(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. Enjoy the review.)

Also see Mercury Center's article about new WebSurfer Pro (5-2-99)
(Mercury Center article is about the new WebSurfer Pro although referred to only as "WebSurfer" in the article)

This is the WebSurfer set-top box.

I have been playing with the WebSurfer set-top box. The screen displays of web pages are very sharp and clear. Let's see what this WebSurfer box is all about. First, let's look at the box, the keyboard, and the remote control. Then, let's look at the screen displays and what you can do with the WebSurfer. And finally, let's look at the configuration of the WebSurfer.

The WebSurfer is a unit that is about the same size as the Philips-Magnavox WebTV Classic. The WebSurfer is powered by an Intel DX4 100 MHz microprocessor. There is a built-in 33.6 Kbps data-fax modem and a built-in parallel printer port. There are supposed to be expansion ports for future accessories (I think those are two jacks that I couldn't quite identify on the back of the WebSurfer). Along with the WebSurfer unit, you get a wireless keyboard (with batteries), a handheld remote control (also with batteries), and the usual assortment of cables including a telephone line splitter adapter plug. The WebSurfer can handle S-Video, Composite Video, NTSC, and Pal.

The WebSurfer is easy to set up. You just plug in the power cord, connect the telephone line, and the connect S-Video line or the Audio-Video cable to the TV. For sound, there is a speaker jack in the back of the WebSurfer. I plugged in powered amplified speakers (like the ones you use for computers) into the WebSurfer. You can also plug in your home stereo system into the jack to get sound (a cable is included for hook-up to a stereo system). Very easy to set up. No fuss, no muss.

The WebSurfer comes with a keyboard.

The WebSurfer's keyboard has a power button that is on the front of the keyboard and out of the way so you don't accidentally turn off the WebSurfer. You just press that button and the WebSurfer turns on with its own music. The keyboard itself is a nice looking wireless keyboard. It has a "mouse thumbpad" on the right side of the keyboard plus a scroll button and a mouse select button on the left side of the keyboard. The keyboard has the usual keyboard layout that you would expect, but with special function keys along the top row of the keyboard. Those keys include Reload, Print, Call, Snap, Help, Home, Favs, Recent, Back, Fwd, and Stop. Plus there are Function 1 through Function 5 keys ("Func1" through "Func5") which are apparently for future features of the WebSurfer including word processing, fax, games, etc. There are also other keys at the bottom of the keyboard for Search, Find, Goto, Menu, and Mail. There are also the usual arrow keys as well as scroll up and scroll down keys. The keyboard works pretty much the way you would expect a keyboard to work.

According to the WebSurfer User Guide booklet that came with the unit, the Call key is for Internet Telephony and the Snap button is for digital video capability. These are "future features" that the WebSurfer is to have sometime "soon" whenever that may be. After talking to folks in the WebSurfer technical support and talking to a contact in the WebSurfer chain-of-command, it's hard to tell how "soon" that may be. With the competition between WebSurfer and other set-top manufacturers and network providers, it is understandable that the WebSurfer folks may be rather cryptic regarding the exact nature and the exact release dates of the "future features." However, I think it's safe to say that the WebSurfer folks are very excited about what they plan to be offering to people using their set-top boxes. The official list of "future features" include word processing, web page hosting, fax, voice mail, Internet gaming, and Internet telephony. These are exciting "future features" that I would like to play with whenever they become available.

After a recent viewing of the WebSurfer website, it looks like future shipments of the WebSurfer will include a telephone handset for Internet Telephony. That should be exciting when Internet Telephony is officially released. In addition to the speaker jack in the back of the WebSurfer, there is also a microphone jack. So, I would guess that the telephone handset would be plugged into those jacks.

The WebSurfer keyboard
has a mouse thumbpad.

Going back to the keyboard, the keyboard has the mouse thumbpad that you press with your thumb to move a mouse pointer that is on the screen. It is much like using a mouse on a computer except you use a thumbpad to move the mouse pointer. You move the pointer to whatever you want to click and then you press the "select" button on the other side of the keyboard. The mouse thumbpad and the select button are in purple so you can tell that they both go together. There is also a purple scroll button by the select button. If you press the scroll button and the mouse thumbpad in a certain direction at the same time, you will scroll in that direction. So those are the "mouse" portions of the keyboard.

