TV & Sound, Then and Now

by Alan Sheckter
Special Issue 2001

Welcome to the Web site of Smart TV & Sound magazine, your guide and companion for exploring the ever-evolving world of modern interactive electronic media.

We strive to enhance your watching and listening experiences and to keep you informed of the latest advances in interactive television and sound technology. So take your shoes off, put down that remote and get comfortable. Viewing options have increased exponentially in the last 40 years. Since TV's early days, the public has exhibited a constant craving for the "next big thing" in home audio and video. And with the advent of interactive TV, we remote-equipped viewers are moving to the edges of our seats, actively participating in what we watch. Interactivity, "reciprocal action," according to Webster's, continues to establish itself in the TV world. You can play realtime Jeopardy against on-air contestants at home, and get up-to-the-minute statistics during Monday Night Football. During a tennis match during last fall's U.S. Open tournament, the USA network provided interactive viewers with up-to-the-minute scores of concurrent matches. As technology advances and demand increases, just how interactive a program can be appears virtually endless.

Interactivity can be accessed in a one-screen or two-screen approach. You can, via an ATVEF-compliant (Advanced Television Enhancement Forum) TV, set-top box or satellite, receive embedded data that allows you to interactivly participate with your TV. The two-screen method uses an Internet-connected PC and a standard TV that reside in the same room. Assuming your television program of choice offers interactivity on its Web site, you can watch TV while playing along, real time, on your PC. In 1960, any interactivity with our TV sets, aside from smacking the side of the set in hopes of improving the signal, was purely science fiction. We watched our early television heroes on black-and-white televisions that were equipped with questionable picture and sound quality. And the viewing options were few. It was ABC, CBS or NBC. Today, with 40 years of frenzy-paced advances in desktop computers, Internet, cable TV and even the TV sets themselves, new video and sound breakthroughs are regular occurrences.

TVs are no longer dumb, inanimate objects. Ever-smarter products are available to morph your television from a passive appliance to an active family participant. Your TV, via a personal video recorder (PVR), can deliver more quality programming choices for your family, without being constrained to network broadcast schedules. PVRs and their ability to easily fast-forward through commercials have advertisers scrambling to retain their audience. New commercials, by companies such as Disney and Clorox have invited viewers to buy their products or receive cents-off coupons with their remote controls. Oldsmobile, in November 1999, invited viewers to e-mail the company for an online music gift certificate. The car maker did require a dealership test-drive, however, before releasing the gift certificate.

SmartTV & Sound as a Tool
Smart TV & Sound is here to chronicle each breakthrough in great detail, provide reviews of the latest products and offer educated insight about what trends are coming around the corner. Some of the concepts we've covered have been digital video recorders, multi-room home theater networks, WebTV, Internet radio and audio transmitters that can convey those radio signals from your computer to your living room speakers.

Today you can download MP3 files from the Internet without the use of a computer, pause live TV while you take a trip to the kitchen, and personalize your TV set-top box to record a program it “thinks” you will enjoy. The MPEG-4 file technology has us on the verge of exchanging full-screen, VHS-quality video via Web site and e-mail. Who knows what will be next? With our dedicated insight, full-time devotion and established relationships with manufacturers and their research projects, we will keep you informed on new, out-of-the-box smart television and radio trends.

That Was Then, This Is Now
TV consumers of the 1960s (you, if you are over 40), thought we had it made. The introduction of UHF (ultra high frequency) television, which added channels 14 to 83 to the then-standard Channels 2 to 13, was as good as it could get, we thought. We proudly scarfed up rabbit ears and antennas in an attempt to minimize the oft-times dreadful reception. Music enthusiasts of the day had high-quality audio equipment available to them, but AM/FM radio, vinyl record albums and a smattering of reel-to-reel tape decks were the only genres available in the home. Innovations in today's home entertainment playing field have given consumers more choices, including some that make you, the viewer, an active participant. After two generations of trends seemingly aimed at perfecting sedentary participation, new home entertainment advances give families several mind-boggling interactive choices. Thanks to ongoing technological accomplishments, television, radio, the Internet, cable and satellite broadcasts can be enjoyed all over the home via a single, programmable universal remote control. The line between traditional broadcast medium and PC-offered programming is constantly moving closer. Movie studios, TV networks and musicians are regularly releasing "Internet only" content.

While the three steps in attaining TV nirvana – planning what to watch, procuring programming, and the act of viewing have generally remained constant since 1960, the tools we use to achieve those steps, as well as TV appliances and even where we watch and listen have vastly changed. Essentially, things were much simpler then…

Planning: What to Watch
True today, as it was in 1960, deciding what to watch can be determined days in advance, hours in advance, or at the spur of the moment. It all depends on the whim of you, the viewer. The choices of where to turn for programming, however, have expanded.

