| Platform | Description |
| DAB | Uses Band III or L Band Spectrum and Eureka 147 standard. Uses MPEG-2 audio codec. A worldwide standard currently being used or trialled in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australasia. Further info can be found at www.worldDAB.org |
| DVB- T | Known as “Freeview” in the UK – Essentially for static TV devices as requires large antenna. Has greater bandwidth than DAB. Uses MHEG middleware in the UK, MHP elsewhere. Further info can be found at www.dvb.org |
| DVB-H | Handheld version of DVB-T. Promoted by Nokia (as extension of “Visual Radio” – see below) and other mobile network operators. Similar bandwidth to DVB-T, but limited spectrum availability in Europe until analogue switch off (c.2012 in the UK), uses 40% more power than DAB, requires a whole new & denser network infrastructure in the UK and not originally designed for mobile environment (unlike DAB). Further info can be found at www.dvb.org |
| T-DMB | A Korean originated application carried on the DAB Eureka 147 standard allowing mobile video services to be broadcast. It uses Enhanced Error Protection and MPEG-4 video coding with BSAC or AAC audio coding. Works in Band III and L-Band spectrum. DAB audio services can also be received on T-DMB devices. Currently (2005) T-DMB devices won’t decode DAB MOT data channels and only have Conditional Access (rather than Digital Rights Management – “DRM”) but this is likely to change in the future. DMB is an open standard and is heavily promoted by “Korea plc” |
| S-DMB | Satellite version of DMB using S-Band spectrum. S-DMB is not based on the DAB transport layer. |
| DAB-IP | "BT Movio" in the UK - Runs in the DAB spectrum range. It uses IP tunnelling with "Enhanced Packet Mode" to carry Windows Media encoded video streams with Digital Rights Management. It can decode DAB MOT data channels and provides an EPG for navigation. The use of IP allows for easy alignment with 3G and DVB-H.It uses IP tunnelling with "Enhanced Packet Mode" to carry Windows Media encoded video streams with Digital Rights Management. It can decode DAB MOT data channels and provides an EPG for navigation. The use of IP allows for easy alignment with 3G and DVB-H. |
| IBOC / HD Radio | Also known as “HD Radio TM”, a terrestrial digital radio standard for AM and FM. Primarily being used in the US by taking advantage of the US spectrum allocations to deliver analogue and digital services in the same channel. Initially intended to be a digital-quality version of existing analogue audio service, new improvements allow more than one digital audio channel per FM/AM channel as well as some data capacity. It is a proprietary standard. Further info can be found at www.ibiquity.com |
| DRMondiale | Designed as the digital replacement for short wave, medium wave and long wave. DRM has various bandwidth options and audio coders for different conditions. Can also carry some data services, including EPG, although the data rate is low. Generally used for covering large areas, but local broadcasting is also possible. A complementary technology to DAB, combined DAB and DRM chipsets are now being produced. Further info can be found at www.drm.org |
| ISDB-T | Terrestrial Japanese standard for digital radio & TV. It is similar to DVB. Trials started in Japan in 2003 |
| MBMS | A broadcasting service offered via existing GSM and UMTS cellular networks. Network infrastructure could be built out by the end of 2007 but the first mobile devices supporting MBMS are not likely to be available until the end of 2008. |
| MediaFLO | Based on CDMA (a separate telecom standard from GPRS/UMTS and used in Korea and other Asian countries) and developed by Qualcomm in the US. A proprietary standard. Further info can be found at www.qualcomm.com |
| WiMax | Next generation of WiFi that has a c.30km radius, as opposed to WiFi itself that has c.30m radius. |
| Visual Radio | The delivery of audio related data via a GRPS/3G telecom channel in conjunction with listening to the audio via an integrated FM radio on a mobile phone. The IPR in this service is owned by Nokia and HP. Further info can be found at www.visualradio.com |
| Podcasting | Podcasting is a simple way of delivering audio content over the Internet to devices that can play MP3 files. Read more in our What is Podcasting article. |
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