SmartVideo Technologies has developed a system that transmits TV pictures to mobile phones in real time using Windows Media9, Microsoft Corp's video-compression technology.
The system was exhibited at NAB 2004, which ended April 22. The company installed decryption software for Windows Media9 onto mobile phones equipped with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS, and replayednews footage on the screen of the mobile phone. It has been reported that the transfer rate for this was 8-12kbps. The frame speed during transmission is 12-15 frames per second.
With “MobiTV,” a real-time image transmission service for mobile phones currently offered by Idetic Inc and Sprint PCS, the frame speed was around 1-2 frames per second.
“Because MobiTV’s frame speed is low, images appeared like a slide show, whereas our solution manages to realize motions looking much closer to moving images,” explained Richard E Bennett, president& CEO of SmartVideo, emphasizing a competitive edge over “MobiTV,” which has already begun its service and been steadily attracting customers.
During its demonstration, the company used Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd’s mobile phones and replayed moving images at approximately 160 x 120 pixels. Although it is not yet possible to display imageson full-screen, “we will reveal our full-screen version in the near future,” Bennett said.
The company needs to work out how to form alliances with contents providers such as broadcast stations and establish business models. Bennett only referred to this issue by saying, “We will make anannouncement shortly.”
Idetic, which promotes MobiTV, already has tied up with program providers for cable TVs and secured contents.
Source: Nikkei Electronics
