What IS WebTV? Basically it's a black/grey box that plugs into to your existing TV and phone line that allows you to access the internet (web and e-mail) through WebTV Networks (which is a subscription-based on-line service) and some ISP's using a remote control similar to your TV remote. Optional extras include infra red remote keyboards, printers and digital cameras.

Sony and Philips have so far been the major builders and suppliers of WebTV units under licence from WebTV, a company purchased by Microsoft in 1997.

Drawbacks of WebTV:

While computer monitors are designed to be used "up close and personal", television sets most definitely are not. Two main factors involved here are resolution and viewing proximity.

The resolution on TV sets is much lower than most PC's.
For the past 5 or 6 years, the PC's modern default resolution has been a minimum of 640 pixels wide by 480 pixels high. Web pages today are frequently designed for 800x600, some even go to 1024x768 or higher. The WebTV screens as implemented in the US are 560 pixels wide by 420 pixels high. This may vary slightly in Australia (PAL as opposed to the US NTSC system). WebTV systems do not scroll horizontally. To allow for web pages requiring higher resolution widths than is available on the WebTV screen, the unit re-scales the pages to fit. To see how this might work, try re-sizing an 800x600 graphic that includes some text down to 560 pixels wide in LView, PaintShop, Photoshop or similar on your conventional computer. Some images may work, but small text will become almost impossible to read, small links nearly impossible to select. The web has simply not been designed with WebTV as a high priority.

Television sets are designed to be viewed from a distance.
The scan rates, nature of the refresh and emission standards are all based on a much bigger minimum viewing distance. Where computer monitors are designed for close-up work with strict radiation emission standards based on close viewing distances, and flicker reduction methods to reduce eye strain, TV sets are built on a premise of a much greater audience to unit distance and an almost constantly moving picture with large text (if any).
While it's true to say sitting for hours on end nose to monitor with your computer is not good for you (let alone your back!) trying to use your TV set in the same manner could have serious implications for your eyesight and general health and wellbeing.

WebTV has not been as successful as the designers had hoped. There has been considerable consumer resistance, with the consumer preferring to purchase a cheap PC rather than a WebTV boxes. It may be their timing was bad, with a rash of cheap computers hitting the market just as WebTV, a new technology, was trying to break in. Prices of the WebTV units in the US have accordingly been slashed. Roll out dates in Australia are anyone's guess. If they (WebTV) turn out to be "white elephants", we may well see them dumped on the Australian market as has happened in the past with other technology products.

Microsoft intend however, for WebTV technology to eventually be built into every TV.

Videogame consoles as fully fledged TV-based Internet browser and on-line service.

These devices already exist in the US. For example the Saturn Net Link (28.8K modem) for the Saturn game system. "Street price: $200US. Requires: Phone line, television set, Sega Saturn game system. Sega of America, Redwood City, CA; 800-733-7288; www.sega.com."

They will connect to either Sega's US internet access provider or the users existing ISP.

Reviews of the units indicate their ability to display graphical web pages is not as good as WebTV. They only support some audio formats. While users can access e-mail via these consoles, the interface for text entry is awkward (console or on-screen keyboard or mouse) unless the user has the optional PC keyboard adapter and keyboard to plug in. Unlike WebTV units the Sega systems have (at this stage) no mass storage systems (hard disk) built in.

The units are really aimed at on-line and interactive gaming.

Sega's newest venture due for release in 1999, a "super console" called Dreamcast claims to offer networking features for multiplayer PC and on-line gaming. It's a joint venture between partners Sega, Microsoft, Hitachi, NEC, Videologic and Yamaha.

If the Sega internet strategy is successful, we will probably see other console game manufacturers follow a similar path.

One major factor holding many manufacturers back is how to make an internet investment pay. While some businesses on the web are making good money, the majority are not making any. There is a strong undercurrent in speculative investment circles hinting that the free information ride may soon be over. If you think you begrudge your ISP your connection fees, just wait until you're paying content providers for every bit of information, every game, every time you play an audio track or look at a picture. The "free net" may be returning to be the realm of the tech-head and hacker, while the unsophisticated users have to pay for everything they want to do through the force fed "easy" channels.

If this happens, many lower income families or individuals may find the commercial net again beyond their financial reach, which would be very unfortunate.

So, are television based web access alternatives really an alternative to your existing computer? For those looking for entertainment only, perhaps. Lots of bright pictures with very little reading required - on-line casinos, adult sites, commercial advertising, movie previews, on-line games - a TV based solution would probably work quite well (as long as the sites weren't designed for really high res displays). For those who use the web for chat, e-mail or research, the technical limitations of TV based displays would most likely drive you mad, give you headaches, make you ill, or all of the above.

It will be some years before TV screen and broadcast technology catches up with computer monitor standards, and then it has to become affordable! It will (should) improve, and the technologies (web and TV) will most likely eventually merge. But not this year.