Tivit ready for Spring US launch for mobile TV on Wi-Fi

Sneaking out at CES is a device that has already made waves in the Far East, so far only in Japan, a simple mobile TV product called the Tivit. It adds a new dimension to place shifting, in that it takes TV signals in, whether or not they are designed for TV sets or for mobile phones, and outputs a simple Wi-Fi video stream which a phone or PC can understand.

That stream can be picked up by anything that takes Wi-Fi, as long as a simple companion piece of software has been adapted for it, and we know that means an iPhone, the main target for mobile video today, but also a PC, pretty much any kind of PC and all the top end smartphones out there. The price of the device is set at between $90 and $120 and it has been launched at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show

The Tivit is being launched in the US for a Spring delivery and will accept the ATSC M/H signals that are intended for mobile TV in the US, which about 30 TV stations are already producing signals for. This number will rise to 70 by the Spring and could be in every market inside a year. When that happens we would expect devices like the Tivit to be stocked by the major US cellular operators in their stores.

The device comes from Korean company Valups, and it was partially funded by the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) which represents more than 800 local broadcast TV stations, interested in extending their business model to mobile in the near future. The braver members of the OMVC have already committed the incredibly cheap step of adding ATSC M/H digital exciters to their broadcasting set ups, so that they can reach out to mobile devices.

Outside the US this device has been used to offer ISDB-T One Seg, the Japanese standard for Mobile TV and will emerge for T-DMB, which is used in Korea. However it can also be adapted for Europe where there is no universal mobile TV option, where instead it will use DVB-T, the Broadcast standard used in the UK Freeview service.

The problem with offering normal TV is that it will use batteries up about 5 times faster (depending on the exact protocol), but since this is a separate TV watching box, with only one function and its own battery, at least it’s not using up your mobile phone battery at the same rate. Battery on the phone will use up at about the same rate was watching cellular streamed video.

"We believe there is a tremendous appetite for live, local TV broadcasts, particularly if those programs could be received on a mobile device. And while it's exciting to see many devices in development for sales in the future, the beauty of the Tivit is that it works with your existing Wi-Fi smartphone or laptop. By pairing the Tivit with your Wi-Fi mobile device, it's possible to watch local digital television programs transmitted by TV stations using Mobile DTV technology. So you can catch your favourite sports teams that are covered by local stations, get updates on news and weather, and stay informed in emergency situations," said Sunny Kim, Director of Marketing for Valups.

Valups also introduced a version that can be integrated into existing consumer electronics products like portable DVD players, for seat back viewing, so expect this capability to watch Mobile TV to pop up everywhere.

Inside the Tivit we understand there is an LG Electronics chip, the only one in volume manufacturing so far which adheres to ASTC M/H, whereas in other markets the device uses a chip from Siano Mobile Silicon, an Israeli specialist which has chips which work with all the major mobile TV protocols including those used in China, Japan, Korea and Europe.

The Tivit is about the size of a deck of playing cards, 2 inches by 3.5 inches and half an inch thick, and weighs 2.8 ounces. Battery life will last three hours in ATSC M/H and has a USB connection for charging and a wall plug charger.

There are already versions of the sister software for Apple iPhone, the later iPod Touch designs, RIM BlackBerries, Motorola Android phones and Windows PCs and it has a microSD slot for any conditional access modules that show up later for encrypted subscription content.

Valups says it will release products in Brazil, Europe, China and Korea and, as we said, the Japanese product is already out.