MobaHo!
Encyclopedia
MobaHO! was a mobile satellite
digital audio/video broadcasting
service in Japan
, whose services began on 20 October 2004 and ended on March 31, 2009 at 15:00. MobaHO! used digital broadcasting specification of ISDB
. The satellite, MBSat 1, providing this service is jointly owned by SK Telecom
of Korea and Mobile Broadcasting Corporation (MBCO) of Japan.
A number of receivers were available for this service: portable receivers with built in QVGA LCD screens, car-use, a laptop-use PC card
receiver, a mobile phone (by DoCoMo
) and more.
Version 1 Simple Profile @ L3 video and AAC
audio encapsulated in MPEG transport stream. The maximum supported resolution was 320x240 pixels (QVGA), and the maximum video bitrate was 384 kbit/s at a frame rate of 15 frames per second. Audio conformed to the ISO/IEC 13818-7 AAC LC (Low Complexity) profile, with maximum bitrate of 144 kbit/s and sampling rates up to 48 kHz. The transmission was scrambled using the MULTI2
cipher for conditional access.
This service was broadcast over 2.6 GHz S-band by MBSat at 144.0°E. Left Circular polarized beam covered Japan, while Right Circular polarized beam covered South Korea. These beams were intended to be received by portable devices with omni-directional antennas. A single 150 W Ku band
transponder on MBSat, operated at 12.226 GHz and Symbol rate
of 18433 was used to broadcast identical contents to "Gap-fillers" (re-transmission devices) which were planned to be installed in train stations and subways, and other areas where the S-band satellite beam would not reach. This repeater broadcast was also scrambled using MULTI2.
They ceased operations on March 31, 2009.
type. This was the only device which allowed recording broadcasts. However, DRM
technology was used to prohibit playback of recorded content without the receiver card present. Hardware encryption chip and presumably receiver serial number was used to encrypt the recording.
stations from the west coast of the United States for English language, American Pop, Hip-Hop, Jazz, and various forms of old and new Rock. Toward the end, they also carried New York City's WQXR
, America's highest rated Classical music station, then owned by the New York Times.
With a licensed bandwidth equal to that of both Sirius and XM, MobaHO! was able to offer seven video channels, including news, horse racing, and family and childrens programming.
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
digital audio/video broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
service in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, whose services began on 20 October 2004 and ended on March 31, 2009 at 15:00. MobaHO! used digital broadcasting specification of ISDB
ISDB
Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting is a Japanese standard for digital television and digital radio used by the country's radio and television stations. ISDB replaced the previously used MUSE "Hi-vision" analogue HDTV system...
. The satellite, MBSat 1, providing this service is jointly owned by SK Telecom
SK Telecom
SK Telecom Co., Ltd. or Sunkyoung Telecom is a South Korean wireless telecommunications operator, controlled by the SK Group, one of the country's largest chaebol. As a part of SK Group, SK stands for Sun Kyung.SK Telecom is a provider of mobile service in Korea, with 50.5% of the market share as...
of Korea and Mobile Broadcasting Corporation (MBCO) of Japan.
A number of receivers were available for this service: portable receivers with built in QVGA LCD screens, car-use, a laptop-use PC card
PC card
In computing, PC Card is the form factor of a peripheral interface designed for laptop computers. The PC Card standard was defined and developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association which itself was created by a number of computer industry companies in the United States...
receiver, a mobile phone (by DoCoMo
DoCoMo
DoCoMo is a trademark of the NTT DoCoMo corporation of Japan, used in its home market and in India in partnership with Tata Teleservices. It is an acronym of the phrase "Do communications over the mobile network."See also the following mobile phone operators:...
) and more.
Technical information
This service used ISO MPEG-4MPEG-4 Part 2
MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-4 Visual is a video compression technology developed by MPEG. It belongs to the MPEG-4 ISO/IEC standards. It is a discrete cosine transform compression standard, similar to previous standards such as MPEG-1 and MPEG-2...
Version 1 Simple Profile @ L3 video and AAC
Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
audio encapsulated in MPEG transport stream. The maximum supported resolution was 320x240 pixels (QVGA), and the maximum video bitrate was 384 kbit/s at a frame rate of 15 frames per second. Audio conformed to the ISO/IEC 13818-7 AAC LC (Low Complexity) profile, with maximum bitrate of 144 kbit/s and sampling rates up to 48 kHz. The transmission was scrambled using the MULTI2
MULTI2
MULTI2 is a block cipher, developed by Hitachi in 1988. Designed for general-purpose cryptography, its current use is encryption of high-definition television broadcasts in Japan.- Cipher details :...
cipher for conditional access.
This service was broadcast over 2.6 GHz S-band by MBSat at 144.0°E. Left Circular polarized beam covered Japan, while Right Circular polarized beam covered South Korea. These beams were intended to be received by portable devices with omni-directional antennas. A single 150 W Ku band
Ku band
The Kμ band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies. This symbol refers to —in other words, the band directly below the K-band...
transponder on MBSat, operated at 12.226 GHz and Symbol rate
Symbol rate
In digital communications, symbol rate is the number of symbol changes made to the transmission medium per second using a digitally modulated signal or a line code. The Symbol rate is measured in baud or symbols/second. In the case of a line code, the symbol rate is the pulse rate in pulses/second...
of 18433 was used to broadcast identical contents to "Gap-fillers" (re-transmission devices) which were planned to be installed in train stations and subways, and other areas where the S-band satellite beam would not reach. This repeater broadcast was also scrambled using MULTI2.
Financial issues
The company had expected to attract a million subscribers by 2008, but had only reached about a hundred thousand.They ceased operations on March 31, 2009.
Receiver devices
MTV-S10 by Toshiba, 4E-MB1 by SHARP, MBR0101B by MBCO, MBT0102A by MBCO - PC cardPC card
In computing, PC Card is the form factor of a peripheral interface designed for laptop computers. The PC Card standard was defined and developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association which itself was created by a number of computer industry companies in the United States...
type. This was the only device which allowed recording broadcasts. However, DRM
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
technology was used to prohibit playback of recorded content without the receiver card present. Hardware encryption chip and presumably receiver serial number was used to encrypt the recording.
- Mobile phone: Music Porter X by DoCoMo
- and more
Program Channels
Most MobaHO! music channels were produced inhouse and featured popular genre in the Japanese and Korean languages for their respective markets. They also carried several commercial and non-commercial FMFM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
stations from the west coast of the United States for English language, American Pop, Hip-Hop, Jazz, and various forms of old and new Rock. Toward the end, they also carried New York City's WQXR
WQXR-FM
WQXR-FM is an American classical radio station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, and serving the New York City metropolitan area. It is the most-listened-to classical-music station in the United States, with an average quarter-hour audience of 63,000...
, America's highest rated Classical music station, then owned by the New York Times.
With a licensed bandwidth equal to that of both Sirius and XM, MobaHO! was able to offer seven video channels, including news, horse racing, and family and childrens programming.