(This page is a review page. WebTV Plus is NOT sold here. There may be advertising links on this page such as in the left column, but this is only a review. Instead, you could go to Amazon and check out the newer MSNTV2 over at Amazon where you may also find the WebTV Plus. You could also go to Ebay and do a search on Ebay for "WebTV Plus" if you really want a WebTV Plus. Also, 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.)

This is Philips-Magnavox's new
WebEye for the WebTV Plus


On a friday a couple of weeks ago, I received the WebTV Plus unit straight from Philips-Magnavox. The following day I received the new WebTV Plus keyboard. The new webv+ unit is a little bit shorter in length but a little bit taller than the WebTV Classic unit from Philips-Magnavox, but is about the same size as the WebTV Plus boxes from Sony and Mitsubishi that I've seen in electronics stores. After looking at what was in the delivery box, it took me about five to ten minutes to hook up the WebTV Plus.





The Philips-Magnavox WebTV Plus with the
new "WebEye" and the new remote control


The new WebTV Plus from Philips-Magnavox has a new "WebEye" feature which is supposed to be exclusive to the Philips-Magnavox version of the WebTV Plus. When I first saw promotional pictures of the WebTV Plus, I wondered what was that round thing in the picture. Was that a mouse? Naah. You would not have a mouse hooked up with a cord to a WebTV. That doesn't make sense. Well, the WebEye is a infrared receiver that acts like an antenna for your remote control for controling the WebTV Plus. So instead of directly pointing your remote control at the WebTV Plus, you point the remote at the WebEye which has the same indicator lights (green/lime for power, yellow for connection, and red for email messages) as on the WebTV Plus box itself. You would normally point a remote control at the TV set to change channels etc. Imagine if the WebTV Plus was located away from the TV set and out of sight like in a cabinet. You would have to point at the cabinet, or into the cabinet, to get the WebTV Plus to do something. However, with the WebEye, you just plug the WebEye cable into the back of the WebTV Plus and place the WebEye on the TV. Point the remote at the WebEye and presto-chango, you can make the WebTV Plus surf the web or change TV channels etc. The WebEye is cool.





The new "WebEye," which is exclusive to the
Philips-Magnaovox version of the WebTV Plus,
is like a remote control antenna so you can
hide the WebTV Plus and keep the WebEye
out in the open for you to point the remote at.


The WebTV Plus has a new keyboard that looks a lot like the WebTV classic keyboard except for a few new buttons. On the new WebTV Plus keyboard, there is the new power button (or rather power buttons for the WebTV Plus, the TV, and a TV/Video device). If you have one of the old WebTV classic keyboards, you know about how the escape key, normally in the upper left-hand corner of the keyboard layout, was replaced by a power button. A computer user could erroneously press that power button on the old classic keyboard thinking it was the escape key. You would "escape" out of WebTV by turning it off if you pressed that power button twice in succession. NOW, with the new WebTV Plus keyboard, the escape key is back where it should be in the upper left-hand corner of the keyboard layout. Along the upper right-hand top side of the keyboard frame, you have new buttons for changing the TV channel, for increasing and decreasing the TV volume, a mute button, a code set button for programming the keyboard to operate different TV sets, plus a new VIEW button. The new VIEW button is pretty neat to use. You press the VIEW button to flip back and forth between the Internet side and the TV side of the WebTV Plus. The screen picture literally flips as you switch back and forth.

For those who are wondering, you can use the old WebTV classic keyboard and the old WebTV classic remote control with the new WebTV Plus. However, you really need the VIEW button found on both the new keyboard and the new remote control so you can easily flip back and forth between the Internet side and the TV side of the WebTV Plus. If you don't have a remote with the VIEW button to press, you have to go to the Home page so you can click the WebTV logo in the upper left-hand corner to go to the Internet side or the TV side. And the new TV remote control buttons really help to reduce if not eliminate the juggling of remote control devices that many people can go through. Another interesting item to note is that the keyboard works with other brands of Internet TV units (more on this in another commentary that I'm working on). One other thing to note about the new keyboard is that the keys for FAVS, HOME, MAIL, SAVE, and SEND glow in the dark.





