iPhone XS Max WHAT WOULD IT TAKE... for an iPhone to Decode OTA TV

[browser740]

BTW- This is not an XSmax question but a question for ALL apple products, especially the Iphones...

What would it take to, place the circuitry in an iphone to decode OTA Digital TV... I think a great innovation for the phone would be able to watch TV any where. Apple TV would be in all the products...

 

[JPack]

Apple won't enable FM radio because it would compete with Apple Music.

Apple TV+ was introduced this year. OTA TV will never happen unless Apple is forced by law to include it.

 

[I7guy]

Apple won't enable FM radio because it would compete with Apple Music.

Apple TV+ was introduced this year. OTA TV will never happen unless Apple is forced by law to include it.

This logic makes no sense to me. As there must be 156 other ways to listen to music other than apple music.

But yeah, decoding over the air HD would be really nice. Does any phone actually do this?

 

[Freakonomics101]

This logic makes no sense to me. As there must be 156 other ways to listen to music other than apple music.

I agree. Even if the iPhone offered the ability to listen to the FM radio, I still would listen to Apple Music because I like to pick specific songs to listen to.

 

[ZEEN0j]

I have my cable networks app installed on my iPhone, iPad and Apple TV and can watch all channels I pay for using WiFi or 4g. Just curious if what you are asking for is better?

 

[Cayden]

It would totally be possible to build an app that could decode TV signals with the CPUs of current iPhones, but there’s no way to access those signals unless they’re sent over cellular or WiFi, not normal TV broadcast bands. If you attached an antenna to your phone and an external A/D it would be possible though (I use this kind of tool often at work on a Pixel 3)

 

[pika2000]

BTW- This is not an XSmax question but a question for ALL apple products, especially the Iphones...

What would it take to, place the circuitry in an iphone to decode OTA Digital TV... I think a great innovation for the phone would be able to watch TV any where. Apple TV would be in all the products...

More antennas, radio interference, there are a lot of things to consider. The iPhone is already so packed with radios from Bluetooth, WiFi. Cellular, NFC, etc. not sure why one wants a complexity of something like OTA TV in a phone. If there was an actual demand, I’m sure the many Android OEMs would’ve made one, but they don’t. They even increasingly dropped FM radio feature.

Besides, it’s been replaced with streaming shows over regular data.

 

[Beemers916]

I have my cable networks app installed on my iPhone, iPad and Apple TV and can watch all channels I pay for using WiFi or 4g. Just curious if what you are asking for is better?

Well, for one sports are ALWAYS behind on these apps, whether its on the phone or TV. Kind of crappy hearing your neighbors cheer before you actually see it happen during the super bowl lol

 

[kevink2]

This logic makes no sense to me. As there must be 156 other ways to listen to music other than apple music.

But yeah, decoding over the air HD would be really nice. Does any phone actually do this?

Is any phone actually large enough to include an antenna capable of picking up OTA? Unless you are in a large enough market, you probably can't even pickup much of anything OTA for TV use without an external antenna. I can't get an usable set of channels for my TV (up to 60 miles away for some network channels) without putting an antenna in the attic and also using a powered amplifier.
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It would totally be possible to build an app that could decode TV signals with the CPUs of current iPhones, but there’s no way to access those signals unless they’re sent over cellular or WiFi, not normal TV broadcast bands. If you attached an antenna to your phone and an external A/D it would be possible though (I use this kind of tool often at work on a Pixel 3)

I generally use streaming now since Youtube TV was the first of the national streaming providers to provide my local channels. For the year before that I used a product called HDHomeRun that connected to my amplified TV antenna, and allows streaming on the local network to apps on MacOS, Windows, iOS, etc. My version just forwards the mpeg2 signal (which the phones are powerful enough to process). Another version can convert to MP4 for lower data rates. Which can help with the optional DVR solution (onto a PC or some NAS units) use less disk space.

 

[jay968]

Wouldn't it just be easier to have a small hand held tv? The thought of seeing someone with an iphone with a cable running out of it to a TV antenna is actually kind've funny.