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(....continued)   When I use my PC-TV computer, I have a small TV window in the lower or upper right-hand side of my computer monitor screen. The WebTV Plus does the same thing with the picture-in-picture on the Internet side if you want to watch TV while surfing the Internet. At this time, it looks like you can only have the TV window in the lower right-corner which is perhaps the best place to put it on an Internet TV unit. (On a computer, I think the upper right-hand area may be better because of the windows vertical scroll bar.) When the TV window is on when you are surfing the Net, midi music files and Real Audio radio feeds cannot be played. You have to turn off the TV window in order to hear the midi music or get the Real Audio etc. again.

As already mentioned, the TV side of the WebTV Plus is fascinating to use. Using the WebTV Plus is a different experience from using a plain WebTV classic box because really, as already stated elsewhere on this website, the real killer application of the WebTV Plus is ... television. It is different from merely changing channels on a regular TV. Imagine surfing through TV channels by using a TV listing that shows up on the screen or surfing through the channels and watching program title information show up at the bottom of the screen (not just the digital channel number in the corner of the screen, but the program title showing up on the screen). It's different and I think it is very cool.

When you first turn on the WebTV Plus, the TV Home side of the WebTV Plus shows up with the TV picture framed by the WebTV Plus interface. The TV picture in the middle of the screen is highlighted. If you click the GO botton on the remote control or press the return key on the keyboard, you go to a normal TV full screen mode which is how you would normally watch TV. If you click the home button, you go back to the TV Home page with the TV picture back in the middle of the screen. Below the TV picture-in-picture is a program link that you can click to get a program description of the TV show you are watching. If you stay on the TV side but not in full-screen mode, the WebTV Plus could activate a screen saver where the TV picture-in-picture moves from vertical to horizontal (or horizontal to vertical) positions on the screen every few moments with the WebTV logo and the manufacturers logo moving slowly across the screen. (The Internet side has a new screen saver where three large WebTV logos bounce around the screen.)

The WebTV Plus automatically calls the WebTV Plus Network once a day usually sometime early in the morning like around six o'clock a.m. to download program listings for the day. You can set up the WebTV Plus to either download a cable TV program listing or an antenna-only listing. When you look at a show's program listing, there may be an "i" icon telling you that there is an Internet link for more information about the show you are watching. For instance, for movies, you would be connected to a more detailed web page about the movie from the Internet Movie Database. This is just a hint of things to come when the WebTV crossover links are more fully implemented with the upcoming Fall 1998 television season.

The WebTV Plus automatically checks the time and coordinates the date and time on the WebTV Plus unit. On the TV Home page, you can see the date and time. This is probably one area where I think Internet TV units are better than desktop or notebook computers. With computers, you either manually have to set the time or you have to set up a program to synchronize the time. The WebTV Plus does this automatically.

The WebTV Plus program listings reminds me of what you may see on cable TV where one of the cable channels is devoted to showing program listings that you have to watch scroll up the screen. However, with the WebTV Plus you can actually manuver around the program listing instead of having to wait for the program list to slowly scroll on the screen. As you manuver around the program listing, the TV picture-in-picture and program description at the top of the screen changes channels and descriptions. If a show is not on yet, the picture-in-picture will tell you how much time you have to wait till the show begins. If you click on an item on the program list, you get a full description of the show and if the show is not on yet, you will be told how many hours and minutes you have to wait before the program is on. This is cool.