I-O Data's SEG Clip brings 1seg mobile TV to iPhone and PC
By Darren Murph 
posted Aug 10th 2009 4:18AM
posted Aug 10th 2009 4:18AM
[Via Akihabara News]
Read - I-O Data press release
Read - Hands-on
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Why can't the United States be cool like Japan and have something like the 1seg system?
Because things like pushing the digital TV transition date back keep happening.
Also might have something to do with the fact that Japan is somewhat smaller in land mass than the vast US of A, making it easier to broadcast signals to the masses with just a few towers.
From what I've read 1seg has a major limitation in that it does not allow for much movement during receiving, meaning it doesn't pick up a signal if you're in a moving car or a train. This problem notwithstanding, America is a poor market for a portable DTV standard as most Americans don't give a crap about broadcast TV, with the majority of US viewers on Cable/Satellite.
No. People watch 1-seg from moving trains/cars all the time, both in the city and in the countryside. There really is no problem with reception.
The real problem lies with Japanese television itself. It's probably the worst, most boring, programming I have ever seen. If you don't like baseball, you're stuck with japanese people talking about how interesting someone's cooking, or clothing, or neighbourhood is.
Terrible!
Markarian is talking out of his butt. Just like "our" politicians hes making up facts about what the american people like or dislike to suit his argument. Americans don't care about DTV? Really?
Someone please help my confusion. As I understand it, the whole point of 1seg is mobile TV on small handheld devices that don't have to be connected to the internet. This sounds like you have to be within wireless distance of your computer which is receiving mobile TV broadcasts. If this is the case, what is the point of viewing mobile TV, on a small screen, in your home which would obviously be capable of receiving regular TV. If this is a sort of DVR for 1seg, which you can then watch on your Iphone over a 3G connection, why the need for 1seg? Why not record regular broadcasts and then relay them to the Iphone via a similar app?
As I understand it, this USB 1seg tuner is probably more useful for netbooks or small laptops when you're on the move. With it you can save shows on your PC. What I'm not sure about is how this connection between iPhone and the PC works.
Is it by direct WiFi? In this case it's pretty useless because watching your stuff on your PC that is within WiFi range (which means you can just walk to it...) is much better.
Otherwise it's by 3G. Then, the use case is the following: when you are on the move with your netbook, you can watch and record 1seg stuff without an Internet connection. When you go back home, you connect your netbook to the Internet via your ISP. You leave home later, leaving your netbook at home, and you can watch stuff you recorded, using your iPhone via 3G. But then, why don't you just take your netbook with you?
I feel like I completely missed the point of this gadget...
No, that giant USB dongle won't get knocked, bent, and broken.
Wake up, vendors.
Do you knock, bend and break your USB flash drives too?
No, because I plug them in when I need to load or save something, and then unplug them. This device must be plugged in continuously.
This just goes to prove why the iPhone has not and will never be popular in Japan. When you can get phones with TV tuners build in, advanced video chatting, better multimedia messaging capabilities, better imaging, multitasking, etc. why the hell would you ever want to buy this device and then have to buy and tack on extra devices to either the phone or your home computer. Besides, if you have to use the tuner on your computer to save a file and then stream it to the phone why not just download the show and put it directly on the device. It would probably be better quality anyways and you wouldn't have to worry about the quality of the network or the phone company getting mad about you eating up too much bandwidth. Case in point, Softbank, the Japanese cell provider with exclusive rights to the iPhone and had the strongest subscription numbers even before getting the iPhone, was just passed by NTT DoCoMo for July subscriptions.
nope, u r wrong.
the one that came with Softbank is a standalone model, where no connection to a computer is necessary. plus, it also doubles as battery extender for the iPhone,
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/10/30/japanese-iphone-gets-official-1-seg-wifi-tuner-and-battery-charg/
and about the subscription number,
http://bit.ly/lvsXu
http://bit.ly/aaIFo
"grabbing up 215,400 new activations, more than half of the 391,500 new activations"
.
"nope, u r wrong."
