Today we set my Nokia N96 down on its porno kickstand and marvel at the video options for that huge 2.8-inch screen.
First up, the groundbreaking DVB-H live television tuner…
Oh, right… Just like Japan’s 1seg and South Korea’s DMB, Digital Video Broadcast isn’t available in Canada or the US and A. It has already launched in some Asian and European markets, though — hopefully when DVB finally makes its way here the carriers will see the value in keeping it a free service.
Yeah, probably not. 
Next is a mobile version of BBC’s iPlayer…
Oops, almost forgot that the old media old guard thinks it can divide up the internet into different markets as has been done in the past. We have the same problem here, but that doesn’t make it any less infuriating…
Finally, something I can watch! The YouTube feed does a passable job of filling in for the sorely-missed emTube. You can’t save videos, though, only stream them.
And (big surprise) you can’t save those 20th Century Fox film trailers to your handset, either. But to give you an idea of the quality of these things you can check out this video of my first-ever S60 handset, courtesy of the directory’s official Nokia feed. Oh, and take note of the filetype and size while you’re at it, as the N96 will only play MPEG-4 video at 320 x 240 pixels.
One Comment
Being a brit in Mexico, not being to watch the BBC iPlayer outside of the UK is frustrating to say the least.
The main reason behind this though is copyright law, and the costs of paying al the rights to the individual artists, producers and companies involved in creating each program.
A friend works in digital at the BBC and told me that the rights currently negotiated for the iPlayer have cost them around 20 million pounds (a lot less in dolars these days!) and to do so on an international basis wold cost around 200 million pounds.
So even if the bbc would want to show programmes internationally, which I think it would due to the fact that they can monetize the international edition of their website, they just can’t afford the initial start up costs.
Great site by the way Andrew, and thanks for the comment!