06/01/19 WEAVING THE WEB INTO YOUR TV

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WEAVING THE WEB INTO YOUR TV
You can watch ER as you send E-mail. It beats pulling in shows on your PC
For a couple of years now, ''convergence''--the idea that computing and home entertainment will merge--has been buzzing around the high-tech industry. I've always been dubious about the notion, and judging by the sluggish sales of convergence products such as Gateway 2000's (GTW) Destination home entertainment PCs, so have consumers. But after trying out flavors of Microsoft's (MSFT) WebTV--the television-based WebTV Plus and the WebTV for Windows component of Windows 98--it's clear to me that adding Internet features to a television is a better idea than adding TV features to a PC.
In its original 1996 version, WebTV was an inexpensive way to turn a TV set into a basic Internet terminal. The current WebTV Plus version, released after Microsoft bought the company last year, subtly changes the concept to make the Internet an adjunct to TV viewing, especially as a way to get complete local program listings on-screen. I tested WebTV using the $199 Philips (PHG) Magnavox Internet TV Terminal; similar units are sold by Sony (SNE) and Mitsubishi.
With the WebTV service, you get Web browsing and E-mail on your TV. Browsing is fairly snappy with a 56 kilobit-per-second modem, and you control the WebTV box with a remote or a wireless keyboard. Your opening screen is customized to provide easy access to neighborhood movie and restaurant listings.
The best feature, however, is a detailed TV program guide, automatically downloaded overnight, that lets you watch TV in a window while you browse listings of current and upcoming shows. You also can link to the Web for more information on programs, a feature useful mostly to retrieve facts about movies from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).
WebTV probably has a limited life span as a stand-alone product. Its hardware will be incorporated into set-top boxes, such as the ones being designed around Microsoft software for Tele-Communications Inc. (TCOMA), and a seamless connection to the Web over a fast cable link will greatly enhance its features.
By contrast, WebTV for Windows, a feature that is included on the Windows 98 CD, strikes me as a curious product. First, you need a compatible TV tuner card. Currently, only the $279 ATI All-in-Wonder Pro--a combined display adapter and tuner--works, but more hardware will be available by the time Win98 ships in late June. When connected to cable, this lets you watch TV on your PC and, using an existing Internet account, download a WebTV-like localized program guide.
After some installation glitches, the hardware and software worked fine. But I'm left wondering just why I would want to turn a PC into a very expensive and not very good television. The quality of TV images on PCs, whether displayed full-screen or in a small window, ranges from mediocre on standard monitors to awful on flat-screen displays. I might occasionally want to watch a ball game in a small window while I work in the evening, but a little TV set would do the job better, more cheaply, and with less trouble. You might want to make your PC the heart of a home entertainment center, but be warned that getting a TV tuner and a DVD player working on the same computer is likely to be a daunting challenge.
One Win98 feature that comes along with WebTV has the potential to be more useful. WaveTop, a service of a company called WavePhore, puts Web-style news and information on an unused part of the TV signal called the vertical blanking interval (Maven's WaveTop review). That, combined with the reader bundled with Win98, lets you select topics of interest and download and view the information. Unfortunately, I was unable to test it because our office cable system doesn't carry any of the PBS channels that distribute the WaveTop data.
Microsoft could be right that TV features on PCs are the coming thing, but PC makers aren't buying the notion. I don't know of any leading desktop manufacturer that currently plans to make tuners standard, or even factory options.
WebTV Plus is a cheap way for people who don't have PCs to get on the Internet, or to enhance TV viewing for folks who do. (The cost drops to $10 a month if you already have an Internet account). But WebTV for Windows seems like an idea whose time is not yet here.
BY STEPHEN H. WILDSTROM

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