These trials involved a combination of technical and commercial testing.

The technical trials ran in several distinct phases:
- Phase 1 - July 2005 to July 2006 - Nokia Headend and Handsets
- Phase 2 - August 2006 to January 2007 - - Nokia Headend and Handsets
- Melbourne Commonwealth Games Showcase - March 2006 - Cardinal headend and handset client, Windows Media Encoders, ETEN M600 handsets with Dibcom SDIO tuners
- Phase 3 - May to August 2007 - Thomson Grass Valley Headend, Irdeto CA, and Samsung P930 Handsets
- Phase 4 - December 2008 to February 2009 - Wipro Headend, Nokia N96 and LG Handsets, demonstration of Longcheer phone and Invix PMP

The commercial trial (run during Phase 1) involving 375 users found that;
- 80% of users were pleased with the service - a "significant majority" expressed an interest in subscribing to a similar commercial service;
- increased total TV viewing on weekdays;
- the average viewing session was 25 minutes, with 1-2 viewing sessions per day;
- variations from traditional peak viewing times, with peaks at morning, lunch and evenings, as well as Sunday afternoons;
- the service was most popular with non-PayTV subscribers and with commuters;
- sports programming was particularly popular at lunchtime and on Saturday evenings;
- overall the most popular content was general entertainment, news and documentaries.

Also, during the Phase 4 trial, over 100 Optus N96 users we recruited to the trial to use their own handsets (for free). Further results of this trial will be published in due course.

Sydney, Australia (except Melbourne Commonwealth Games showcase)

Broadcast Australia, The Bridge Networks (a subsidiary of Broadcast Australia), Telstra, Optus, Foxtel, Turner Broadcasting Systems, SKY Channel, ABC, SBS, Nine Network Australia, Seven, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, RFS, Harris, 3 Australia, MTV, Thomson Grass Valley, Irdeto, Samsung, and Australian Digital Testing.

Martin Farrimond
e-mail : martin.farrimond@broadcastaustralia.com.au
phone : +61 434 070 361

19 July 2005 to 28 February 2009 (in different phases as detailed above)

To prove the technical and commercial feasibility of mobile TV based on DVB-H.

Subscription based services.

375 (Phase 1) and 200 (Phase 4)

Various content providers for different phases of the trial, including; 10 Foxtel channels (Channel V, E!, Fox Football, Fox Sports News, Nickelodeon, Sky News, Sky News Business, The History Channel, The Lifestyle Channel and The Weather Channel), ABC, SBS, Channel Nine, Channel Seven, CNN, Sky Racing, MTV, 3 Australia, Boomerang, The Cartoon Network, and MySpace Roadshow.

One 3.5kW transmitter, 80kw ERP, covering all of Greater Sydney to at least outdoor mobile grade of service

UHF Channel 29, 536.625 MHz, 7 MHz bandwidth.

1st phase 8k, no-mpe fec, ½ FEC, QPSK, 1/8 GI, 200 ms bursts with 4 second cycle time.

Then various during phases 2 but based on 4k, no MPE-FEC, ½ FEC, QPSK, 1/8 GI. Experiments with 2/3 FEC, and ¾ MPE-FEC. About 170 ms bursts with 1.7 second cycle time.

During phase 3 a few modes used including 4k, ¾ MPE FEC with 512 rows, ½ FEC, 1/8 GI. Statistical encoding used on 5 services and dynamic timeslicing/statistical multiplexing employed. During phase 3, video services running bitrates of around 350kbps, 25fps and both AAC LC and AAC plus V2 audio used at around 32kbps. QPSK, ½ FEC, 1/8 GI, no MPE FEC with video services running around 200kbps also used.

During phase 4, the mode used was qpsk, 4k mode, ½ FEC, 1/8 GI. 9 services were transmitted using ~320kbps H.264 at 25 fps. Using 48kbps AAC plus audio.

All DVB-H - no heirarchical modulation

H.263 for Phase 1, then H.264 for other phases. Bitrates and framerates at detailed above.

In phase 2, limited experiments with Nokia MBS 3.0 interactivity

Nokia OMA based system in phase 1, no CA during phase 2, Irdeto OSF CA in phase 3. Nokia OMA B-CAST DRM profile in phase 4.

Nokia IPDC 2.2 in phase 1, Nokia MBS 3.0 in phase 2, Thomson Grass Valley in Phase 3, Wipro/Nokia MBS3.2 in phase 4.

Nokia 7710 for phase 1, Nokia N92 for phase 2, Samsung SGH-P930 for phase 3, Nokia N96 for phase 4 as well as LG HB620T . N77, N92 and Invix PMP and Longcheer DT100 phone also demonstrated during phase 4.

Information updated on 14/07/2009