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Cydle i30 cradle delivers digital TV to your iPhone, finally lands at FCC
Back in 2010, when we caught a glimpse of Cydle's M7 Android tablet at CES 2010, the company was also touting the i30, an iPhone cradle capable of delivering real-time digital TV to the smartphone. That cradle caught a little bit of air time at CES the following year, but still wasn't ready for market. Well, it looks like that's about to change -- now, just a few months shy of two years since the Mobile DTV standard was minted, the i30 is finally rearing it's antenna-sporting head over at the FCC. According to the User Manual, outed in the filing, the iPhone case uses its antenna to catch local mobile channel signals and shoots them to the iPhone via WiFi. The case is also packing a rechargeable battery, and when connected to the supplied AC adapter, pumps juice to both the dock and your iPhone. Of course, you'll need the Cydle ATSC M/H Mobile TV app (we know, it's a mouthful) to get the whole thing going, but getting your digital TV on is apparently relatively simple from there. For more photos of the Cydle i30 cradle, including shots of its exposed guts, follow the source link below.
LG's glassesless 3D Mobile DTV eyes on (update: video)
We briefly chatted with LG's John Taylor, US VP of marketing, to better understand when LG might bring its auto-stereoscopic 3D mobile TV to market. The US market, to be precise, since this portable TV is built around the ATSC-M/H standard for mobile TV. The television on hand here in Vegas was a prototype using a 7-inch 800x480 pixel parallax barrier panel developed by LG Display and destined for other LG products including a 3D picture frame still under development. The 3D effect was on par with the capabilities we've seen from other parallax barrier displays of similar size. LG's testing the waters right now with plans to launch in 2012 for less than $200 -- just as soon as broadcasters embrace the fledgling technology in sufficient numbers. Full press release, including an image of a prototype CMDA touchscreen phone built around the Mobile DTV circuitry. %Gallery-112712%
Philips crams ATSC M/H tuner into PD725 portable DVD player, intros PB9013 mobile Blu-ray player
In recent years, Philips has strayed somewhat from introducing products catering to the North American marketplace. We're thrilled to say that this year's spate of CES announcements signifies a stark turn from that approach. The most interesting release from the company during this year's blowout is probably the PS725 (shown above), a 7-inch portable DVD player that doubles as a mobile TV viewer. Before you bust out the yawn collector, you should know that Philips managed to stuff both an ATSC and an ATSC M/H tuner within, the latter of which just announced a major push into 20 major metropolitan markets back in November. The unit has an 800 x 480 resolution display, three hours of nonstop playback via a rechargeable Li-Polymer battery pack, a screen that swivels 180 degrees and a $299 price point. It'll ship in March, just as your FLO TV service keels over. In related news, the outfit is also outing a PB9013 portable Blu-ray player, which touts a 9-inch display, a battery good for three hours of enjoyment, a bundled mounting kit and an HDMI output. You'll also see this one ship in March, but with a $399 retail sticker. Outside of those two, we're told that the GeGear Muse MP4 player is now on track to ship in March, with the 8GB model going for $149, the 16GB edition for $179 and the high-end 32GB model for $229. For those out of the loop, it'll deliver a 3.2-inch HVGA touchpanel, an FM radio tuner, 720p movie support and compatibility with FLAC and APE lossless files. Closing things up, we've got the Fidelio DS8550 and DS9010 speaker docks. The former handles your iPod, iPhone and / or iPad, streams tunes over Bluetooth and touts a built-in, rechargeable battery; this guy's on sale now for $299. As for the latter? That one's expected to ship at the tail-end of March for $599, with the price premium netting you an aircraft quality aluminum enclosure, improved audio drivers and a proximity sensor to activate a backlit control panel. Bullet points after the break, per usual. %Gallery-112183%
Broadcasters may have to pay extra for the right to deliver Mobile DTV
As a geek who just wants to enjoy gadgets, it can be very hard to understand the complicated spider web of media rights -- it's easily the kind of thing that puts one into an outrage when things like Hulu being pulled from Boxee happen. The problem is of course money, but this one is just too crazy, so we'll spell it out for you. Lets say a broadcaster pays NBC for the exclusive right to broadcast the network's signal in the Los Angeles area. Now obviously the exclusivity means that the broadcaster is the only one who can deliver that content in that area. Well evidently just because they paid for the right to broadcast the signal to HDTVs and cable customers, doesn't necessarily mean they own the rights to broadcast that signal to mobile portable device. Yeah, that's right, networks want broadcasters to pay extra for that. The part that makes this really ridiculous is that the older NTSC standard worked just fine on mobile portable devices without any extra licensing fees, but now that we have one type of signal for stationary, and one for mobile, they have to pay more. Gotta love those content creators.
