MobiTV

[rpparkster]

Just wondering if anyone has purchased this program and what your thoughts were. I'm thinking about purchasing it but I would like a few testimonials outside of their website.

[SDMahan]

I purchased it Friday morning. I used to use MobiTV on my Treo 650 and wasn't too impressed (it was due to the slow speed of 1xRTT) and I heard that the new version had much higher quality on EVDO.

Well, they were right. The quality of the video signal is much improved. Very smooth video and rarely does it pause to rebuffer. And the bluetooth stack on the Q kept the audio in sync with the video (I love that). Overall, the product works great. The only problem some people have is the channel selection. Since I use it mostly for news and special events (MSNBC was covering the attempted launch of the Space Shuttle today), it works for me. You can see the full lineup from their website.

[sbagdan]

I bought it and I love it. It seems to work great (as long as you have "EV" coverage.

[chris]

Just wondering if anyone has purchased this program and what your thoughts were. I'm thinking about purchasing it but I would like a few testimonials outside of their website.

sbagdan said....It seems to work great (as long as you have "EV" coverage.

Took the words out of my mouth. I reviewed MobiTV for Everything Treo without an EvDO connection. I liked everything about it, but it suffered from buffering issues. Outside out that, great channel lineup and the programming was good. I haven't tested with EvDO, but I'd imagine that MobiTV rocks with EvDO.

Here's an excerpt from the review...
I was excited about MobiTV because live television is the next logical technology that's missing from my Treo. MobiTV offers a great selection of channels, a slick interface, but without a high speed data connection it often suffers from frequent drop-outs and buffering issues. If and when MobiTV becomes available on the Treo 700w, I'd expect the service to perform exponentially better using Verizon's EV-DO network.

[bogey]

what is the cost? and website address? this sounds interesting with football season coming soon.

[EdW]

I got it but it only downloaded a .cab file. Where do I need to put it or did I not get everything?

[SDMahan]

For Windows Mobile 5.0 devices it costs $9.99 per month. You can find out for information on their website MobiTV. The Q is one of the devices they are promoting to heavily.

As with any application, if you get it as a .CAB file, copy it to your device and then open it on your device using File Manager. Once it is installed, you can then delete the .CAB file from your device.

[PeterT]

I just installed the product and while I love the concept I find it unusable. It is constantly rebuffering causing the video to drop out along with the audio. Sometimes the video just drops out (or freezes) leaving the audio going. Most of the time everything drops out and doesn't come back for minutes. It's probablly just a speed issue in my area but it's just too annoying. I have great signal strength but still no luck.

I have noticed (and tested) that when my Q is connected to my laptop computer via usb and Activesync the internet data transfer speeds become fast enough where the MobiTv becomes totall usable. If i disconnect the DSL connection to my laptop the MobiTv comes to a grinding halt. When connected to another computer does the Q use it's internet connection?

[SDMahan]

Peter, is your Q showing EV on the top of the Home Screen or 1X? It almost sound like either you are running in 1XRTT, which does make MobiTV un-usable (in my opinion). If you were indeed running in EVDO, try the test below.

Go to this website using wireless data, run the 200K and 600K tests and see what speed you get. http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed

Try each speed a few times. If you find that you are averaging <250 kbit/sec, then that would explain your problems with pausing/buffering. In my area, I average 385 kbit/sec, which is considered an average speed.

If you get poor speed (averaging < 200 or 250 kbit/sec), I would call VZW customer service and complain about the data service. BTW, it might be a good idea to check VZW's EVDO maps to see what level of service you should be expecting.

[PeterT]

You're right!! I checked the speed site and my speed was between 45 and 50 kbit/sec. I do have 1x showing on the display. I thought I signed up for "broadband" LOL. I'm in the extended service area. I had no idea the Broadband areas were so limited. They certainly don't seem to be very eager to let you know that if you don't live in the MAJOR cities paying for unlimited broadband service is kind of a waste! By the way, the first ime I checked my speed I was connected to my laptop via Activesync and my speed was 900kb/sec on the Q.

Thanks for the info!