Got live television on your Treo?
“Hey Sean, check this out on my Treo 700!”
“Whatcha got now Bob?” (I always have some newfangled thing)
“Live TV!”
“Get outta here! On that little thing?”
“Oh yea, and is it sweeeet or what?”
“Awesome, how’d ya get that on there?”
“Check it out, it’s called MobiTV, and you can get it right here!”
I am very happy to provide you with an updated review of this, as mytreo.net’s Alli Flowers wrote recently, INCREDIBLE addition to your Treo. The previous review by Alli was performed using a GSM Treo 650. This review is on a CDMA Treo 700p.
Unfortunately, the area that I live in does not have EVDO. I can only imagine the increase in quality with a broadband feed. (N.B. An unlimited data plan is a must for MobiTV.)
After installing the version of MobiTV specific to the Treo 700p and getting registered, I jumped into checking out all of the available channels. The channel list is extensive for the Treo.
Using the system is quite intuitive. The side buttons on the Treo are used to increase and decrease speaker/headphone volume in MobiTV. The 5- way navigator buttons are also quite useful. Up and down will change channels. Left and right move you across the bottom providing you access to channel changes, the guide, and volume controls.
Even though I do not have EVDO the picture is amazing. I found that if my signal dropped down to either one or no bars showing, the program would revert back to the “receiving signal” screen. Moving so I had a better signal essentially stopped this from occurring. A better signal also increased the quality of the picture. Less pixilation was noticeable with a higher signal.
Audio is great. It’s a pity that it is mono, but with most of the bandwidth dedicated to video, it was expected. I had no audio drop except when the program reverted to the “receiving signal” screen. Headphones work with no problem. The MobiTV website has a troubleshooting section that makes reference to headphone use. The site states that firmware for the Treo must be over 1.03 to keep from having problems with the insertion or removal of headphones.
I am happy to report back that my Treo did receive phone calls while watching MobiTV. After the call, there was a bit of a lag for MobiTV to start back up, but this should be expected since the phone needs to reconnect to data service.
All in all I am stoked with the product. Wow factor is way up there with non-Treo users. Heck, I bet my buddy Sean will even convert to get some of the bennies that the rest of us are enjoying!
My take on MobiTV? AWESOME!
Remember, though…UNLIMITED DATA ACCESS IS A MUST! I do not want anyone to get a big surprise in their next wireless bill.
MobiTV is a subscription plan program. This program is practically essential for those of you who spend time on trains, buses, or any other form of mass transit. And, if you purchase it here, you get four months of service FREE!
Oh yeaa…. I think Sean is ready. And based upon the growth of MobiTV with users outside of the US, so are the rest of us.
Related Links
Get MobiTV!
December 2005 review of MobiTV
Filed under: Software reviews
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I had MobiTV on my Treo 650 for a while. I dropped it for two reasons:
1) Limited content. There were only one or two channels I was interested in, and the price wasn’t justified for me. YMMV.
2) Poor tech support. I had a couple of problems at first, and when upgrades were released. Sometimes it took Tech Support a few days to answer my requests for help, and their standard response was “delete and reinstall.” Since that’s the first thing one does with any software causing Treo problems, they weren’t very helpful.
I had MobiTv for over a year, most of that time it was with Cingular on the 650, but since June it was with Verizon (EVDO) on the 700p. Very much to my surprise, EVDO performance was little, if any, different than on Cingular’s network. On both the audio was great, the video was pretty good with the occasional bout of choppiness and dropped signals.
I just dropped my MobiTV subscription because there was only 2 channels I felt were worth watching and they had not expanded their line up once during the 18 months I was a subscriber.
At one point a few years ago they announced an agreement with MLB to broadcast GameDay Audio, but that went *poof* into thin air with disappeared w/out explanation.
A+ on the wow factor but once the novelty wears off you’ll find yourself rarely watching it.
What’s the difference between MobiTV and the Sprint TV on my Palm 700p?
Is there much difference bwtween MobiTV and the stations provided with Sprint TV which I get with my phone already?
First, MobiTV is terrible. The service is set to such a low bandwidth that almost any motion overwhelmes the bandwidth and the images stutter, tiling occurs, and often it just rebuffers. I am in the KC, MO area and have EVDO but like mentioned above, there’s not much difference in quality between CDMA and EVDO. Also, the channel selection makes the entire product a soccer Mom or MTV age product. If you are over 40, there’s nothing. The channels with cartoons and other programming just keep repeating the same old content. As far as the news channels, they are repetitive as well. Buffer time is way too long. No one is going to watch content for more than a few minutes at a time and MobiTV is designed with that in mind.
But, Sprint is now testing a new phone and video service which will blow MobiTV out of the market. It includes the comedy channel and a host of other content that is more relevant to a wider audience. Also, there is absolutely no buffering. You click on the channel guide and wham!, your video starts. I compared my MobiTV along side of the new service and MobiTV was laughable.
Oh, and the Sprint service not only handled fast motion extremely well but you could actually read the scrolling text at the bottom of the FOX and CNN news channels. And, further, those channels are the real thing on Sprint. On MobiTV they have a chopped down version just for their service. Yuk!
fliphayes, what is this new Sprint service called?
how much is it?
and is it out yet?
it sounds GREAT!
im not too astounded by Sprint TV, and MobiTV sounds REALLY similar….chopped up programming that is meant to be viewed for a few minutes while waiting on your coffee at the airport…and watching out-of-sync mosaic images is not my idea of “good quality” in video.
if the Sprint service you mentined is that much better, id like to look into and research it immediately.
How about mobile tv for those of us who live way up in the great white north? ie. (Canada). Is there anything for us?