WebTV Technology
[edit] The WebTV set-top box
Since the WebTV set-top box was a dedicated web browser appliance that did not need to be based on a standard operating system, the cost of licensing an operating system could be avoided. The box featured a 64-bit RISC CPU chip, and a smart card reader. The smart card reader was not utilized significantly. The web browser was compatible with both Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer and the WebTV set-top box featured 2 MB of RAM. The first WebTV set-top boxes had a 33.6 kbit/s modem, and later versions had 56Kbit/s modems. The WebTV set-top boxes used a caching proxy for acceleration capable of reformatting and compressing web pages, a feature generally unavailable to dialup ISPs users at the time and as such, had to be developed by WebTV. For web browsing purposes, given WebTV's thin client software, there was no need for a hard disk, but by putting the browser in non-volatile memory, upgrades could be downloaded from the WebTV service.
One interesting feature of the WebTV set-top box was that, while downloading TV schedule information overnight, it would also check to see if there was any email waiting. If there was, it would illuminate a red LED on the device so the consumer would know it was worth connecting to pick up their mail.
A second model, the "Plus", was introduced a year later. This model featured a tuner to allow watching television in a PIP (Picture-In-Picture) window while waiting for pages to arrive, allowed one to capture video stills from video camera, VCR or broadcast television as a JPEG, and included a video tuner that allowed one to schedule a VCR in a manner like TiVo allowed several years later. The Plus also included a 56k modem. In order to accommodate large nightly downloads of television schedules, a hard drive was included in the original Plus; as chip prices fell faster than hard drive prices, later versions of the Plus used an M-systems DiskOnChip flashrom chip instead. It also supported ATVEF, a technology that allowed users to download special script-laden pages to interact with television shows.
WebTV produced reference designs of models incorporating a disk-based personal video recorder and a satellite tuner for EchoStar's Dish Network (called "Dishplayer"[16]) and for Hughes' DirecTV (called "UltimateTV"). product[17] In 2001, EchoStar sued Microsoft for failing to support the WebTV Dishplayer[18],. EchoStar subsequently sought to acquire DirecTV and was the presumptive acquirer, but EchoStar was ultimately blocked by the Federal Communications Commission.[19] While EchoStar's lawsuit against Microsoft was in process, DirecTV (presumptively acquired by EchoStar, and in control by EchoStar) dropped UltimateTV (thus ending Microsoft's satellite product initiatives) and picked TiVo's DirecTV product as its only Digital Video Recorder offering.
As an ease-of-use design consideration, WebTV early decided to reformat pages rather than have users doing sideways scrolling. As entry-level PCs evolved from VGA resolution of 640x480 to SVGA resolution of 800x600, and web site dimensions followed suit, reformatting the PC-sized web pages to fit the 560-pixel width of a United States NTSC television screen became less satisfactory. The WebTV browser also translated HTML frames as tables in order to avoid the need for a mouse. To address these problems, the engineers at WebTV developed the MSN Companion, which was another easy-to-use thin client which used an SVGA monitor and mouse. Both Compaq and e-Machines marketed the Companion, Compaq producing it in multiple models. However, being substantially more expensive than WebTV (which at this time was typically $50 after rebate) and lacking many features that PC users and WebTV users found standard, the Companion never found a customer base.