The ambitious UltimateTV is a couch potato's dream of multitasking

08/02/2001

By DOUG BEDELL / The Dallas Morning News

When a product is billed as "the ultimate," it better be good.

Microsoft's boldly branded UltimateTV may not be the end-point in this decade's dalliance with interactive television.

But UltimateTV is the most ambitious of the set-top digital recording devices produced thus far.

ReplayTV and TiVo were the pioneers. Both have developed classy mechanisms to search through, store, categorize and play back the hundreds of cable and satellite programs piped into our homes.

UltimateTV, though, presents the true couch potato with a whole new set of options. It wraps that digital recorder, two satellite television tuners and Internet access into a single, subscription-based package.

This would allow a user, for example, to watch a Dallas Cowboys game in the largest window of a television screen while scrolling through ESPN.com for game statistical updates in a smaller window. (Fantasy football fanatics, take note.)

A flick of the remote can bring the Web to the fore. Another returns it to the smaller picture-in picture, or PIP, position. One more punch on the remote control, and a second football game from a different channel can be sent to the PIP box, replacing the ESPN Web page.

Beyond that mind-boggling ability, UltimateTV's configuration permits recording options heretofore unseen in these personal video recorders, or PVRs: Two programs can be recorded simultaneously. This feature will go a long way to resolving household conflicts when programs run simultaneously on different channels. Watch one. Store the other.

Even more enticing is UltimateTV's ability to record two simultaneously broadcast, live programs to the same hard drive – all using a single, 18-inch DirecTV satellite dish. That's another first for any PVR on the market today.

"UltimateTV offers consumers a whole new way to experience television," said Bruce Leak, president of Microsoft WebTV Networks Inc. "Now you can live your life and still enjoy great TV: Pause live TV to answer the phone, pick the best time to watch your favorite shows and send an e-mail message with a picture of your kids to your in-laws during a commercial."

In fact, the Internet facet of UltimateTV may be just another way for Microsoft to boost sluggish sales of its WebTV product. It has basically blended its WebTV Plus into a box containing the DirecTV PVR. The Net on a television could prove alluring to beginners and those who have not already made the plunge into a household computer purchase.

Relying on it for daily use can quickly get expensive, however.

The box encases a 56 kbps modem that requires a permanent phone line wired to the set-top location. The "Basic UltimateTV" package costs $9.95 a month for three hours of Internet access.

That also gives you six e-mail addresses, the electronic programming guide and access to the hard drive and receiver.

An optional $49 wireless keyboard is recommended for any intensive e-mail work. Otherwise, you'll be fumbling to punch letters on the remote.

Using the UltimateTV service with your own Internet service provider costs $14.95 a month. But you can't use an America Online account because Microsoft's box isn't set up to handle AOL's proprietary software. Unlimited Internet access with WebTV as the provider costs $29.95.

A real "ultimate" device might allow those who already pay for high-speed DSL or cable Internet access to hook those services into the set-top box. Microsoft says it's working on that. However, that would probably mean letting rival AOL Time Warner in on this act, so viewers should be prepared for a long wait.

Like its predecessors, UltimateTV's box allows viewers to schedule the recording of upcoming programs with a single touch of the remote control. Up to 35 hours of programs can be stuffed onto its 45-gigabyte hard drive. Live programming can be paused, then resumed. Recorded shows are labeled. They're accessible through a separate menu, all tidy and playable in an instant.

Skipping through commercials is a breeze. The remote allows you jump forward 30 seconds, the length of the average commercial. Another remote button bumps live programming back in seven-second increments, creating instant replays on demand.

You can also fast-forward through a recorded show at two, 15, 60 or 300 times normal speed. And, like other PVR models, slow-motion and freeze-frames are delivered with digital clarity. There's no blurring.

Navigating through all the options takes a special on-screen interface – and one heck of a remote control. UltimateTV comes with both. Unlike ReplayTV and TiVo, on-screen menus don't eliminate the ability to see what you're selecting. When menus are up, the picture is simply shrunk. As you flick through the DirecTV lineup, the shrunken screen allows you to preview each highlighted program.

Fourteen days' worth of programming options can be scanned using the electronic guide, which can be searched by program category, such as sports or adventure, or using key words, such as actors' names.

The program selection process is hampered by a slight delay in response from the remote control, a problem not apparent in other PVRs. Overall, though, this is a clean, readable interface that solves more problems than it creates. UltimateTV may be the first iteration of the Microsoft TV platform, but it performs like a set-top veteran.

Getting your hands on all those features isn't cheap. In addition to paying for Internet access and the UltimateTV service, you'll also need at least a basic DirecTV subscription, which starts at about $22 per month. The only way to get the full set of features is to opt for installation of a dual output LNB dish on the rooftop.

Both Sony and RCA are marketing DirecTV/UltimateTV receivers in slightly different packages. RCA sells one for $399 that includes a receiver and remote. Another, at $449, contains a receiver, remote and satellite dish. Sony offers one package for $449 that includes the receiver, keyboard and remote.

For more information, visit www.UltimateTV.com, or call 1-877-858-4628. Once you have the receiver, you can order both DirecTV programming and UltimateTV service subscriptions with one phone call to DirecTV at 1-800-347-3288.