In 1960, the choices were simple. TV Guide and some Sunday newspapers listed when The Andy Griffith Show, Dobie Gillis and Bonanza would air. In 1990, in addition to TV Guide, many local cable providers provided a channel devoted to scrolling on-screen program grids. But in addition to Roseanne, The Cosby Show and America's Funniest Home Videos, we had a new choice -- a trip to the video store. Aisles of movies-for-rent gave us more viewing choices.

In 2001, old, reliable TV Guide still reigns supreme at the grocery store checkout if you want to check for West Wing or The Weakest Link, but is only the tip of the viewing-listing iceberg. You can also request e-mail reminders from network sites reminding you when a certain program is on the air. In additional to traditional broadcast television, your choice of music, movie clips and certain TV programs are available any time of day. There are Web-based electronic program guides and TV-based electronic program guides supplied by satellite and cable providers and companies like Gemstar. In addition, there are Web URLs that list MP3 (audio), streaming video (including high-quality MPEG-4 based video) download choices. One service, Scour Exchange, which is set for a re-launch, promises a multimedia search engine and file-sharing service for music, videos and software. With various ways of tossing audio and video signals from computer to TV a reality, your computer can now function as both electronic program guide and engine for getting video-on-demand to your TV. And you can still take a trip to the video/DVD rental store. Can renting videos via online services be far behind?

Procurement: How We Tune In
Physically addressing the set and choosing a TV show by means of turning the channel-selector dial is a distant memory. In those days, however, simply having a television, albeit a black and white one with chronic bad reception was pleasure enough. Walking up to the TV and flipping the dial between ABC, CBS and NBC was the way of the world. By 1990, our love affair with the TV remote control was well entrenched. Watching a prerecorded videotape was also a common way to provide the night's entertainment. Our VCRs also brought the notion of "time shifting" into our lives. Setting your VCR timer to record a show at an appointed time freed you from being in front of the TV set when the show was broadcast. And taping your favorite programs added another consumer-friendly notion. You could fast-forward through the commercials during playback.

Today, operating home theater appliances by anything other than a remote control is simply unacceptable. We still scour the shelves at our local video store, but recording shows has gotten more convenient via smart TV systems that send program data directly from Web-based listings to your PVR. Some even take the initiative, based on past data, to record programs that match your preferences. "Point and click" may soon describe the way we obtain all our entertainment choices.

Viewing/Listening: Where We Take it All In
In 1960, as well as 1990, we were watching and listening from the couch or recliner. Our home theater systems have gotten more complex, and several TVs and audio appliances in several rooms can be controlled from central controls in one room.

Today, the couch and is as popular as ever, but there are a couple of differences. One unquestionable change is that we rarely eat Salisbury steak and apple cobbler from aluminum foil TV dinners anymore. But technologically speaking, there is a grander fundamental change taking place.

Passivity and watching TV no longer necessarily go together. Interactive TV shows like Jeopardy, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Monday Night Football have given us the opportunity to participate as we watch. Playing along, participating in realtime chats and question and answer sessions may put an end to the term "couch potato." Ordering fashions that adorn our TV stars, or ordering pizza from downtown are distinct possibilities.

Appliances: Tools for Watching
In 1960, home audio sound systems were available, but watching Ozzie and Harriet could be done only on a traditional television with its tiny built-in speaker. By 1990, TV quality had improved with technologies like Trinitron and Solid State. Additional common appliances were VCRs and set-top boxes supplied by local cable providers. The Sony Walkman, providing music on the go, became another audio entertainment outlet. Today, we have the same tools, only better and smarter. TVs are bigger (projection TVs) and better (high definition). In addition to the good old VCR, readable, writeable CD and DVD players thrive. Portable MP3 players are all the rage. And the means to share media between our PC and home theater system grows more commonplace and reliable every day.

What's On: What We Watch
Forty years ago, we watched black-and-white TV, listened to the radio (often sports on portable transistor radios), and spun vinyl records. Ten years ago, viewing options had expanded to include color TV on dozens of channels and videocassette tapes. We were still listening to records, but audio cassette and CD players proliferated. Today's option include all that came before, plus a myriad of new audio and video choices such as DVDs, Web sites, MP3s, MPEG4s.

In addition, interactivity continues to be the buzzword of the day. Interactive TV programs and the nifty options within them remain on the rise. Now, if we could only solve the "who in the room gets to hold the hallowed remote" dilemma.