Motorola, PacketVideo Demonstrate MPEG4 Video over GPRS

One of the applications often dangled in front of would-be providers of third-generation service is video via the mobile phones. However, at its technical symposium, Expanding Horizons, in Barcelona, Spain, Motorola (Schaumburg, IL) is showing GSM network operators what the service looks like now. Working with San Diego, CA-based PacketVideo, Motorola's Network Solutions Sector (NSS) is showcasing an MPEG4 video demonstration over a live General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile data network,

Motorola first demonstrated MPEG4 over GPRS at the GSM World Congress in France earlier this year and again at the CeBIT international technology fair in Germany. The GPRS video demonstration is enabled by PacketVideo's MPEG4-compliant software-based encoding, decoding, and transmission management products, which enable a variety of content and rich media applications to be delivered to mobile devices. The client is a PDA equipped with PacketVideo's PVPlayer decoding software, connected via infrared link, to Motorola's GPRS-capable handset.

For the Barcelona exhibition, both the Internet and a selection of Web cameras are providing streaming and live video content. The content is transported across the end-to-end GPRS solution to the end-user device. The cameras are situated at PacketVideo's headquarters in San Diego, at the Barcelona congress center itself, and at the Invisix center in London.

The MPEG4-compliant software is operating system, platform, and air-interface independent. Its error-resilient technology recognizes and conceals errors inherent in wireless networks, enabling mobile information devices to receive enhanced video image quality on wireless networks. The software also can adjust to the actual bandwidth available to display the best picture possible. Applications include full-motion news and financial stories, sports highlights, short entertainment clips and music videos, weather and traffic reports, home or work security cameras, and corporate communications.

Edited by Ellen Jensen