Hang it on your wall and do not worry about scanning for your favourite programmes. This new television knows what you are looking for
THE idiot-box has remained more or less
the same in the past 57 years of its history - a bulky structure that brings
sports, news and movies to our living
rooms. But in the coming months it
may well grow a brain for itself - it will
take multimedia into a new dimension,
allowing viewers to interact, surf the
Internet, order for sandwiches, download environmental statistics or settle in
for the screening of Toy-Story. One
model could even suggest the shows that
you may like, based on your past preferences. And rather than finding a space
for the big entertainer in the corner of
your room, you may just have to hang
your big screen set on the wall.
One of the immediate concepts in
home entertainment is the merger of
television with personal computers (PC).
The 'Genius Theatre', under development by a subsidiary of the Frech electronic giant Thomson Consumer
Electronics is an example of such a
concept. It proposes to widen the scope
of home entertainment services: the
viewers will have the option of switching between on-line programmes and
television, game playing and watching
movies, transmitted via satellite or
phone lines with communications
access to the World Wide Web. With a
52-inch wide screen, the model would
allow several people in a family to view a
computer programme comfortably,
rather than crowding around a tiny
monitor. "What the Genius Theatre will
make possible is an instant access to
things like multimedia titles that you
can download," says Lou Lenzi, president of design for Thomson.
The Genius Theatre's sound system,
CD-Rbm player, modem and connections for telephone line, digital satellite
system, cable and standard antenna are
all placed in a small cabinet. To help
users with its many functions, the set
provides an on-screen menu depicting a
living room with point-and-click icons.
But the remote control has been
replaced by a compact wireless keyboard that allows you to manage the
entire system from where you are seated. Lenzi believes that this multi-function television set would reach the viewers by next year and is expected to cost
us $4,000 for a 36-inch model and us
$6,000 for a 52-inch model.
Another major American mail-order
company, Gateway 2000, has introduced
the new Destination televisions; each
model combines a PC with a 31-inch
video monitor. The Destination is compatible with VCRs and laser-disk players,
and signals could be fed from home hi-fi
systems for surround sounds. It comes
with a Microsoft Windows 95, an electronic version of TV guide, a wireless keyboard and a mouse. The cost varies from
us $3,500 to us $4,700 depending on the
software and the sound system.
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