video on cell phones in Japan

So, the first of new whiz-bang cell phones with terrestrial digital TV have been scheduled for sale in Japan this coming June.

Of course, it isn't actually the same as the broadcast terrestial TV that you can get in a few cities in Japan. Rather, it's "One Seg", which is a single subchannel of Japan's ISDB-T service solely for mobile phones. If you want to watch regular TV, you have to use the analog TV tuner.

Did I mention the picture resolution? The 2.6 inch screen is all of 400x240 pixels, less than half of an analog TV. 400x240 sounds like a fairly large screen for a cell phone (my 2004 model has a 320x240 screen); but these days we have camera phones with full VGA (640x480) screens.

They coyly warn that "depending upon the environment, digital TV, analog TV, and FM radio broadcast signals may be subject to noise or not received at all."

It also has a rather large pivoting rod antenna.

I'll report back when there's some real operational experience; right now there's just pre-release hype. So far it seems underwhelming.

There is still no sign of any portable digital TVs that receive the regular broadcast terrestrial digital TV signals. All the portable and handheld TVs are analog-only.

Nobody has actually seen what's on "One Seg", although since it's just one subchannel it won't be possible for the "One Seg" service to carry all the programming that's on the regular broadcasts. It may simulcast what's on the broadcaster's analog and primary digital subchannel, or it may be something entirely different. At 400x240, "One Seg" is not going to be used for the HDTV showcase programming.......

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.
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