.KEYWORD ceeditorial1099
.FLYINGHEAD FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
.TITLE David on WebTV, satellites, and Dreamcast
.DEPT
.SUMMARY It’s been a while since Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz had a nice one-on-one, he-writes, you-read sort of conversation with our readership. Wait no longer. In this column, David covers such diverse topics as WebTV service, Sega’s Windows CE-based Dreamcast, and moving.
.AUTHOR David Gewirtz
It’s been a while since we talked. Last month, we announced the ZATZ Mobile Network and, in August, Managing Editor Denise Amrich discussed the Internet, legality, and you. But it has been a while since you and I had a nice one-on-one, I-write, you-read sort of conversation. Wait no longer. Today’s discussion will cover such diverse topics as WebTV service, Sega’s Windows CE-based Dreamcast, and moving.
Personally, I’ve been a busy little boy. I moved from the apartment I’ve lived in for almost eight years to a much nicer place. Interestingly, Denise Amrich (our managing editor), Heather McDaniel (our news editor and newly minted editorial coordinator), and I now live in the same town. We still have a twenty minute commute to the office, but it is pretty cool having my key editorial people (and my good friends) nearby.
On the day the area got hit by Hurricane Floyd, none of us could get to work. Our homes were all fine (although we’re still boiling our water), but all the routes to the office were completely flooded (Floyded?) out. Because we’re all in the same area, we were still able to get together and have a planning meeting. All of us here at ZATZ, who all survived the storm quite easily, send our best wishes to those of you who were less fortunate. Just a few towns away in Bound Brook, the residents were hit hard.
But now, back to my chat…
When I moved, I had to shut down my dedicated ISDN line at the old place. I also had to disconnect my cable service (no great loss there!). In my old apartment, the porch and the windows all faced either north or east. Since DirecTV and Dish Network satellites are in geosynchronous orbit over Texas, and I’m in New Jersey, I was out of luck getting satellite service (because my windows faced northeast and I had to reach a satellite that was southwest). But my new place is pretty well directly in-line with the satellite and I can now get my video via satellite. Of course, being a gadget freak, I went off the deep end. I have three receivers (two on top of my monster TV and one in the bedroom). I’d originally planned to drive additional monitors in my den and in my study with 2.4 gigahertz video extenders from X-10, but there’s too much interference. I’ll probably go with wires.
.H1 Playing with DishPlayer
When faced with the choice of DirecTV or Dish Network satellite service, I geeked out. ZDTV was available on Dish Network (Ok, so ZD’s a competitor, ZDTV is still something I wanted bad), so I chose Dish. Interestingly, if you use Dish Network, you can get a DishPlayer. The DishPlayer is a WebTV and a satellite receiver rolled into one.
I’ve enthused often about WebTV. I’m a big fan. Ever since the WebTV Plus came out (and the service was upgraded to support timed VCR recording), I’ve relied on it to manage my television viewing. I’m never really ready to watch TV before 2am, so a tool that manages the recording of my favorite shows is essential if I want to watch anything other than infomercials. I’m also a big fan of WebTV because I can do some of my necessary Web-work sitting in a couch, not hunched over a monitor — a big win for my back and shoulders.
The DishPlayer is a funky variant of the WebTV Plus. Like the WebTV Plus, it has a Web browsing side and a TV listings side (what they call TV Home). And, like the WebTV Plus, the DishPlayer can display all of the satellite service listings (although it organizes it a bit better than the WebTV Plus). Unfortunately, it appears the DishPlayer can only store about four days of listings, while the WebTV Plus handles about a week.
Weirdly, the DishPlayer also has games: Solitaire, Doom, and You Don’t Know Jack. They’re actually somewhat fun, but because they’re implemented so strangely, there’s little likelihood anyone’s really going to play them. When you choose a game (they all work the same way) from the Games menu on the DishPlayer’s WebTV main screen, the system literally reboots into a special game-only mode. It even flashes the screen a few times with random refresh garbage. Once you’re in the game mode, you can play that game. Want to switch to another game? Reboot into WebTV mode, choose the game, and reboot into that game’s play mode. As I said, it’s a bit strange.
Lastly, the DishPlayer has a video pause function. You can, theoretically, store up to 30 minutes of video on the DishPlayer’s hard drive (so you don’t lose what you’re watching if the phone rings or you need a pit stop). It’s a cool feature, but I’ve found it to be somewhat unreliable.
The WebTV-based DishPlayer is unquestionably cool, but it’s also buggy. I’m hoping future downloadable upgrades will overcome some of the problems.
.H1 WebTV technical support
Unfortunately, WebTV technical support is also a bit buggy. The WebTV hardware is supposed to be supported by the hardware manufacturers (i.e., Phillips, Sony, EchoStar, etc). The software and the network connection (because there’s also an ISP relationship) are supported by WebTV (which is now part of Microsoft).