The new WebTV Plus keyboard with the new
TV remote control buttons along the top of the
keyboard plus the new glow-in-the-dark
FAVS, HOME, MAIL, SAVE, & SEND keys.


The basic remote control that comes with the WebTV Plus is a vast improvement on the WebTV classic remote control. (Philips-Magnavox must have took a lesson from Sony that some say had the better WebTV classic remote control.) The new WebTV Plus remote control can be programmed to directly control your TV set. The remote has a new number keypad for changing channels, as well as up/down buttons for changing channels and changing the volume. Again, the VIEW button is very cool to use to flip between the Internet and TV sides of the WebTV Plus. (I should mention that I had the WebTV Plus sitting on top of the older WebTV classic. When I pressed the power button on the remote control, both the WebTV Plus and the WebTV classic turned on. So I had to pull the plug on the classic box.)





The new WebTV Plus remote control is better
than the old WebTV Classic remote control and
can be programmed to work with regular TVs.


Let's take a look at the back of the WebTV Plus. Looking at the back of the WebTV Plus made me think that it was a lot like looking at the back of a VCR. For those computer folks out there, the only familar computer item on the back of the WebTV Plus is the parrallel printer port (you don't have to buy a printer adapter like for the older WebTV classic units). All the other jacks and doohickies in the back are like what you find on the back of a VCR except for the jack for the telephone line. You have the places for plugging in a S-Video cable, which is the best way of getting a video picture if you have a S-Video jack in the back of your TV. There are the video and audio jacks for video connections and for the sound connection. There are the connectors for the antenna/cable line. And there was a very curious jack for a microphone. You can click here for a tutorial on how to use a microphone to send voice email messages. And you can click here for other microphone information for the WebTV Plus (for those Sony owners reading this, some of you may have to use a RCA phono plug adapter to plug the microphone into the RCA sound input, or hook up a camcorder and use the mic on the camcorder). The WebTV knows how to deal with call waiting and news reports hint at more telephony capabilities etc. Maybe it's a software thing the WebTV folks are working on.... From what I've been hearing, it sounds like the WebTV Plus may become an all-in-one device for a mulitude of different capabilities beyond mere Internet surfing, email, or TV watching.... If you can hook up a VCR, you can hook up the new WebTV Plus. I actually used all of the old cables from my older WebTV classic except for the power cord to hook up the WebTV Plus (you get all the cords that you need including the S-Video cable, audio & video cables, power cord, phone line extension, phone jack Tee adapter, etc. with the WebTV Plus). The specific power cord for the WebTV Plus plugs into the box a certain way so you can't use the WebTV classic's power cord with the WebTV Plus. For those wondering, you cannot plug a computer keyboard into the back of the WebTV Plus like you can with a WebTV classic.





The back of the WebTV Plus looks like a mix
between a the back of a VCR and a computer.
(Hmm, what is that microphone jack for??)


With the parrallel printer port on the back of the WebTV Plus, you don't have to buy a printer adapter like you have to for the older WebTV classic units. You can use Hewlett-Packard 400, 500, 600, 660c, 670c, 680c, and 690c series printers as well as Canon BJC-80, BJC-210, BJC-240, BJC-250, BJC-610, BJC-620, BJC-4100, BJC-4200, BJC-4300, BJC-4550 printers.

When you have it all plugged in and powered up, you then sign up for service. You can either set up a new account for the new WebTV Plus box or transfer your existing account from your WebTV classic box if you are upgrading from the older box. Once you have your account set up, using the WebTV Plus is pretty much straightforward. If you are upgrading, the Internet side is the same as when you used the Internet-only WebTV classic. Perhaps the only major "difference" is that on the older WebTV classic home page, there was a menu item for WebTV Settings. On the new WebTV Plus, you have to click on "Using WebTV" on of the home page to get to the new settings screen.

It is the "TV Home" side that I found fascinating. Pressing that VIEW button is so cool to flip back and forth between the TV side and the Internet side. When you are on the Internet side, the options control panel has a new "TV Window" button that will turn on a TV picture in the lower right-hand corner of the TV screen when you are surfing the Internet.

The WebTV options control panel has the new
"TV Window" button for picture-in-picture viewing.

(continued next page....)




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