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Does the AiTV have any negatives? The negatives are relatively minor at this point since the interface appears to be very good despite the lack of Javascript and SSL. Javascript and SSL are promised to be in an upcoming firmware release. According to the AiTV support page, the AiTV is currently in an "evaluation stage" and the Paradise Innovations folks "see many areas of improvement that can further enhance the product."

As previously mentioned, the picture quality is very good, but one minor negative is that the screen flashes green when changing channels or if the reception is bad when using a rabbit-ears TV antenna. That's not a huge problem, but the green flashes could be cosmetically displeasing for some consumers. One other negative is that the AiTV does not automatically search for TV channels that are actually broadcasting. The channel up and down buttons are almost useless since you will have to click through ALL possible channels. For now, I have been typing in the channel number or using the channel scan capability.

One minor inconsistent item is that the TV Guide button on the keyboard goes to TVHI listing page. In contrast, the TV Channels onscreen button on the home page and the TV Listings button on the overlay menu in full-screen TV mode go to the TV.Yahoo.com page. Another minor inconsistent item is that the Internet button on the overlay menu in full-screen TV mode should probably be labeled as Home since that button goes to the main AiTV home page and not really to the Internet.

At first, I wasn't quite sure how to disconnect from the Internet except by turning off the unit. However, there is a Modem button next to the Power button on the keyboard. You press the Modem button to log off the Internet connection (you can also press the Modem button to connect to the Internet without actually going to a webpage). Silly me, I missed the Modem button. I would guess non-techie consumers who did not read the manual would also miss the Modem button by not knowing what a modem was.

A nit-picky negative is that the built-in PlanetWeb browser did not format my webpages the same way as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, the WebTV browser, etc. The built-in PlanetWeb browser appears to center everything on my webpages. I first thought that this was because of the tables in many of my webpages, but I noticed the centering occurred with some of my other older webpages that did not have tables. Web designers don't want another headache where they have to design their webpages to look good for not only MSIE, Navigator, WebTV, and the cable set-tops but now also for the AiTV set-top box that uses the PlanetWeb browser. Maybe the formatting inconsistency will be fixed in the next version of the PlanetWeb browser. The version of the browser on this AiTV box is 1.016M.

Cookies seem to work, but only if the unit was not unplugged when turned off. After turning off the power on the AiTV and then turning it back on, I was able to use the TV.Yahoo.com television listing for San Diego that I set as the default. Prior to powering off the unit, I also went into My.Snap.com and logged into my account there. When I powered off the unit and turned it back on, I was able to automatically re-log into My.Snap.com. However, when I unplugged the unit, my TV.Yahoo.com settings were lost and I had to manually re-log into my account at My.Snap.com.

One quirky item is that you can turn on the box by pressing any key on the keyboard. So, you can turn on the AiTV by either specifically pressing the Power button or by pressing any other button or key on the keyboard. If you want the box to be off, it would be nice to know that the box stayed off even if you pressed a key or a button other than Power button on the keyboard. Imagine accidentally pressing the Modem button and then the Enter key (which is a sequence of keys to connect to the Internet) while moving the keyboard when you think the box is off. When I was done playing with the AiTV, I pointed the keyboard away from the box to make sure I didn't accidentally turn on the box. The AiTV's power light indicator on the front of the box is red when the unit is turned off and is green when the unit is turned on. Some people may not realize the AiTV is actually on until they have turned the TV set on.

Another quirky item is that the sound seemed to fade out for a second every once in a while. I first thought that was simply because of the broadcast. However, when I had a second TV set turned on at the same time, the sound did not fade out on the second TV when the sound from the AiTV did fade out. I would guess that this is a technical problem that could be fixed.

What I should mention is that the AiTV does not have a truly interactive Electronic Program Guide (EPG) where you can click on TV listings to change channels. The EPG is going to be the "browser" or a central interface for interactive television. AiTV goes to TV.Yahoo.com and TVHI for TV listings and show descriptions. You then have to manually change channels by either typing in channel numbers or clicking the channel up and down buttons. Although there is no interactive EPG, the channel scanning capability is a good substitute for immediately seeing what is currently on six different TV channels at the same time. Also, the Video Overlay is great for viewing TV listings while the TV picture is in background. This is not intuitive, but what I did was go to the TV.Yahoo.com listing, clicked on a blank area of the page, and pressed the Video Overlay key and looked at the TV listings while there was a TV show on in the background of the screen. Instead of having a background graphic for the TV.Yahoo.com webpage, I had the TV show background.

Right now, there are too many steps to get to the TV listings. The majority of non-techie consumers may become confused or impatient with having to make one-too-many clicks in order to get to the TV listings. If you click on the TV Schedule / TV Listings / TV Guide button, then you get an entry page, and then either you have to click another link, or a button, to get the TV listings or you have to go through a zip-code setup page if the cookies have not been saved on the box. TV viewers are used to what I would call "one-click instant-gratification." Put in one too many steps, even if only one extra click, can cause technological confusion or perhaps intolerance for the non-techie user. The gadget fans may have a high tolerance for taking extra steps, but the average consumer may not. The television side of a set-top box, particularly any TV listings portion of the system (whether a real EPG or not), has be the easiest and most direct part of the system to use. I would not be surprised to see a real interactive channel-changing EPG on the AiTV in the future.

Please also note that the AiTV does not support WebTV Plus cross-over links. The cross-over links are transmitted during television shows that the WebTV Plus boxes receive and show as "i" links on the TV screen. The AiTV does not support cross-over links or other types of enhanced television hyperlinks that are transmitted with television shows.

SSL is not currently supported in the demo model that I was using. I tried to see if I could buy some baseball caps from FogDog.com but got a message stating, "This version of the browser does not support HTTPS." As previously mentioned, the AiTV's browser will be updated in the future to provide both SSL and Javascript. There will be a big demand by TV consumers (and by e-commerce vendors) for secure private purchasing via the television set. As also previously mentioned, video conferencing is on the way. There is a microphone jack on the back of the box and a serial port which could probably be used for a vidcam. As perhaps a minimum, I would expect at least an Internet telephony capability for both making long-distance phone calls and talking to sales people at e-commerce websites which in the future will be like calling toll-free 800 numbers but over the TV set.

Despite the current minor software shortcomings, the AiTV is a good set-top box. The picture is looked great on my PC-TV box and on my old Toshiba color TV set. I had the AiTV connected to my PC-TV box via a S-Video cable and to the TV set via standard audio-video composite cables. I've also hooked up a VCR to the AiTV to play videotape movies through the box. The downloading of webpages was also good. The AiTV's rendering of a webpage appeared to be almost instantaneous although the graphics for the webpage took a little while to download. I did not do any speed test comparisons, but the downloading of webpage graphics appeared to be relatively quick.

Other than receiving this box to play with, I get nothing from Paradise Innovations for writing this review. I like the AiTV. I see this box as a good TV-watching set-top box that also happens to connect to the Internet. The AiTV will be a competitive product whenever the minor technical issues are taken care of, whenever the Javascript, SSL, and more permanent cookies are finally put in, and certainly if a real EPG is put in. The AiTV's emphasis on TV watching is going to be the key for its possible success in securing at least a portion of the WebTV-dominated marketplace.

According to a AiTV brochure, this box is "specifically designed for TV-centric audiences who want greater levels of interaction with their television. It gives users a faster and easier way to information and services related to their lifestyles on the Internet." AiTV is made by Paradise Innovations which has a website at http://www.paradisemmp.com. The AiTV's browser is from PlanetWeb which has its website at http://www.planetweb.com.

Happy TV Watching!
Ruel