So you saved four characters in exchange for looking illiterate?
Oh, and learn to use the Shift key.
kthx
thanks Information Central for such an informative post.
"kthx"
"It would probably be better quality anyways and you wouldn't have to worry about the quality of the network or the phone company getting mad about you eating up too much bandwidth."
That makes absolutely no sense. First of all, media optimized for downloading over the air are compressed MORE, meaning that they're of LOWER quality. Second, you just promoted downloading stuff over the phone network instead of to the computer, but then said this will avoid eating up the phone company's bandwidth. WTF?
Wow...Information Centra...just wow. Your comment makes less than no sense. First of all, the comparison of media that is optimized for downloading over the air is wrong because I was saying that instead of downloading that version, which this product makes you do, and then transferring it to the phone, you are better off downloading a better quality version from the internet and then transferring that version to the phone. And no, I never promoted downloading stuff over the phone company's bandwidth. I said you are better off using your computer's internet connection or a built in 1-seg tuner. 1-seg tuners do not use cell bandwidth. They are broadcast from the television company just like HD and SD TV are. Next time do a little reading and make sure you understand what the OP has stated before you go running off your mouth and waste everyone's time.
Move every Seg... for great justice.
Wait, I'm confused: How is this much different than using Elgato EyeTV and streaming the recorded videos to you iPod/iPhone? If you have the laptop nearby, why would you want to watch the video on your iPod/iPhone?
I'm in the US, and can do this with no problems.
What am I missing here?
"why would you want to watch the video on your iPod/iPhone?"
Have you been to JAPAN?
Lets see a two room 400 square foot home with 4-6 people living in it. Yeah like you can control the TV? It is encourages you to get the hell out of the house!
I stayed in a 200 square foot apartment and it was seen a massive for a single guy to be in. The TV was small but if I could give it up and just watch the show on my iPod I would and to impress the girls I would get the little iPod LCD projector and turn the lights down really low.
Space is at a premium in Japan and private space is virtually non-existent for most. It would be a luxury to find a private spot and watch a bit of TV of your choosing (even if it is porn).
Orb has been doing that for years.....
for free too
No, the 1-Seg transmission, uses the ISDB protocol, which is broadcast by UHF towers. So it does not use Wi-Fi or cellphone networks. It is an independent trasmission system maintained by TV broadcasters. Here in Brazil we use the same system, and it is very nice to watch my soccer games and movies in 720p resolution without any sort of cables, just a regular UHF indoor antenna and a full-seg converter plugged in the HDMI port of my LCD television.
The short answer is this:
Mobile DTV technology for the US market will become available in the late 2009 early 2010 timeframe. Major device manufacturers are already well underway with plans and prototypes.
The reason for the delay is that the mobile (read: portable) version of the ATSC standard for broadcast television in the US has not been modified for portable devices. That is, if you were to take a TV with rabbit ears on top and walk around at more than about 5 miles per hour, the signal would fade to nothing. Therefore, the standard has to be re-written to allow for portability.
The standard has not been completely ratified, but is in its final few stages. From what I know, these devices will be standalone devices or can be integrated into PMPs or cell phones. Many of them will feature service guides much like a cable or satellite set top box, over-the-air user polling as well as other more advanced features as the technology matures.
I want a small lightweight DTV tuner for my iPod Touch. I would love to be able to pick up a few TV shows while waiting in the airport, or watch sports while grocery shopping.
Why would anyone in Japan want 1seg on their PC? Not very many people in Japan have a PC, let along the space for one.
In Japan, that's what your keitai is for. And that's why nobody likes the iPhone/Blackberry Bold/HTC Magic/Other Foreign Phone in Japan.
No Wallet-Mobile goodness (SONY's FeliCa), no mobile TV built-in, no waterproofing and worst of all: THEY'RE NOT FLIP PHONES!
Now if only I could afford a Japanese mobile...
Brazil also has 1-seg... They took the japanese digital TV standard and added some new codecs. Probably more countries in South America will also adopt this standard (Peru already has). Broadcast TV is still very important here.