(This website is NOT part of any other set-top network or set-top box manufacturer. CLICK HERE for disclaimer. If you are making important purchasing decisions, you may want to first look at a demonstration unit. For those asking about setup passwords: Sorry, I don't know what to tell you if you forgot your password. For Those Asking About Replacement Parts: Sorry, but I don't have information about replacement parts. For Those Asking about replacing Remote Controls: Check your batteries, otherwise use your remote keyboard since I don't know about replacement remote controls.)

The Teknema Internet TV
with its remote control.


I've been playing with the Teknema Internet TV unit. Computer users, imagine this: You log onto the Internet with your computer and then later while watching TV you want to check out the Internet again but via the TV set. For most, the solution is to use a WebTV which meant you needed a separate online Internet account if you also surf the Internet on your computer. Well, with the Teknema Internet TV unit, you can log onto the Internet from both your computer and your TV set using one single ISP account. You don't have to subscribe to another service to use the Internet TV. The ISP you use on the Internet TV could be the same one you use on your computer.

The Teknema Internet TV looks like any electronics set-top black box with the standard smart card slot in the front of the unit along with the status lights. It is a small box that is about the size of a hardcover text book. The back of the Teknema Internet TV unit has the basic jacks and ports including a parallel printer port. At the time of the writing of this review, you can currently use the Hewlett-Packard 320, 500, 500C, 520, 540, 550C, 560C,and 693C deskjet printers. The manual says you can also use HP laserjet printers.





The back of the the Teknema Internet TV
unit has all the basic jacks and ports
including the parallel printer port


For ISPs and others who are looking for an interactive TV set-top box to offer to customers without going to WebTV, the Teknema Internet TV is an attractive product. It is a basic Internet box without the frills or the locked-in specifics of a proprietary WebTV network box. You can use any ISP. For the AOLers out there, you cannot use AOL because AOL is not a true ISP; you need a REAL ISP account to use the Teknema Internet TV. [However, the folks at Teknema want to point out that you can use CompuServe with the Teknema box. So, in a sense, since AOL owns CompuServe, AOLers can use this box if the AOLers have CompuServe accounts. -ruel 6AUG99]

There are various ISPs, telecom companies, and telephone companies out there in the United States and around the world looking for a non-WebTV set-top box that is ISP-independent. In other words, they do not want to be locked into the WebTV Network. Now, don't get me wrong, I like WebTV particularly the new WebTV Plus box. However, I can understand the demand from both companies and users to not be locked into a particular network or service. Diversity and variety is always a good thing. This is similar to the early days of telephone deregulation in the U.S. when you could buy your own telephone set without having to rent one from the phone company and when you can choose your own long distance service. Today, you can go to any store to buy any type of telephone you want and you get hit with 10-321 long distance commercials on the television telling you to switch from AT&T. With Interent TV boxes, you can buy any box to use and you can choose almost any Internet service to use. If you want to access the WebTV Networks, you have to get the proprietary WebTV box. If you want to access a the Internet through a different service, you can get a competing product such as the Teknema Internet TV unit.





The Teknema Internet TV has a smart
card slot in front and status lights
for power, activity, message.


And it sounds like the Teknema Internet TV unit is the solution that some companies may want to look at. According to Luis Lajous, Teknema's Director of Business Development, Teknema is "the second largest company in the set-top box industry in terms of volume sold. We are number one in volume of open-architecture set-top boxes." Teknema is a northern California company located in Palo Alto. When I first saw the name "Teknema," I thought is was an oriental or Japanese name. Well, no it isn't. Teknema is the Greek word for "brillant solution." Well, for those companies that are looking for an open-architecture ISP-independent set-top box, the Teknema Internet TV unit may be a solution to consider.

Okay, let's get back to looking at the box and take a look at the remote control. The Teknema Internet TV's remote control is interesting. It has a large mouse button that you press from side to side or up or down to move a mouse pointer on the screen. One button I like on the remote control is the QUIT button and it works the way you expect it work. For instance, if after going to a new page, the page is still loading, and it is taking too long to load the graphics (the status bar at the bottom of the screen will tell you how many bytes are loading), you can press the QUIT button so you can continue to do something else. The remote control took me a little while to get used to, but that's normal if you ever had to juggle an arsenal of different remote control devices to control a TV, a VCR, etc. There are FAST SCROLL (similar to page-up / page-down) and SLOW SCROLL (scroll line by line) buttons. There is a FAST GO TO button for quickly pulling up your Favorites in a pop-up menu display on the screen. The OPTIONS button activates a pop-up menu display of what you would expect on an options control panel including menu selections for Reload, Find, Favorite (saving as a Favorite), and Print. There are also buttons for BROWSER, RECENT, SEARCH, FAVS, EMAIL, KEYBOARD, GO TO, PRINT, and some other buttons. The remote works pretty much as you would expect it to.





The Teknema Internet TV can be
used with a remote keyboard.


The Teknema Internet TV can be used with a remote keyboard that looks suspiciously like the keyboard for the WebTV classic except it says Teknema on it. All the keys are in the same places and are labeled the same (FAVS, HOME, SEARCH, etc.) and the power key is where the escape key normally would be located on a computer keyboard. With the WebTV classic if you hit the power key twice in succession (as I normally would hit an escape key on my computer keyboard), I would "escape" out and turn off the WebTV. For the Teknema Internet TV, you have to press the SHIFT key and the POWER key at the same time to turn on the Internet TV from the keyboard so you don't have the WebTV classic keyboard's escape/power problem. The keyboard including all the Internet keys work the way you expect them to. (BTW, I tried the Philips-Magnavox new WebTV Plus keyboard with the Teknema Internet TV unit and that WebTV Plus keyboard works with the Teknema unit.; of course, the Teknema folks and the Philips-Magnavox people would not recommend that you mix and match remote controls, keyboards, etc..)





The Teknema Internet TV remote control has
remote control buttons plus a mouse button.


[According to the Teknema website, Teknema licensed its Internet TV design for manufacturing to Daewoo for its inet.top.box, to Funai for its Card de Ne! box, and to NewCom for its WebPal box. I don't personally know about any specification differences with those other boxes, but I would guess they operate in the same way as the original Teknema Internet TV box. However, I would guess that the interfaces may be different. The Funai remote control appears to be different. See the pictures below for the boxes that are related in design to the Teknema box.

NewCom's WebPal is based
on the Teknema Internet TV.
(Click here for configuration info.)

Daewoo's inet.top.box is based
on the Teknema Internet TV.
(Click here for Cris Mooney's
page for owners of the now
orphaned Daewoo box)

Funai's Card de Ne! is based
on the Teknema Internet TV.]

(continued next page....)




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