RF Shorts - Sept. 30, 2010

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Paul Rako has an excellent overview of TV tuner technology in his EDN article Silicon TV tuners: The game is on. Rako writes, "Silicon-tuner ICs have for nearly a decade found use in set-top boxes for satellite and cable. Now, thanks to their high performance, simplicity, broad frequency coverage, compactness, and universality, they are making inroads into phones, set-top boxes, service gateways, automobiles, PCs, and even TVs."

Headline News reports we may not have to wait much longer for the Dell "Looking Glass 7" tablet with an optional ATSC receiver in the article The Dell Seven-Inch Tablet is Seen Up Close and Personal. "Michael Dell was showing off the new seven inch tablet at the Oracle Openworld conference recently. This is just after the release of the Streak, a five-inch screen tablet." If you're interested in playing around with one of the many inexpensive Android tablets now available, check out www.slatedroid.com. It has information on available tablets, many in the $100 price range, and custom firmware to improve performance. I was able to install the Valups Tivizen app on my Eken M001 tablet but unfortunately don't have a Tivizen yet to test it with.

Here is another article that shows off-air TV is not dead yet. Jennifer Glickel writes "More and more Manhattanites are giving up cable in favor of cheaper, alternative methods of watching their favorite television shows" in her article New Yorkers Abandon Cable TV Service For Netflix and TiVo on DNAInfo.com.

There is an FM radio hidden in the Motorola Droid. Turn it on using these instructions from the XDA Developers forum.

Finally, as I've previously reported, tiered pricing for wireless data plans may make streaming video over the Internet less attractive and increase interest over-the-air mobile DTV. The Washington Post reports FCC Likely to approve of wireless tiered pricing: analysts. "FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski recently said in seeking comments about his net neutrality proposal that tiered pricing plans could help alleviate data congestion on networks."

Doug Lung
Doug Lung
Contributor

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack. A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.