagues conventional cellular systems because video hogs bandwidth: frame rates drop when too many callers are on at once. This problem has forced cellular providers to build higher-power transmitters and to use additional frequencies.

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.

Thank you,

David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American