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SurfReady NTV-2500 Set-top Box
(DVD movie not included)


The SurfReady NTV-2500 is a set-top box that I like. The NTV-2500 is made by Neon Technology. The NTV-2500 is one of the new internet-capable set-top boxes built around a DVD player.

The DVD player is one of the major features of the NTV-2500. I really liked playing DVD movies with this box. Another major feature of the NTV-2500 is the Internet Picture Phone. You can make internet telephone calls using the internet telephony capability of this set-top box. You can call people around the world through the TV set using the NTV-2500. And, yes, a high-quality microphone is included with the NTV-2500 so you can actually talk to someone using the internet phone.

Yet another major feature of the NTV-2500 is the digital camera that comes with the set-top. Yes, a digital camera comes with this box. While you are using the internet telephone, you can send still pictures back and forth to the person you are talking with. And you can send pictures with your email via the NTV-2500.





Digital Camera and Remote Control


Yet another major feature of this very good set-top box is the ability to play VCD karaoke music. Before there was internet-based interactivity on TV, people were doing "interactive TV" with karaoke for years long before "interactive TV" as it is known today began to make any headway. The high-quality microphone that is included with the NTV-2500 is similar to the microphones you use with regular karaoke machines. When I showed the NTV-2500 and the microphone to some diehard karaoke singers, they told me that the NTV-2500's microphone was as good as or better than what they had. It's a good microphone.





SurfReady NTV-2500 Microphone


The NTV-2500 is a very sleek looking set-top box that can either sit on top of a TV set, or in a TV cabinet, or in an audio-video cabinet. Its dimensions measure as 16 7/8 x 11 7/8 x 2 7/8 inches. You can connect the NTV-2500 to a regular TV antenna, cable TV, or satellite TV. On the internet side, you can either sign up for the Prodigy internet service or, perhaps better yet, you can set up your own current ISP on this box. This box has a built-in dial-up 56k modem and it has an ethernet connection so you can connect with a cable or DSL high speed internet service.

You can set up your current ISP on the NTV-2500 without having to pay for a second ISP (but you cannot set up AOL with this box because AOL uses proprietary software to make the connection). Consumers for this set-top box may include those folks who regularly watch video movies, but who now want to watch DVDs and who may also want internet interactivity on the TV set. They would already have a monthly budget for internet access (dial-up 56k modem ISP, cable internet, or DSL), as well as a budget for renting/buying DVD or videotape movies, and they may not want to pay for any additional internet service. Using one's current ISP for internet access without paying for anything extra is something that regular consumers, particularly existing PC internet users, are asking for.

The NTV-2500 has support for AC-3 Digital Surround Sound and also supports RealAudio 5.0, MIDI, WAV, and AU for internet audio sound. It supports SSL for secure internet ecommerce. The NTV-2500 has an Intel Mobile Pentium CPU inside the box.

There are input jacks on the back of the NTV-2500 for the TV antenna / coax cable, S-Video In for the included digital camera's input, S-Video Out for TV video, Composite Video In for another video camera, Composite Video Out for a TV without a S-Video port, an AC-3 port for the Digital Surround Sound, an Audio Out speaker jack, a parallel printer port, a VGA port for connecting a monitor, a serial port, two USB ports, two auxiliary ports (one of which provides power for the digital camera), a ethernet port for connecting to a high-speed cable or DSL internet service, a phone jack for the built-in 56k modem, and the power cord. Above the power cord is a master power on/off switch. That power on/off switch in the back can completely turn off the box.





Back of SurfReady NTV-2500


You can hook up the TV to the NTV-2500 using a regular RCA video cable or using the S-Video cable which both come with the box. For the sound, an audio cable is included. To use the AC-3, you'll need an AC-3 receiver for Digital Surround Sound. If your TV can only connect through an antenna connection, you may need to use an antenna adapter.

In addition to connecting the box to a TV set, I was able to connect a computer monitor to watch TV and surf the net, but I wasn't able to get the video from the DVD video. I tried both an old 14-inch and a new 19-inch computer monitor while the NTV-2500 was also connected to a TV and I was getting the same picture at the same time on both screens. The DVD movie would play on the TV screen, but not on the computer monitor. However, I was able to get the DVD on the computer monitor in a picture-in-picture while surfing the web. Anyways, you may want to watch a DVD movie in full screen mode on a larger TV screen. Maybe the Neon Technology folks may have the software fixed so you can get full-screen DVD on a computer monitor in the future.

There is a power on/off button on the front of the box, but you may find yourself using the power on/off button on the remote control instead. The only other button on the front of the box is for opening up the DVD door which slides out so you can put in or take out a DVD movie disc. There is a jack on the front for plugging in a stereo headphone (not included). And there are two jacks for two microphones. There was only one microphone included with the NTV-2500. If you want to sing a duet, you'll have to get another microphone.

The handheld remote control is straightforward and easy to use. There are buttons on the remote control for power, opening-ejecting the DVD, Web, Mail, Call, DVD, TV, Display, a number keypad, channel up and down buttons, a menubar button, cursor buttons (up, down, left, right) with an Enter button in the middle. There are also buttons for Back, Recent, Stop, Favs, scroll up and scroll down. Other buttons are for Audio, Subtitle, EPG (although it's not working at this time), Last Channel, DVD Menu, A-B, Angle, 3-D, Karaoke, and the typical buttons for playing, stopping, pausing, fast forward, and reversing the DVD movie.





SurfReady NTV-2500 Remote Control


There is a remote wireless keyboard for the NTV-2500 which has a handy built-in mouse on the right side of the keyboard. There are two buttons on the left side of the keyboard for Select and Scroll.





SurfReady NTV-2500 Keyboard


There is a Power button on the very front edge of the keyboard. To use that power button, you have to press it in to turn the NTV-2500 on or off. The keyboard has the typical QWERTY layout but with keys along the top of the keyboard for channel up and down, Last Channel, DVD, TV, Call, Mail, Web, Help, Search, Favs, Recent, Reload, and Stop. The top row also has keys for F1, F2, F3, and F4. The F1-F3 buttons don't seem to do anything, but the F4 button is also the DVD button. While surfing the web, I was able to get a picture-in-picture for the DVD after pressing the F4/DVD button (you can also press the DVD button on the handheld remote control). The DVD picture-in-picture is a little larger than the regular TV picture-in-picture (PIP), but as well as being able to watch TV in a PIP while surfing the internet, you can also watch a DVD movie in a PIP while web surfing. For those who may ask, no, you can't watch regular TV and a DVD movie at the same time with the NTV-2500.

Okay, when you turn on the NTV-2500, you get the "TV Home" page with the TV broadcast picture in the middle of the screen.... Click Here to Continue


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