WebTV Question

[Paul]

Does anyone know offhand if WebTV recognizes image maps? non-underlined hypertext links?..
Flash?

[Deb]

I believe the new version of WebTV does.. yes.

You may want to check out the WebTV home page ( http://www.webtv.com ) and http://members.tripod.com/~Apollo_/apollohelp.html and see what they have to say about just in case you have to code a certain way for it to work.

Deb

[Del]

Also, check out http://developer.webtv.net . They have a WebTV viewer for the PC. I use it to test out page design, script workings, etc... to make sure it's compatible all around.



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Del
www.downinit.com (http://www.downinit.com)

da da da

[Justin]

I've never used or seen Web TV, and my site is really targeted at PC users, but I had to download the viewer thing anyway out of uncontrollable curiosity - interesting http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif

Question: so a couch potato can now surf the web via remote? No offense, but that just sounds a little silly. No keyboard? Mouse? Hard drive? CPU?

Of course, a 27" monitor is enticing, but I think more dots would be in order http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif

What I really want to know is what in the hell is Web TV for? I mean, you can't DO anything. You can look, and that's about it (right?).

Anyway, this reminds me of the ideas that were thrown around a few years ago about every household having a sub $500 dummy terminal, instead of a computer, e.g. no CPU, small HDD for cache, etc. Only now you don't even need a monitor! Like my old Vic-20! Just flip the TV / Game switch...

I just want to know how many people actually have these glorified dummy terminals.

I'm just tired. Been up since this time yesterday, so don't mind me - it's just that I didn't know they were making these things like NOW, and I thought that the idea was dropped in like 95 or something. I really am lost, aren't I? http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif It's like the web for dummies (again, no offense is intended - I just can't get over the idea of no CPU/Ram/HDD/Floppy/keyboard/brain/imagination/own_thoughts/playing_Quake/etc)

Can you use Web TV on a PC Tuner card? Then run Picture in Picture on that in separate windows...

Justin
-- What do "Web TV", "Legally Drunk", "Military Intelligence", and "Jumbo Shrimp" have in common? --

[Del]

Justin,

Actually, there are tons of people using WebTV now. It's proven to be an incredibly popular alternative to plunking a grand or more on a real machine (a full webtv setup is a bout $200). A wireless keyboard is available too, sometimes included sometimes an extra $90-ish. I believe it's got a small amount of space for caching and such, and a printer is also usable.

One good use I've heard of is to carry a webtv unit along on trips. You can use it to check your email and such from a hotel room very easily, and you don't have to blow a couple thousand on a laptop. WebTV also handles cruddy phone lines better than a real machine.

One of the coolest things about webtv (IMHO) is it's image handling capabilities. When you view an image on your TV, the img is actually being shown from a cache in some central webtv corp machine. Because of this, they can show almost any type of image inline, the main webtv servers will load (for example) a .bmp image, convert it to .gif or .jpg and display the web format on the webtv screen. I don't recall what all formats it can handle, but it does include some odd ones (like photoshop, cdr, etc...)

Still don't think I'll buy one tho. We're seriously considering buying a cheap Mac next for doing graphic work on (prolly an iMac, as they're only $999).

Del

PS I had an Apple IIE years back with the little TV/Computer switch, just like the Atari that lived next to it *g*

[Jacob Stetser]

http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif

[Paul]

Thanks for all the info!.. I must say, things sure look a lot different over there in
WebTV-land.. don't they? (I downloaded the viewer)


Thanks again