This Summer, Sylvania Computer Products will introduce a new 27-inch digital
TV that combines the functions of a TV with those of an Internet appliance.
The device, which owes its internal intelligence to a single-chip PC (a National
Semiconductor Geode)
running an embedded Linux operating system, marks a key milestone in the television
industry by being one of the first consumer TVs to include a built-in Internet
appliance. Call it the dawn of the "Internet/TV." 
The new Sylvania Model SPC2700iHD Internet/TV is the product of a collaboration
with Ch.1 Inc. (Santa Ana, CA), a company which has developed an embeddable
Internet appliance subsystem for next generation digital TVs. Ch.1 plans to
license this technology, known as the "Ch.1 Platform," to as many
TV manufacturers as possible. Similar products are expected to be introduced,
also in the Summer 2001 timeframe, by both Panasonic and Zenith.
The new Sylvania Internet/TV receives standard broadcast or cable TV signals
via a built-in TV tuner and is usable as a high resolution display for external
video sources including VCRs, DVD players, DSS, cable boxes, and computers
(up to 800 x 600 SVGA resolution). The system is also "HDTV-ready,"
which means it will be able to display the high bandwidth video signals produced
by an external HDTV receiver. In the mean time, a unique "line-doubler"
technology provides higher-than-normal resolution display from standard TV
signal sources on the set's high quality monitor, by displaying all horizontal
scan lines simultaneously instead of in the interlaced manner of ordinary
TVs.
Using the Internet/TV's Ch.1-enabled functions, you can watch TV, browse the Internet, create web and TV "favorites," view a customized programming guide, access preprogrammed category portals, send email, chat, shop, and listen to MP3s. You can also watch a TV program while simultaneously interacting with its associated website using the set's "Picture-in-Portal" technology, or direct your VCR (or HDR) when and what to record through Ch.1's web-based control screen. Onscreen buttons give you easy access to the Internet/TV's user manual, product or accessory upgrades, customer service, and technical support.
Notably, unlike solutions based on adding an Internet access set-top box to a conventional TV, the Sylvania Internet/TV let's you browse the web with full 800 x 600 SVGA resolution. And if you want the comfort of typing with a full-size keyboard, you can easily add one as an optional accessory. So, this device may just be the ticket to Internet access for the roughly 50 percent of consumers that don't already own a PC.
When you
tune your Internet/TV to channel 1, you view the special "Ch.1 network
screen," which serves as a graphical interface to the set's Internet
and other advanced features. This screen contains an interactive channel guide,
and also serves as the interactive display for use with the system's many-function
remote control. The Ch.1 user interface is a combination TV-control and web-browsing
interface that is intended to make navigating Internet websites and changing
TV channels equally easy.
Sylvania's first HDTV-ready Internet/TV will be a 27-inch model with a 4:3 CRT. It's expected to be available through retail channels this summer, at a suggested list price of $899.
Ch.1's network services and localized interactive channel guide will be available to consumers starting at $8.95 per month. Subscribers can use their existing ISP, or they can obtain ISP services along with the Ch.1 network services for an added cost of approximately $10 per month.