Once again, the giant Consumer Electronics Show is under way in Las Vegas. As I walk through the miles of incredible car audio exhibits, I meet mobile electronics retailers who all want to know one thing: "Where can I hire installers?" My answer is always the same: from one of the many car audio and mobile electronics schools in North America. As the whole car audio industry evolves, the need for passionate installers remains, and as the custom home theater industry continues to pull our veterans into their camp, the need for new mobile electronics installers increases. Make yourself a valuable member of the industry by getting involved-after all, the awesome CES show is for members only.
Q: I know you've talked about satellite TV in a response in a past issue, but they seem a little pricey and seem to work only on big SUVs. How much is a RaySat T5? I own an '06 Nissan Altima, which by the way is a cab. I think the taxi dome on the roof might be a problem for reception for the sat antenna (as well as the CB antenna). I have a Pioneer AVH-7500DVD in my car and watch TV mostly while waiting for clients (obviously parked). But I am still interested in reception while moving since I plan to install headrest monitors.
I know that on the Alpine Europe Mercedes CLS demo car, they used a mobile digital TV tuner (model #TUE-T200DVB), which, if I am not mistaken, works with cell phone networks. Are we close to getting them and how well are those tuners working? I live in Montreal, Canada, so I know that we will be behind you in the States as far as implementation of technology goes; but I think this might be a better solution since the antennas are a lot smaller.
Best regards,
Richard Lapierre
A: First off, I live in Toronto (a few hours' drive from Montreal), and the technology is pretty much the same in all of North America. One of the main benefits of the U.S.-Canada market relationship, like Europe's many nations, is the planned ability to serve several markets. For instance, Sirius and XM satellite radio were usable in Canada and Mexico long before the company opened its local branches to serve those regions specifically. All that was added when the satellite radio companies opened in Canada were a few new Canadian-content (i.e., hockey) stations. There are exceptions, like the Apple iPhone (we get it in Canada in early 2008 so I had to hack one from the States-it works perfectly and I didn't want to wait) but generally the technology transcends the border.
The European cellular network is considerably more sophisticated than in North America, so they'll tend to lead in the areas of product that just makes little market sense here at this time. While there is a basic "video-to-cell phone" format growing in North America, the actual MSS (mobile satellite service) in Europe is set to unfold in 2009, using cell phones as one form of viewing device.
Freeview technology used by the European-based Alpine mobile tuner is essentially DVB-T, or digital video broadcast television. As with any terrestrial (land-based) transmission system, your mileage may vary. The signal can be blocked by buildings, trucks and any other massive or metallic object between you and the transmitting antenna.