LG Cell Phone Pauses Live TV

LG has shown a mobile handset at a trade show which allows the user to pause live TV while they are watching the satellite DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcast) service available in South Korea. As we've discussed, there are two ways of getting video to phones: Unicast over a data network where each user requests the video from a server and has full control over timing, pausing, etc, AND Broadcast over a network where each user shares the viewing of a signal that shows at a predetermined time and pace. Neither model works well for Mobile TV since the unicast uses lots of expensive network capacity and the broadcast doesn't allow users to personalize their viewing schedule. Techdirt's opinion has long been that storage will be the solution to the problem: mobile flash or HD storage in a phone can take the cheaper broadcast signal, and apply PVR-style storage to the content, so that the viewer still gets a customized viewing experience. The LG phone above scratches the surface of the storage solution with 80MB of flash memory, which allows an hour of video caching. Note also that the linked story from IDG news incorrectly reports the LG phone's video storage as new: we covered numerous Samsung handsets in February that store up to two hours of DMB broadcasts. Want to know more? Read my comments below to learn how storage will eventually hurt the broadcast model.

Well, the comments were deleted after a SPAM Krieg hit Techdirt, so here's the short retake: Storage will solve the current paradox of mobile video, but once we have storage in phones, why the #$% do we need to use the expensive wireless network at all? Couldn't I just transfer video from my PVR at home into my phone using a cable, Bluetooth, or some flash memory card? I've already paid for my video content at home, I've already personalized the content I like on my PVR, and I've already stored it there. I'll just take that to go, please. Poof! The mobile video business case disappears. The only content I need to access over the wireless network will be real-time content: live events, traffic, news, sports, stocks, etc. PS: I may be a total wireless geek, but I already do this. I use my PC as a PVR to capture a show, I use a Nokia software tool to convert the MPEG2 into MPEG4. I put it on an SD card, and I can play it on my Treo. Just proof of concept, but it works quite easily.

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