This is the WebSurfer remote control.

The WebSurfer's remote control also has a mouse thumbpad that you could use for moving around a web page. There are buttons on the remote control for Power, Mail, Call, Snapshot, Find, Search, Print, Goto, Home, Favs, Stop, Back, Recent, Forward, Menu, Scroll Up/Down, Scroll Left/Right, and a bunch of alphabet buttons. There's also a scroll button to the left of the mouse thumbpad and a select button to the right of the thumbpad. The set of alphabet buttons are for typing in text. However, since I had the keyboard, I went back to using the keyboard. I would guess people would use the very convenient keyboard most of the time and use the handheld remote control for some quick surfing.

This is the back of the WebSurfer.

Let's take a look at the back of the WebSurfer unit. Going from left to right, you have input jacks for a S-Video cable, a audio-video cable, an input for what looks like a SVGA cable can go into (however, the WebSurfer technical support folks say it is not compatible; so maybe it's another "future feature" -- just connect the WebSurfer to a TV and not to a regular computer monitor), two other input jacks (I'm not sure what they are for except maybe they are for the "expansion ports"), a parallel printer port, two jacks for the speaker and microphone, the phone jack, and the input where you plug in the power cord. Very straight-forward. If you have ever hooked up a VCR to a TV, you too can hook up the WebSurfer to your TV.

You can print with the WebSurfer.

You can connect a printer to the WebSurfer. According to a printer config pop-up panel, the available printer settings are for the PostScript Printer, HP Laserjet, HP Deskjet 400, HP Deskjet 680, Espon or ESC/P2 compatible Inkjet Printer, and Epson Stylus 400. Since I have an Epson Stylus 500, I tried the Epson Stylus 400 setting and I was able to print out a web page. The WebSurfer folks say that the HP Deskjet 670C can also work with the WebSurfer, but I would guess you would have to use the lower HP Deskjet 400 setting. I'm told by the WebSurfer folks that more printer settings are on the way.

Since we're talking about printing, I have to admit that I was really looking forward to using the WebSurfer's word processing feature. But I was disappointed to find out that it was still a "future feature." However, I was not to be deterred from doing some sort of word processing on the WebSurfer for this review. So I tried the online Inergy WebWriter on the WebSurfer. I was able to print out a page that looked okay, but the web page address and the date and time were printed at the top and bottom of the printed page. I haven't figured out how to set the WebSurfer to not print any headers or footers. I'm hoping that the official WebSurfer-supported word processing is just as good if not better. (Maybe when the official WebSurfer word processing is released, I'll do a review of that and also do a review of the online Inergy word processing that anyone can use whether on a set-top box or a computer.)

One of the WebSurfer's pop-up menus.

The WebSurfer has a menu panel that pops up from the bottom of the screen. On that menu, you can get a "web" menu, an "applications" menu, a "configure" menu, and an "info" menu (from the "configure" menu, you can select the printer setting for your printer). Also on that menu panel, you get information about the web page you are on such as the title of the web page or the location of the web page.

In the above screen shot, you will see a rectangular location box in the lower right-hand corner where there is a green line telling you where you are on the web page for web pages that are more than one screen in length. If the green line is towards the top of the box, you are near the top of the page. If the green line is in the middle of the box, you are in the middle of the page. Etc. The green line could fill up most of the box if the web page is "short" in length. As you can see from other screen shots in this review, you should see this location box whenever you are surfing web pages (the menu does not have to be activated).

This is the WebSurfer's home page.

The WebSurfer comes with an envelope packet for registration for Internet access via Sprynet. You register for access and you're on your way towards surfing the net. After logging onto the Internet, you go to the WebSurfer "home" page. The "home" page uses a "home" graphic metaphor where you see a house with rooms that you can click on to get more functions or links. If you click one of the rooms in the home, you go to the room where you get a specific set of links. For instance, if you click on the living room, you get entertainment links. And if you click the basketball or the soccer ball outside the home, you get sports. If you click the airplane in the air, you get travel. And so on.


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