From...

No modem needed: TV signals bring the Web to your PC

May 21, 1998
Web posted at: 2:15 PM EDT

by Michael S. Lasky

(IDG) -- Need a break from your spreadsheets? Change the channel and catch the latest sports scores. Or switch again and watch your favorite Web pages pop onto the screen as fast as a station on your TV. And you don't need a modem or an Internet service provider.

Web via VBI

The technology making all this possible employs a TV tuner card, inserted in your PC, and software to decode Web pages transmitted over an unused portion of the TV signal known as the vertical blanking interval (VBI). WavePhore of Phoenix, Arizona, first developed the technology three years ago, and Intel's free Intercast service has been using it since 1996 to deliver Web content related to shows on such major cable services as CNN, QVC, and MTV.

Now WavePhore is introducing its own free software and service, WaveTop, that works with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 to deliver Web pages from selected major sites, at least 17 hours a day, with updates as often as every 15 minutes. They're stored on your hard drive, so there's no wait to see the front page of USA Today or the latest box scores on CBS SportsLine. The software requires a Pentium-90 or better (P-133 recommended) PC with 16MB of RAM, at least 100MB of disk space, and Windows 95.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE
	IDG.net home page
Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net
IDG.net's personal news page
Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you
Search IDG.net in 12 languages
News Radio
	PC World News Radio
	Computerworld Minute audio news for managers

WaveTop is about to become ubiquitous: Microsoft, hedging its bets on the future of PC/TV convergence, plans to incorporate WaveTop software into Windows 98's WebTV for Windows, a feature of the forthcoming operating system that uses a TV tuner card to receive Web-based programming delivered via TV signals.

Eight Channels

WaveTop broadcasts over signals from PBS's 264 member stations; when your local station shuts down for the night, the updates stop. Content is organized into eight "channels" that appear as buttons in IE 4.0 (the service won't work with other browsers). Except for channels from Time Inc. and ZDNet, most of these are proprietary (NewsTop, StockTop, KidsTop, etc.), based on content from USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the Weather Channel, Quote.com, and CBS SportsLine. Depending on the number of channels you activate, WaveTop saves as much as 170MB of data to a cache on your hard drive, which it cleans every 10 days.

Another button, GuideTop, displays a content delivery timetable--an important feature since you can't use your tuner to watch TV while WaveTop is downloading. If you were planning to watch a lot of TV on your monitor, this could pose a real problem: Updates range in frequency from every 15 minutes (for Quote.com) to once a week. Also, if you leave your PC on 24 hours a day to catch all updates (as WaveTop recommends), expect your hard disk to click away like a metronome as long as your computer is on and your local PBS outlet is broadcasting.

The service is free--advertisers include Barnes & Noble, the Spiegel Catalog, Ford, and CyberMeals--but there's a catch: To receive it, you must give WaveTop some demographic information about yourself. WaveTop vice president Sandy Goldman says that the company supplies this information--along with page-viewing reports--in aggregate to advertisers; individual subscriber data stays confidential, so you won't get spammed.

Keep Your Modem

The prospect of fast, phone-free Web surfing is certainly enticing, but you shouldn't throw away your modem yet: You'll still need conventional Internet service to link to pages that WaveTop doesn't download.

In my tests of a beta version, the Weather Channel's pages --with their bounty of graphically intense, up-to-the-hour weather maps--sprang onto the screen in seconds. But when I tried to get a local forecast, I had to wait for my modem to dial up my usual ISP. And you'll want to make sure that you're using cable; rabbit-ear reception is too spotty.

As more PCs come equipped with TV tuners and Windows 98, WaveTop will offer an easy option for digest-type browsing of some big-name content partners. But it's unlikely to replace your conventional ISP anytime soon. Speedy Web pages are cool--but only if viewers get to choose the ones they want to see.

Related stories at IDG.net

• The cutting-edge couch surfer (PC World)
• Can cable-TV modems live up to the hype? (InfoWorld)
• ISPs you can count on (PC World)
• Wireless services: What they are and how they work (SunWorld)
• Will the Internet become TV? (PC World)

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

• WavePhore, Inc.
• Norpak Corp:VBI explained

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive

---

 

---

Watch Science & Technology Week on CNN for more sci-tech stories.

Sound off on our message boards & chat

© 1998 Cable News Network, Inc.
A Time Warner Company
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.