Winter 1998/Spring 1999 Cover Image Summer 1998 Cover Image Spring 1998 Cover Image

Winter 1998/Spring 1999 Table of Contents

Feature Stories

The Right Show at the Right Time: The Power of Electronic Programming Guides

by Joe McCleskey
Electronic Program Guides give you the convenience and power to watch what you want when you want to watch it.

Buyer's Guide: Making the DVD Decision: A Survey of DVD-Video Players

by Jim Mikles
One look and chances are you'll be convinced DVD is something you've just got to have. Compare features and prices in this guide to the best DVD-Video players on the market.

Tube News

by Jim Mikles

Clicking, Touching, Squeezing: The Technology and Psychology of User Interface

by Charles Mohnike
From TVs to PCs, user interface is one of the most important factors in the development and adoption of technology. The psychology and technology makes for a fascinating study.

Bring It On Home: Tips for Easy PC/TV

by Jim Mikles
A PC/TV can bring you unparalleled power and convenience to your living room, but only if you have it optimized for peak performance.

Cable's Second Wind: TV Has Never Seen Cable Like This Before

by Jody A. Baram
Cable is poised to bring the next revolution to your television. Are you ready?

Departments

Other Smart Stuff: TV and Beyond: Killer Online Audio

by Jim Mikles
Why online audio is one of the fastest growing areas of the Internet.

URLs4TV: The Best Web Sites to Watch on TV

by Bronwen Grady
  • Macromedia ShockRave
  • The Adventures of Sookie Todd: A Culinary Exploration for the Computer Generation
  • Apple Corps Game
  • Smashing Ideas Animation
  • People's Court
  • Director Unknown
  • Nostalgia Channel
  • Pseudo
  • Aikman Film Archive

Columns

Toob: Smart Frontiers

by Matthew York
Choice, selection and personal power is the promise of digital technology and the Internet merged intelligently with television.

Smartware: File That Pile of VHS Tapes

by Bronwen Grady
VHS catalog software is a cheap and easy way to organize your video library. A host of shareware versions for all platforms is available online.

What's On: The Best TV on the Web

by Marshal Rosenthal
As the Internet enters the living rooms of more and more homes, TV is taking its show online. This issue we feature online companions for E!, Showtime and The Sci-Fi Channel.

Black Boxes: Super Net-tops For All Budgets

by Jim Mikles
  • Philips Consumer Electronics DVX-8000
  • Tiger Direct PC Cinema

Black Boxes: EchoStar/Dish Network JVC HM-DSR100 D-VHS/DISH Network Receiver

by Jim Mikles
Black Boxes:

Summer 1998 Table of Contents

Feature Stories

Turbo Television: What You Need To Build A PC/TV

by Charles Mohnike
It takes a few components, some software and a little tinkering, but digital convergence in the living room is easier and cheaper than you thnk with a PC/TV. Two comprehensive Buyer's Guide grids accompany our turbo TV how-to-article: PC/TV video cards and couch friendly keyboards, pointers and mice.

DVD Demystified: Exploring The New Disk Frontier

by Joe McCleskey
In a world of acronyms, competing standards, high-tech hardware, and those amazing little diskc, this is what you have to know about DVD. Read it, then get one.

Couch Commerce: How Combining the Internet With TV Can Change the Way You Shop

by Alice Patterson
Home shopping is about to get a boost from combiining the two most powerful commerce media ever invented: the TV and the Internet. Try it, you'll like it.

