Two new Chinese TV technologies — Terrestrial-Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (T-MMB) and Satellite and Terrestrial Interaction Multimedia (STiMi) — will be showcased during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Supported by academic-industrial coalitions in China, the new standards are designed to compete with Europe's DVB-Handheld and South Korea's DMB, as well as some minor derivative technologies.
Nufrontsoft, a Beijing software firm, the Communication University of China and Southeast University jointly developed T-MMB. The standard is expected to be compatible with DAB-based T-DMB. The spec supports frequencies from 30MHz to 3GHz and a prototype chip is reportedly ready.
The Academy of Broadcast Science developed STiMi. Though little is known about the specifications, it reportedly supports the S- and UHF/VHF bands and uses both satellites and terrestrial relays for coverage.
Officials in China expressed hope that they could finish technology trials for both by the end of this year, and have the technologies fully operational for the 2008 Olympics.
