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From: Byron / ByronBush@RedWingNet.com / Houston / TX
Date: 17 Jan 1999
Time: 13:34:10
On occasion I love to dig into (sort of) new technology and tell you about my experience here on Wing Talk. This time I got to install a Sony Web TV!
The entire package sold for around $400 and included:
- a base unit (about 1/4 the size of a standard stereo component), remote control, and most cabling required for install.
- infra-red keyboard (this was not part of the standard package and is about 1/2 the size of a standard keyboard)
The base unit was quite simple, it had plugs on the back for connections, lights on the front, but no power switch. I noticed that the unit had a Seagate hard drive installed but couldn't tell the capacity of the unit. There was a slot in the front of the box for, what I would guess to be, a flash ROM card to program the unit.
I spent about 1.5 hours trying to integrate a TV, Web TV, VCR, and cable connections together with the cabling strewn about the floor. Once we re-programmed the keyboard to control the TV sound, channels, on/off, and connected the phone line we finally got the graphic-looking introduction screen to Web TV. It took about 10 minutes to fill out the online billing ($25/month) and account information and the machine began to automagically download a software update; that took about 30 minutes.
Once we figured out all the right buttons and how to navigate with Page-Up, Page-Down, and Right/Left/Up/Down arrow keys (no mouse) it was time to find our first web site, Wing Tips of course! Although our site is no technologic wonder, it does have several web-widgets that allow you to test a browsers basic web functionality.
The first thing I noticed about the Web TV was the poor resolution, especially with respect to text, basic Red Wing images seemed fine. Additionally, there's no horizontal or vertical scroll bars on the TV. You either page up/down or use the arrow keys to jump from one link to another.
We signed the Wing Tips Guest Book with no problems but it took 5 minutes how to refresh the page to see our new post.
We then went to the Quick Viewer to test how WebTV deals with "Frames". I'm sorry to say that I was very disappointed Without getting into details, I'll just say the interface was awkward and not at all like a real web browser.
We next went to the Southwest Airlines web site to check on flight information. Things went OK until we got to the page where we were allowed to select an origin/destination airport via a scrolling list box. The WebTV browser allowed us to arrow to the list, highlighting the entire control, but we never could figure out how to scroll through the list to make a selection. Never did figure this out!
Rating the true web experience via WebTV on a scale of 1(low) to 5(high), I'd give it a 1, maybe a 2. After having experienced the web on a high resolution monitor, Netscape or MSIE, and a mouse I'm totally spoiled and would never be satisfied with its limited capabilities.
We eventually found our way to the email interface. Email, by it's very nature, is a lot easier to use on WebTV. I found the interface very easy to use to perform basic email functions. It may have been there but I sure would have appreciated a spell checker. The WebTV box does have a little red "Message" light on it that will illuminate if you receive mail while online, that's about the only special email feature I saw.
Bottom line is...
If you've used a computer to interact with the web in the you'll never be satisfied with the limited WebTV environment. If all you want is a convenient, easy to setup and maintain way to check email and do some very basic browsing while sitting in your easy chair then WebTV is for you!
What have I missed?
BBBush