Departments

Help Screen

by Taran March
  • The More You Watch the Less You Know Danny Schechter
  • A Family Guide to Media Literacy Gloria DeGaetano and Kathleen Bander
  • Internet Family Fun: The Parent's Guide to Safe Surfing Bonnie Bruno with Joel Comm

URLs4TV: The Best Web Sites To Watch On TV

by Jim Mikles
  • The Alternative Entertainment Network www.aentv.com
  • Sony Pictures Entertainment www.spe.sony.com
  • Streamland www.streamland.com
  • Spectacle www.spectacle.com
  • Berkeley Systems www.bezerk.com
  • Lonely Planet
  • Bill Nye, The Science Guy nyelabs.kcts.org
  • MSNBC.com www.msnbc.com
  • Film.com www.film.com
  • ITV.net www.eyetv.net

Smart Discs: Great CDs and DVDs for TV

by Jim Mikles
  • You Don't Know Jack
  • Connections

Columns

Toob: Digital TV: Two Roads

by Matthew York
Digital TV will soon be widely available. Which format of digital signal broadcasters will actually use - HDTV, SDTV or some combination of the two - remains to be seen.

Smartware: Software for Smarter TV

by Jim Mikles
Utilities, applications and plug-ins to make your TV smarter. This issue we take a peek at a talking Web page, an amazing house and a darn friendly interface.

What's On: The Top TV Campanion Sites On the Web: The Net is a Tube's Best Friend

by Larry Lemm
As the Internet hits the living room, broadcast and cable networks take their shows to the Web. This issue, we feature ESPN, PBS and Discovery Channel.

Black Boxes

by Jim Mikles
  • Thomson Consumer Electronics RCA N/C 1020
  • Websurfer Inc. Websurfer
  • Philips Consumer Electronics Philips WebTV Plus

Television for the Future: Flavors of Interactive TV

by Linda Paulson
Interactive TV is finally coming of age and television, that steadfast media staple of the masses, is quickly changing into something few people imagined was possible just a short time ago.

Spring 1998 Table of Contents

Feature Stories

Viva DBS!: Satellite for the People

by Alice Patterson
Digital TV has exploded across the land with DBS. Offering increased channel selection, digital video and audio signal quality, unobtrusive size and an affordable price, direct-to-home satellite is a practical digital TV solution. Here's a rundown on the tecgnology, the players, the hardware and the programming, including a handy at-a-glance Buyer's Guide grid.

A Perfect Match: PC and TV Becoming One

by Jim Mikles
Combining PC power and the Internet to the living room viewing mix is a new idea that takes some getting used to. Here's some suggestions how to try it, and if you like it, some ideas about how to build your own PC/TV.

The Digital Compass: Technology To Tame The Tube

by Larry Lemm
With the rapid expansion in the number of TV channels, intelligent surfing is more difficult than ever. With the imminent addition of the Internet to the mix, it is nearly impossible to easily navigate everything on TV. Use technology to tame the tube with your own digital compass.

TV Unmasked: How Television Really Affects Our Kids

by Roger Desmond
If TV becomes the cornerstone of digital conversion, then the most powerful medium of all time stands to have an even greater effect on our children. Dr. Roger Desmond, Ph.D., a noted scholar on the subject of TV and children, offers a survey of the existing body of research and some helpful hints for helping kids learn media literacy.

The Killer Connection: Why A Fast Net Means Great TV

by Charles Mohnike
Great Internet TV requires the biggest, fastest Internet connection you can get. A host of technologies are vying to become your friendly neighborhood fat pipe. Which is likely to win out in the end?

Departments

Help Screen

by Alice Patterson
  • Civilizing Cyberspace: Policy, Power, and the Information Superhighway
  • TV-Proof Your Kids: A Parent's Guide to Safe and Healthy Viewing
  • I Want My Web TV

Columns

Toob: Internet Prime Time

by Matthew York
Millions of homes are ready to connect the Internet to their televisions, but questions remain. How will they do it and which technology is up to the task?

Smartware: Software for Smarter TV

by Jim Mikles
Now that you've connected your TV to the Internet, add some "smartware" to the mix and experience the best Internet possible.

What's On: The Networks Do Cyberspace

by Marshal Rosenthal
With "companion content" Web sites, broadcasters are using the Internet to expand and enhance the most popular programs on television.

Black Boxes: Choose Your Destination

by Jim Mikles
  • Gateway 2000 Gateway Destination D6 Series
  • Curtis Mathes UniView 210
  • Phone Corp. C-Phone Home