Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Bennett Lauber, an Internet instructor with NetTV, displays his computer's capability for displaying an Internet browser and live TV newscast simultaneously.

The Studio offers NetTV

By Shari Kaplan

Just when it seemed the Internet couldn't catch anything else in its web, NetTV has arrived on the scene.

NetTV is a new family entertainment system that made its Northern California debut May 31 at The Studio in Los Gatos. The system merges a 29-inch color TV/monitor with an expandable, IBM PC-compatible computer and--with the help of a modem--the infinity of the Internet.

Using a 105-key command-center keyboard and trackball that operates as an infrared remote control, NetTV users do many tasks simultaneously and view them all on the same screen.

"With all these different applications open, imagine how much you can do at once," says Duante Lopez, a technology guru and Studio employee. "As you're watching a TV program and downloading information from the Net, you can be word processing and then send the document to someone else."

"You can do it all from one seat, rather than going from the den to the living room, or your home to your office," Lopez says.

"You don't have to be an engineer to operate this," adds Studio co-owner Grant Sedgwick. "This is a crossover appliance and fits well in a store like ours, focused on home-office furnishings. It's like the hearth from the pre-TV era."

Although the large screen can be filled with many windows running simultaneous applications, any window can be made to fill the entire screen with the click of a button. Additionally, any image a NetTV user is watching on TV can be frozen and captured in a graphics file for later use in word processing or layout programs, World Wide Web pages and other applications.

Among NetTV's other built-in features are blocking options for households with young children. Parents can selectively block one program playing at a specific time on TV, or they can block a whole station. NetTV's software also works along with any online service provider to enable parents to block certain Internet newsgroups or World Wide Web sites.

Ron Perkes, CEO and founder of NetTV, describes it as "the first true merger of the PC and TV--[it] moves the computer out of the office and into the living room."

During the system's debut weekend at The Studio, Lopez recalled hearing many comments such as "that's cool" and "it's about time." What he recalls most vividly is the comment from one man who stared at the NetTV setup in the front of the store and exclaimed, "I've seen that before!" Lopez inquired where the man could possibly have seen NetTV before.

"In my mind," was the reply.

NetTV is a two-year-old San Rafael company that designs and manufactures innovative digital products for home, business and education markets. The Studio, located at 1 N. Santa Cruz Ave., is the only local purveyor of the NetTV system, and carries five different models, ranging from $2,995 to $4,650.

For more information, call The Studio at 395-7078 or visit the NetTV Web site at http://www.net-tv.net