US agency approves digital TV broadcasting standard for mobile devices

The commission responsible for the digital TV standard in the United States announced yesterday the approval of a new specification in this area, but intended exclusively for transmissions aimed at mobile devices. This novelty will be interesting in the long run, as it allows smartphones, laptops and other gadgets to receive digital TV signals at the lowest possible cost from broadcasters.

ATSC Digital TV signal on iPhone

Other offers in this regard already exist (including for iPhones / iPods touch), but they are based on streaming content from some source, and not directly from broadcasters like conventional TVs. Countries such as Japan and South Korea have known how to invest in digital TV standards in the past (instead of supporting proprietary initiatives), and seeing their arrival in the United States is good news, which will contribute to their popularity.

The North American proposal is to transmit the TV signal to mobile devices in conjunction with that of conventional transmissions, reducing extra implementation costs. The developed standard can send videos in H.264 format with AAC HE audio version 2, which means that it is compatible with the media structure designed by Apple in QuickTime and, consequently, in iPhones / iPods touch.

(via Macworld)