On the up side, WebTV’s technical support is open at 10pm EST on a Sunday night. On the minus side, it might as well not be. I now own two WebTV units: my old WebTV Plus and my new DishPlayer (I gave my original WebTV to a friend last year). Once I got the DishPlayer working in the "movie room", I tried to hook up the WebTV Plus in my bedroom. I ran into connection problems. The box would dial into the network, establish a connection, and then get completely lost.
The support people at WebTV were a lot like that. I found myself trying to talk to a helpful person, getting redirected a whole bunch, getting disconnected, and finally, after giving my username, phone, full spelling of my name, and description of the problem to the 26th person, being transferred yet again.
The core of the problem turned out to be that WebTV support techs really didn’t understand the concept of a customer owning two devices. Since I had one device hooked up, and that was what they had registered, they didn’t realize that I was now trying to hook up the second device. Instead, when I told them I had a DishPlayer and a WebTV Plus, they kept trying to convince me that I had just a DishPlayer.
Eventually, and this really took more than three hours of calling over two nights, I did get a technician who gave me the special reset codes that allowed me to register a new account. But it took two nights and by the end of it (I’d also been connected to billing no less than eight times!) I was so frustrated I actually threatened some poor guy that he’d wind up the star of this article (dude, if you’re reading, sorry!).
If you’ve read my comments before, you know that generally I’m a pretty big fan of Microsoft. For such a large organization, everyone I’ve met has been down to earth and quite reasonable (while supporting Microsoft’s own mission, of course). So when I criticize the folks at Microsoft, it’s not from the point of view of one of the many Microsoft bashers. I really like these guys.
But I have to criticize WebTV’s technical support. The initial set of phone menus is very confusing. There are repeated dead-ends where you wind up getting the numbers for manufacturers, but not a human. Once I got a human, I often wound up talking to someone in billing, rather than a technician.
And then, once connected to a technician, their escalation process is woefully inadequate. On my tenth or so attempt to call in, I told one technician I was tired of repeating all the details, please just let me speak to a manager. He refused, telling me that he’d get in trouble. I think all support organizations should allow their agents to forward cranky customers to an appropriate handler. This guy couldn’t.
I found technicians who didn’t know what an S-Video jack was (and when I told them my video was connected in that way, told me that I certainly had wired it wrong). And I couldn’t get to anyone who was strong, really strong, technically. By contrast, when I’ve called Microsoft’s normal technical support services, I’ve often been connected to very bright, very capable technicians. WebTV needs to integrate more of Microsoft’s support methodology.
I’ve noticed an interesting pattern with consumer electronics companies (and arguably the WebTV part of Microsoft is such a company). The pattern is that they’re comfortable dealing with regular consumers, but they’re completely unprepared for the power-user consumer. The disconnect is when the power-user consumer has more knowledge that’s not reflected in the knowledge base or question-tree of the support person. Consumer electronics companies need to consider that they may have actual "fans" who own multiple units. These are the same "fans" who may try to get the units to do more, or set them up strangely, or figure out other ways to push the envelope.
Honestly, I’d have been much happier if I’d been told that the qualified person I needed would only be available during normal working hours, given a support ticket and a callback number. Then I could have spent a much shorter time talking to someone with a clue.
.H1 Moving to Dreamcast
It’s always a challenge deciding what should and should not be covered in the magazine. WebTV is supposed to be moving to Windows CE, yet it’s not there yet. So, do we cover it or not? Dreamcast is supposed to be based on Windows CE, yet many of the original games don’t use our favorite OS. So do we cover Dreamcast or not?
In my editorial, the decision is relatively easy. I’ve got a useful story to tell about WebTV, so I’m writing about it. We wouldn’t run a feature article on WebTV, though, until it’s really a Windows CE product.
Likewise, I’m going to briefly touch on the Dreamcast because it’s supposed to be a Windows CE-based device (OK, and because it’s cool). However, we’re learning that Windows CE is AWOL from many of the original games. NEWS.COM reports that "Of the 18 or so game titles slated for availability at the introduction of Dreamcast, none used the Windows CE operating system…Instead, all games so far use Sega’s own software in order to program games for the Dreamcast."
Unlike most Windows CE-based devices, the OS apparently isn’t resident on the Dreamcast. Instead, it loads off each GD-ROM (their proprietary format of a CD-ROM). So games don’t have to be based on any given OS. And the original games aren’t based on Windows CE.
I’ve read a few opinions that imply that because the original Dreamcast games don’t run Windows CE, then Windows CE is a failure. Ignore these opinions. An OS isn’t going to be a success or failure based on one product like this. Windows CE is a powerful, modular OS. It runs on all sorts of devices. It’s got a long way to go to be a home run, but don’t you go counting it out.
Enjoy this issue. I’ll talk to you again next month. In the meantime, be sure to visit all the articles and check out our daily news summaries.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
To see for yourself what the difference is between DirecTV and Dish Network, visit http://www.directv.com/ and http://www.dishnetwork.com/.
Information on the DishPlayer can also be found at http://www.dishnetwork.com/satserv/DISHPlayer/cando.htm.
For more information on WebTV, see
http://www.webtv.com/.
To see what games are available for Sega’s Dreamcast, check out http://www.dreamcast.com/.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
