Samsung Unveils More Capabilities Of Advanced-VSB Mobile Digital TV Broadcasting

LAS VEGAS (National Association of Broadcasters – Trade Show) – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announced at NAB 2006 (followed by a live demonstration with handheld devices at the International Consumer Electronics Show (ICES) in January 2007) a new innovative technology that enables portable and mobile TV digital broadcasting in North America at very low cost, using broadcasters’ existing facilities and frequency spectrum. At NAB 2007, Samsung will not only demonstrate an A-VSB mode with twice the efficiency (using half the broadcasting bandwidth) compared to Samsung’s previous demonstration in January, but will also demonstrate the power of A-VSB’s Single Frequency Network (SFN) tool for the first time.

Advanced-VSB (A-VSB) is a proposed open standard that broadcasters can implement at low cost, providing an all-new distribution channel through which broadcasters can reach consumers with live TV on the go via portable media devices, whether traveling by car or bus or walking down the street.

For the duration of NAB, live A-VSB transmissions will be sent from local Sinclair Broadcast Group TV station KVMY Las Vegas to mobile receivers operating on a chartered bus in the Convention Center area, using the station’s current transmitter and frequency. The same programming will also be re-transmitted at a second frequency on a separate low-power SFN. The SFN is being set up with the support of ION Media Networks (which previously has conducted limited testing of A-VSB in Tampa, Florida) and will be operated under an experimental license to ION from the Federal Communications Commission. The SFN will have three transmitter sites, two located on structures north and south of the Convention Center along the Las Vegas Strip and one inside the Convention Center at the ATSC Digital TV Hot Spot. The SFN demonstration will show how A-VSB makes it easy for broadcasters to maintain complete signal coverage and transmission, filling in gaps between buildings and behind mountains for maximum service quality.

Together, Samsung Electronics and Rohde & Schwarz have developed A-VSB as a dramatic enhancement to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) digital TV transmission standard.