Tube News

by Jim Mikles
Winter 1998/Spring 1999

Project X

Silicon Valley upstart VM Labs last summer unveiled a chip that promises to unleash the full potential of DVD-Video. Dubbed Project X, the chip is a dedicated MPEG-2 processor that claims to bring to a passive set-top DVD-Video player interactivity now only available with a computer and DVD-ROM. A Project X powered DVD player, for example, could run interactive 3D games or a Web browser from the TV set-top. Motorola, which helped bankroll the project, announced in September it would include Project X technology in set-top boxes starting in early 1999. Consumer electronics giants Thomson and Toshiba have also licensed Project X. Toshiba officials announced the chip would appear in DVD players in 1999. Thomson, makers of RCA and ProScan brand electronics, said the company would incorporate the technology into "digital video projects" starting next year, which could include DVD-Video players, DVD-Divx players, and DSS satellite receivers.

WebTV For Windows Debuts

Windows 98 was released in July amidst lukewarm fanfare, but early indicators are it really is a significant improvement over the 95 version of the software. For one thing, Windows 98 boasts TV capabilities. A "WebTV for Windows" feature built into the software allows PCs with tuner cards to receive a television signal from broadcast, cable or satellite souped-up with all kinds of interactive enhancements embedded in the vertical blanking interval. TV program listings and Web pages can be received through a tuner- card-equipped PC without any kind of Internet or telephone connection. Hot links and "Crossover Links" (links to content directly related to the program being viewed) can also be included with the signal, but an "upstream" Internet connection is required to use them. The idea is viewers can either watch TV with an enhanced overlay in a window on the PC desktop, or because Windows 98 supports multiple monitors, send the TV signal to a second monitor or television.

Tribune First With Enhanced Broadcasts

Media powerhouse Tribune is the first outlet in the nation to take advantage of the new enhanced TV capabilities of Windows 98 by regularly broadcasting enhanced TV signals. A test conducted during the Academy Awards was so successful, when the new operating system officially launched last summer, station WGN in Chicago started right in with 24- hour enhanced news, sports and weather updates in the vertical blanking interval of the local KWGN signal, said Pooneh Rassekh, Internet project manager for Tribune Internet Services. Headlines are updated every half-hour, and viewers with a tuner card-equipped PC receive a TV picture with an enhanced overlay. "From a consumer perspective, it's very important it remains a TV-watching experience," said Rassekh. "We're using some embedded linking, but we really want to see how much we can push to people through the VBI." The next two Tribune stations expecting to enhance their signals are KTLA in Los Angeles and WPIX in New York.

DTV Express

To help educate the public about what the transition to digital television will mean to them, the 66-foot, 18-wheel diesel DTV Express is making its way across the nation. A joint project between the Harris Corporation and PBS, with major sponsorship by Philips Electronics, the express is making the rounds of 40 U.S. cities. Sessions in each city will be hosted by the local PBS station and will highlight the ability of DTV to provide HDTV, Multicasting and Datacasting services. Education tracks include instruction and demonstrations in three separate areas: the living room of tomorrow, a classroom of the future and a digital television station. "This unique sneak preview if television's future will go a long way toward helping Americans understand the value of digital technology," gushed President Bill Clinton as the DTV Express launched on its journey. For locations and dates, see www.dtvexpress.org.

G2 Next Generation

Streaming media on the Internet got a much-needed boost of speed, power and flexibility with the release of RealMedia's RealSystem G2 package. Not only is the player compatible with a whole mess of multimedia formats (thereby reducing plug-in pain), but the system's "scalability" is a tremendous advance in the field of streaming video. Developers can author once for any speed or platform, and when the media are played, the software will recognize available bandwidth and stream accordingly to avoid delays and breakdowns. The G-2 player is free at www.real.com.

DBS Carnival Continues

The spirited competition between satellite TV providers Hughes (licensers of DSS and purveyors of DirecTV) and EchoStar (parent to DISH Network) continues to escalate.

DirecTV has announced it will offer pay-per-view movies enhanced with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio to coincide with the release of the new RCA DSS receiver (model DS545) with on-board Dolby Digital decoding. DirecTV HDTV spokeswoman Gina Scalise also reconfirmed the company's commitment to broadcast at least two channels of High-Definition Television from its satellites by the end of the year, although details were still vague.

In the other camp, EchoStar announced two new pieces of receiver hardware and a variety of interactive programming it expects to roll out by the end of the year. One piece of hardware is a Web browser-enabled set-top box that will provide interactive capabilities to DISH Network subscribers. The other is a circuit board for the PC that will act as a DISH satellite receiver and interactive data decoder for a computer. The interactive content will include interactive TV channels from Bloomberg Business News, video-on-demand streamed by Internet television network Simply TV, and several others not yet announced, said Doug McGary, manager of broadcast data services for EchoStar. Another expected service will be the "Best of the Web" Internet supplement. Between 200 and 500 popular Web sites will be provided at high speed by DISH Network from its satellites. An "interactive store" that is slated to provide customers CD-ROM games and software to their PCs via the digital bit stream is another expected offering. Intercast, WaveTop and related data broadcast content available over local airborne broadcast signals is also scheduled to be included in the digital bit stream, McGary said. Testing is set to commence in fall.

On a related DBS note, Primestar, which is the third main satellite TV provider in the U.S., ranked number one in a JD Power and Associates survey of DBS consumer satisfaction last year. Primestar was also sued by the U.S. Justice Dept. when it tried to purchase a key satellite slot for $1.1 billion from media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and MCI in May. Primestar is owned by five of the largest cable TV operators and the Justice Department alleges the sale of the orbital slot could stifle competition between DBS and cable. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 1, 1999.

Jim Mikles is Smart TV's Associate Editor