The Right Show at the Right Time: The Power of Electronic Programming Guides
Television: it can be very rewarding and very frustrating at the same time. At its best, it is an excellent way to bring enlightened, engaging video programs to millions of viewers. At its worst, it can be nothing more than a steady stream of the same old stinky garbage flooding your living room day after day.
Wouldn't it be nice if there were some device that allowed you to take control of your television's content, to quickly search through the mountain of unimaginative trash for those few sparkling gems that you'd like to watch? Wouldn't it be even nicer if this device actually programmed your VCR for you once it found the programs you were looking for?
A powerful and quickly evolving TV technology seeks to do just that. Known variously as electronic program guides, EPGs, electronic TV listings, on-screen program guides, interactive program guides or scrolling TV guides--the basic functions are the same: to give you as much power as possible to search through and select the upcoming programs you want to watch. There are lots of bells and whistles that can be incorporated into electronic program guides, such as searching TV listings by keyword, actor, genre or rating. Some electronic program guides automatically program a VCR to record a show when it comes on. TV listing information is typically sent on a periodic basis through the same conduit the TV signal uses, such as cable, broadcast or satellite. Increasingly, the Internet is a source for comprehensive TV listings at Web sites that also cover television and entertainment news and events. EPGs can be found in televisions, VCRs, cable boxes, satellite boxes, and in newer products like WebTV Plus, as well as on the Web. The more powerful and interactive the listing guide, the more power the user exerts over what to watch and when to watch it. What follows is a survey of this booming product category. In this fast changing arena, don't be surprised if the playing field suddenly shifts overnight (as it has already done several times in the past couple of years). Even though the category is dynamic, the basic idea is a good one, so we think you'll be seeing quite a bit more of these products in the coming months.
What It Is
The electronic TV program guide is really a combination of two basic elements: the convenience of time-shifting, and the power of electronic searching. The idea of time-shifting television programs is as old as the home VCR--a little over twenty years old, to be exact. Granted, on a geological scale, that isn't very old, but in electronic terms it's something close to a millenium. The concept of time- shifting TV programs is a simple one: a show you want to watch comes on at a time that's inconvenient, so you program your VCR to record it automatically so that you can watch it at a later time and date. Many an early-riser has used this technique to watch David Letterman in the morning over corn flakes--or to record that all-important football game that comes on at the same time as your spouse's favorite evening program.
Unfortunately, the only means we've had to search through the mountain of upcoming programs is the good old paper-based TV listing service--until recently, that is. With the advent and popularization of electronic program guide technology, many home VCRs, televisions and other devices now have the ability to offer an up-to-date display of local programming for the viewer to select from. These types of program guides usually offer a simple scrolling interface accessed by remote control. The user simply moves up, down or sideways through a graphical listing of available television programs. Some guides merely display the listings. Some remind the user of the program by turning the TV on and tuning to the channel. The best will tell the VCR to turn itself on, tune to the appropriate program, and begin recording.
Components typically communicate with each other using infrared signals sent from IR emitters. IR emitters, or blasters they're sometimes called, vary greatly in shape and size, but the essential purpose is the same: to imitate the functions of the VCR's remote control in order to send the commands to power on, tune the channel, begin recording and stop recording.
StarSight, VCRPlus and Gemstar
Electronic Program Guides are a very 90s phenomenon. StarSight was first on the scene in 1990, when it was launched to help people frustrated with programming their VCRs. StarSight is a subsidiary of Gemstar, which has managed to corner most of the interactive EPG market to date by aggressively pursuing patents and acquisitions. Last year, for example, Gemstar purchased StarSight competitor VideoGuide and shut it down. StarSight is basically a chip that comes installed in various popular brands of TVs and VCRs that feature the StarSight logo. StarSight is also sold in stand-alone set top boxes. StarSight works by receiving TV listing information embedded in a portion of the PBS TV signal called the Vertical Blanking Interval. The VBI, which keeps the broadcast picture aligned in the TV frame, is lately being enlisted to carry all sorts of data, but closed captioning and StarSight TV listings were two of the first peripheral uses. StarSight retrieves and stores seven days worth of listings once per week. Users can view the listings in a grid format on the TV by time or by theme. Users scroll through the listings with a remote control, selecting what they want to watch with a click of a button. StarSight stores up to 25 recording "events" per week and automatically record the programs when they air. A StarSight subscription costs on average $2.95 per month
StarSight is a good example of an interactive program guide, meaning the user can move through the listings at his or her own pace and press a button to make a selection, either to view or record. This is different from a scrolling program guide, such as those offered by many cable systems. A scrolling guide has a channel dedicated to TV listings where the programs scroll down the screen at a preset pace. You can watch the guide to see what's on, but there is no ability to browse or otherwise "interact" with the listings.
Another Gemstar property is VCRPlus+. Like StarSight, VCRPlus is included in popular brands of TVs and VCRs and sold also as a stand-alone unit. Just look for the logo. With VCRPlus, viewers use a paper program-listing guide, like a newspaper or a magazine. Most listings these days include a four-digit code along with every program. Rather than set the date, time, frequency, etc on the VCR, viewers need only enter the four-digit number and the event will be set for recording. Gemstar also owns TVGuidePlus+, a TV listings grid that comes in some JVC brand TVs and VCRs.
