Mobile DTV Gets 12V Launch from NAV-TV

Free TV in the car with a crisp, clear image, even at 85 mph, is inching closer to reality as NAV-TV announced it will offer a $399 tuner using the new Mobile DTV standard. NAV-TV’s tuner, called the MiTV is due in June. It can work with any aftermarket car video screen or integrate with specific factory car screens (with a kit in the case of the latter).
Mobile DTV is the new name for the standard approved last year that permits free broadcast TV in a moving vehicle or to a portable device. Mobile DTV (also called ATSC M/H) “ is our industry’s answer to ‘what’s the next big thing’… The beauty and draw of this system is that it is crystal clear, mobile and, after the hardware purchase, 100% free,” says Derek Schmiedl, engineer at NAV-TV.
Mobile DTV is currently offered by about 25 to 50 stations out of the total 1600, although over a hundred are expected to air the service by the end of the year.
Washington DC is currently the chief market for Mobile DTV as it has been singled out as the showcase region. Hundreds of consumers in the area have been given Mobile DTV products (many are prototypes) and are receiving programming from NBC, Fox, MSNBC, CNBC, PBS and other networks through nine TV stations in a test trial. No car products are offered in the trial. Products instead include the Samsung Moment Android-based cellphone using Sprint service, a Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook prototype, a portable LG Electronics DVD/Mobile DTV player and a $149 Tivizen mobile hotspot expected to launch on Amazon this month. The Tivizen is expected to be one of the first products to get a true commercial launch, followed by MiTV.
NAV-TV says it’s strategy is to be an innovator in the technology, which it believes will take off as did iPod adapters and satellite radio before it. The company believes the market will take off starting later this year as cellular phones and other portable electronics devices are shipped with Mobile DTV tuners.
NAV-TVs tuner comes with an IR remote. It has one composite video and one stereo RCA output for use with aftermarket screens without the need for additional kits. For use with specific vehicle screens, kits are on the way starting with the Porsche and Range Rover in mid-June at $799. The kit will let you control the Mobile DTV tuner directly from the car radio’s touch screen or keypad. Kits will follow for Audi, Mercedes Benz, BMW and Maserati and possibly Ford vehicles by the end of the year.
Separately, NAV-TV is shipping an ALLSYNC interface that unlocks the video in motion feature on Ford Sync radios for $499 to $550.
–Amy Gilroy
Source: NAV-TV

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