tv for mobile_platforms

PC-TV for Notebook Platforms

Options for adding TV functions

July 13, 2006

7/14/2006 TV on Mobile platforms2

Platforms for adding broadcast TV function• Internal Solutions

– Mini-PCICustom design, OEM only

– PCI Express Mini CardCustom design, OEM only

• External Solutions– USB 2.0

USB sticksExternal boxes

– PCMCIA Cardbus – ExpressCard

ExpressCard/54ExpressCard/34

– Network PVR (New)– SDIO cards – 1394 (Very rare)

Elgato EyeTV 500 (1394 for iMac)


USB Sticks

• USB 1.1 or 2.0 – Bus powered– Single channel

AnalogDigital (DVB-T, ATSC)Hybrid (DVB-T/PAL)

• Advantages– Low cost– Easy to use– A great retail upgrade

• Disadvantages– Easy to breakoff – Only single channel– No HW MPEG– Video Quality


USB Boxes

• USB Boxes– External power supply– Single Channel analog– Dual Channel analog– Single Channel hybrid– Dual Channel hybrid (none in the market)

• Advantages– Better noise immunity– No thermal issues – Dual channel possible– Hardware MPEG possible

• Disadvantages– Bulky– Power supply required (unacceptable to OEMs)– Costs more


ExpressCard

• Two form factors– ExpressCard/54– ExpressCard/34

• Two interfaces– USB 2.0– PCI Express

• Solutions today only support USB 2.0 interface• Flavors of ExpressCard TV solutions:

– Single channel analog– Dual Channel analog – Single channel hybrid

• Advantages– Easy to upgrade– Hot pluggable

• Disadvantages– Legacy notebooks don’t have Expresscard slots– No retail channel at this time


Mini PCI

• Still the most popular option for Notebooks• Popular with Japanese OEMs• Flavors of Mini-PCI cards

– Single Channel Analog– Single Channel Analog with HW MPEG– Single Channel Hybrid

• Advantages– Based on legacy PCI tech.– Customize to fit OEM req.– Low cost

• Disadvantages– Not for retail– Not possible with Dual Channel– Not easy to upgrade


PCI Express Mini Card

• Meant to be a replacement of Mini-PCI addon cards• Very few in existence today• Same advantages as Mini-PCI

– Half the width of mini-PCI

• Same disadvantages as Mini-PCI


PCMCIA Cardbus

• Flavors of PCMCIA cardbus TV cards– Single channel Analog– Single channel Analog with HW MPEG– Single channel hybrid

• Advantages– Works reasonably well with silicon tuners– Supports all Laptops– Hot Pluggable

• Disadvantages– Cardbus is getting phased out– Video quality is poor in general– Runs hot after extended viewing

hybrid

Single analog with HW MPEG


SDIO TV

• Finally, TV on our PDA!• Flavors

– PAL/NTSC analog– DVB-H

• Truly portable TV


Network PVR• External Box with TV tuner, MPEG encoder and uPnP

capability• Network PVR acts as a filling Station for iPOD, PSP

and laptop computers• NAS devices can be supported• Streaming audio and video over wireless networks• Uses Windows Media Connect

Media Server

Network PVR/DHT Notebook with Docking station

Streaming media over wireless network

Notebook downloads content


A primer on TV standards

• Analog TV standards (interlaced video)– NTSC (525 lines, 29.97 frames/second)– PAL and SECAM (625 lines, 25 frames/second)

• Digital TV standards– ATSC, DVB-T, DVB-S, DVB-C, DVB-H, DVB-S2– T-DMB, ISDB-T, ISDB-S

Location Cable Satellite Terrestrial

China DVB-C, DTV-C (QAM)

DVB-S TDS-OFDM

Japan ITU-T/J.83B (QAM) ISDB-S ISDB-T

ITU-T/J.83B (QAM) ATSC (8VSB)

Europe DVB-C (QAM) DVB-T (COFDM)

North Am erica DVB-S (QPSK), DSS (QPSK), and 8PSK/TC

DVB-S (QPSK),DVB-S2 (8PSK/16QAM)


Terrestrial Analog TV standards

Switch off of analog TV for various regions likely in 2010-2014


Terrestrial Digital TV standards

ATSC only in US, Canada and KoreaDVB-T in Europe and Asia except Japan, Korea and China


DVB-H Adoption map

Purple indicates countries with DVB-H trialsGreen indicates alternative standard adoption


DVB-H pilots around the world


• Digital Video Broadcast for Handheld terminals

• Largely in trials and early stages of launch– Crown Castle Inc and Modeo are developing cell phones with DVB-H in

US• Possible to add DVB-H capability to notebooks

– Avermedia will be shipping SDIO addin card– Eopstech also has a product

DVB-H: A truly mobile standard


Premium content on Notebooks

• Use IR Blaster to control Cable Set Top or Satellite Set Top boxes

• No other way to address this problem until Vista with OCUR is launched– Only unidirectional, so, no VOD, PPV and EPG


Challenges for PC-TV on Notebooks

• Size and thickness constraints– Form factors of silicon – Tuners

• Low power requirements– Most silicon are not designed with low power in mind

• Thermal dissipation issues– 2.5 Watts maximum limit

• Noise issues – Hard to get good video quality

• Too many different hardware options– Single channel vs dual channel, analog vs digital vs hybrid– Hardware MPEG vs Software MPEG

• Various analog and digital standards – ATSC is not a mobile standard

• Premium content not supported• Antenna for digital TV


Silicon Vendors

• Philips• Conexant• ATI• NEC• TI• Micronas• Techwell• VIXS• DibCom• Intel Zarlink• Zoran


Board Suppliers

• Hauppauge-Leading retail in US and Europe• Avermedia-Strong presence in US and Europe• Animation-Intel invested in this company• Pinnacle-Strong in editing software.• KWorld-Low cost leader, retail focus• Yuan-Strong ODM, especially with Mini-PCI, USB• Leadtek-Good brand name in Graphics• Prolink-Supplies graphics to OEM• ADS-Good presence in US. Still working on Europe• ASUSTek-Major supplier to HP worldwide• 10Moons-Strong retail in China• Terratec-Strong in Audio.


Summary

• Internal options are more suitable for Notebook OEMs

• TV tuner attach rate for Notebooks outside of Japan is very low

• Next big thing is to enable Digital TV on notebooks– DVB-T (mature technology)– ATSC (limited due to reception issues)– DVB-T (For high speed mobile applications)

• Hybrid TV solutions will continue until analog switch off – Depending on regions, analog switch-off in 2010 and beyond

• Premium content for Notebooks not likely to pick up

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