Digital Broadcast Satellite
StarSight was the original interactive EPG, but it requires special hardware and a monthly subscription. More recently, Digital Broadcast Satellite (DBS) systems, like DSS or DISH Network, have become very popular, largely because they offer interactive EPGs as part of their standard service. DBS program guides have taken TV listings to the next step, incorporating a wide variety of functions by allowing users to set lists of "favorites," set parental controls and view TV listings sorted by a wider variety of criteria. With the deluxe versions of both DSS and DISH boxes, an IR blaster is included with the package, so users can program the satellite box to turn itself on, tune to the selected channel, turn on the VCR and record a program the user selected sometime the previous week.
Program Master, ETV Host and Smart TV
Just as TVs and VCRs have become smarter by the addition of electronic program guide technology, so too have the many new types of devices that connect to the television. As computers become more integrated with televisions, we're beginning to see more powerful electronic program guide technology emerge. In both Net-top boxes and full-blown PC/TVs, a whole new crop of services has become available. In this arena, a powerful and effective new time shifting solution is provided by Program Master and Electronic TV Host. The Program Master integrates the powerful search and retrieve capabilities of a Windows-based home computer with a small, portable IR blaster that works with most home VCRs, TVs, cable and satellite boxes. Program Master stores programs the user selects from the ETV Web site and sends IR bursts to the TV, VCR cable or satellite box. Program Master costs $49.95 and includes a free subscription to ETV Host. Another subscription TV listing service is called Smart TV (no, not related to us) by Harman Interactive, a subsidiary of Intel.
WebTV Plus
The Web and TV are perfect companions, especially when it comes to TV listings. WebTV Plus, the most popular Internet TV device to date, offers TV listings for local cable companies (See a review in the Summer 1998 issue of Smart TV). The WebTV EPG includes content ratings, parental controls and program descriptions. The latest upgrade to WebTV Plus is a TV tuner and an IR blasting function, which allows users to change channels using the WebTV EPG. The user selects a channel from the guide and the WebTV box sends an IR signal to the TV or cable box to execute the command. An upgrade is promised, and should be in place by the time you read this, that gives the WebTV Plus the additional capability to store recording events and control VCRs.
The Web Sites
The Internet provides an excellent selection of television-related Web sites to choose from. The content of these sites ranges in scope from simple fan sites devoted to particular shows and chat rooms stocked with celebrities to localized grids of programming, reviews of upcoming shows and even streaming video previews of selected programs.
GistTV (www.thegist.com) is a comprehensive listing site that offers local listings, sorted by cable companies, local broadcast networks or satellite providers. GistTV Plus allows regular users to personalize their listings according to which channels or categories they are most interested in. An especially nice feature of Gist is that all of the listings grids are searchable by categories. Another well-stocked site is Ultimate TV (www.ultimatetv.com), which includes localized listings, entertainment news, TV show search capabilities, reviews, streamed previews of selected shows, links to related sites and an extensive database of articles, links and other related material about your favorite television shows--whether or not they're still in production or on the air. The original TV listings giant, TV Guide has produced its own top-notch TV-related Web site, the TVGuide Entertainment Network (www.tvgen.com). TVGen bills itself as full- service entertainment site with content that changes daily, including regional TV listings, gossip, reviews, previews and more. ClickTV (www.clicktv.com) is a free membership site that hosts a personalized TV listings service, giving members the ability to customize their viewing preferences online. TVQuest (www.tvquest.com) is a site by Tribune Media Service and is the official TV listing site for America Online users, featuring local listings, TV news, highlights and a program search feature. Not to be outdone, the search engines/Web portals are also jumping on the listings wagon. Yahoo TV listings (tv.yahoo.com), in partnership with Gist, brings the Yahoo interface and search power millions know and love to TV listings. For those most comfortable with the Excite search interface, there's Excite TV (my.excite.com/tv), which also lays out the local listings lowdown.
As you can see, the Web offers an electronic program guide option for just about everyone. Also, because television is a common bond that almost everyone shares, these sites usually provide a lot of community-based interaction in the form of chat rooms, fan rooms, polls, contests and the like.
VCRTalk
With all of these TV listing services available on the Internet, it seems a short step to the next level of functionality: devising a system for programming your VCR directly from a Web page. It should be a simple matter to transmit the date, time, channel and frequency of a program from a computer to a VCR by means of an infrared connection.
The aforementioned Program Master is a product that does this, but it's a proprietary solution (albeit a good one) that only works with the ETV Host listing site. An open standard called VCRTalk allows any Web site that includes TV listings to communicate with a VCR through a simple serial IR blaster.
With VCRTalk, sites that aren't devoted strictly to TV listings could include links to TV programs relevant to their subject matter. With the addition of TV listings software to the Windows 98 operating system by Microsoft, the resulting viewer selectivity and interactivity would go far towards bridging the gaps between the online world and the TV world, bringing the best of both together. And that's what Smart TV is all about.
Joe McCleskey is a freelance technology journalist and a frequent contributor to Smart TV Magazine.
Online Listing Guides
Electronic TV Host
www.tvhost.com
GistTV
www.thegist.com
Ultimate TV
www.ultimatetv.com
TV Guide
www.tvgen.com
Click TV
www.clicktv.com
TVQuest
www.tvquest.com
Yahoo TV
www.tv.yahoo.com
Excite TV
my.excite.com/tv
Prevue
www.prevue.com
Total TV
www.totaltv.com
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