There's no doubt that the hot topic at IBC 2005 and IFA 2005 was mobile TV. At IBC more than 35 companies, most of them DVB Members, demonstrated DVB-H products and services, and there were at least five separate DVB-H transmissions on air at the RAI in  Amsterdam .

The twelve months since IBC 2004 have seen major advances in the development of DVB-H handsets, of which there was a wide selection on show in  Amsterdam  last week. The Nokia 7710 device has been quite visible up to now, and there was plenty of attention for new receivers from Siemens and Motorola, the latter having been unveiled for the first time at IFA the previous week. Also receiving DVB-H signals were a Samsung mobile phone, the Pace PVR2GO equipped with a chip from Sony, and a number of PDAs and PCs using the DiBcom chipset. At IFA, the T-Systems DVB-H transmission for the next phase of the trials in Berlin was received by the devices from Siemens and Motorola as well as PDAs with the DiBcom receiver chipset.

The strong multi-vendor support for DVB-H was further emphasised by the number of companies showing headend equipment. For a comprehensive listing see the Guide to DVB-H @ IBC 2005.

Debates about which standards and business models would be successful dominated delegate discussions and the pages of the IBC Daily. DVB hosted a packed press conference on September 9th at the RAI with Prof. Ulrich Reimers joined by panellists from Siemens, Nokia, DiBcom, Microtune and Shorts International.

There were also transmissions on air using the Korean T-DMB system, with receivers from Samsung and LG. A good overview of the debates that took place at the show regarding the relative merits of the different systems, including Qualcomm's proprietary solution, can be found in this report from the EE Times.