WebTv Upgrade History

The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20060427014058/http://igo2xs.us:80/XQ/wtvstart.html

WebTv Upgrade History

�WebTv has offered upgrades for it's network users to keep the network current with today's standards. Some upgrades are Server-side, meaning a user may not notice the changes, and some upgrade features are Client-side, meaning they are noticable features that visably enhance the user's WebTv experience.

�This page helps to keep track of the features WebTv users have received with each upgrade over the years.

September 1996 - WebTv Launches!

WebTv Networks (formerly Artemis) launches it's Set Top internet terminal, and takes the computing industry by surprise.
Starting at a little more than $300, a subscriber can now have access to the internet and email as easily as clicking a button!
The Start Page shown was the prototype page used while the system was in beta testing. During the launch, it remained for a short while until the newer version was in place.

�WebTv's homepage from Late September of 1996.

�This was the first revision for WebTv's start page that set the pace for the page format for years to come.
�The introduction of the sidebar and clickable icons made it user-friendly for all.

�WebTv's homepage from October of 1996.

�Some changes were underway with WebTv's pages, in this case the Around Town icon was slightly changed.

�WebTv's homepage from November of 1996.

�Almost un-noticable, the Around Town icon once again changes. This page is also the best known since it was the one that WebTv distributed to independant ISP's in thier "How To" demo pack, that showed a user step-by-step how to change thier ISP settings and other support issues.

Winter (December) 1996 - Client Version 1.1

Audio Control Panel - gives the user the ability to stop, play and pause an audio file.
Background music while surfing (MIDI files only).
Enhanced support for Frames documents.
Message Watch - set your WebTv to check e-mail at a selected time.
Sensitivity Settings added as a Call Waiting option.
Support for these audio files: .AIFF, .AU, .GSM, .MPEG, .MOD, .RA, .WAV
Switch Users link added to the Homepage.

Summer (June) 1997 - Client Version 1.2

Enhanced JavaScript abilities.
Expanded Favorites capacity (600 can be saved).
Expanded Printing capability.
Macromedia Shockwave Flash 1.0
Real Audio 3.0
ShockWave Audio.
SSL Encryption (for secure web transactions).
Upgrade to HTML v3.2

Fall (September) 1997 - Client Version 1.3

Ability to download the audio from Quicktime movies.
Community section improved with new features added.
Enhanced Explore feature.
IRC Chat feature added.
MPEG Video (up to 400K)
SurfSpots added. (A Surfspot is the blue page that shows while surfing between sites)
VideoFlash (currently used for ads).
Weather forecast displayed on the Homepage (shown by ZIP code).

Summer (June) 1998 - Client Upgrade.

Classic Version 1.4

Ability to view Forms in Email.
Additional background music added (80 MIDIs)
Cut/Copy/Paste (CnP) feature added.
/ignore command for IRC Chat.
Improved Surfspots.
Improved SSL support (for secure Online purchases).
Javascript support levels enhanced.
Level of viewable posts increased to 1500 in NewsGroups.
My WebTV allows you to personalize weather, stock reports, sports and news on your Home page.
NextNew option in NewsGroups.
POP3 Mail Access (Remote Mail).
Restructured internal JavaScript levels (this changed the way WebTv used IRC chat, eliminated JavaScript from e-mail and disabled JavaScript access from the GoTo dialog box).

Plus Version 2.2
Plus Users received the additional features:

Dynamic HTML.
Hard Drive Webpage caching.
Multimedia Email enables a user to add 30 second sound clips (.wav format) and vid caps (.jpg format) to thier Email messages.
New MIDI engine for enhanced sound file playback.
New Tv Home Features:
- Ability to search Tv listings.
- Easy recording with IR Blaster.
- Reminders.
- Week of Tv listings.
TVML

Fall (September) 1998 - Server-Side Upgrade
BERJAYA

Classic Users recieved:

Ability to attatch original message when replying to an e-mail.
Around Town Area redesigned.
E-greetings digital greeting card service now available in Mail section.
Entertainment section added to My WebTv.
Explore redesigned with 2 new sections added:
- Family & Kids
- Living
IRC Chat feature upgraded, including an instant Live Help dialogue box (for use in Talk City) and a full list of active chat rooms.
Quick Help pages that offer better WebTv feature descriptions.
WebTv Kid Friendly service features added.
Weather forecast is now provided by The Weather Channel (TWC), replacing Accuweather.

Plus users also recieved the following:

Ability to add Vid-Caps and sound clips to NewsGroup postings
Search for actors, actresses and directors added to the Tv listings.

Spring (May) 1999 - Client Version 1.4.2

Security patches to eliminate e-mail attacks.
Server/network upgrades.
Spell Checker in e-mail.

Originally released as Version 1.4.1 for Classic users and Version 2.2.1 for Plus users, there were many "bug" issues yet to be resolved. A second upgrade was released in an attempt to resolve these issues, upgrading to Classic version 1.4.2 and Plus version 2.2.2, yet the "mail bug" still persists to this day.

The DishPlayer's WebTv Client is now Version 2.3 and includes all of the above plus:

Macromedia Flash 3.0

Summer (June) 1999 - Server-Side Upgrade
(All users)

Add to Scrapbook - When viewing an e-mail that includes an image attachment, pressing the Scrapbook button on the sidebar adds the image to the scrapbook of the Page Builder.
Change Name on e-mail now enables the user to change the name that goes out on thier outgoing e-mails so it doesn't match the name given for billing purposes (primary user only).
Expanded and Improved Help Section - a much better help section for WebTv users.
Online Billing Statement lets the user have the ability to view their billing history (primary user only).
Online purchase security guarantee available through certain online stores.
New Homepage - completely redesigned WebTv Homepage.
Page Builder - WebTv users have 3Mb of space on WebTv's servers to build Webpages and store files such as images and a variety of template driven Webpage designs to use.
Remove Signature - removes a user's signature from their e-mail message or newsgroup posting.
WebTv Centers replaces My WebTv and Explore providing sections for News, Shopping, Entertainment, Money, Sports and WebTv Today.

WebTv's homepage from December of 1999.

The WebTv Homepage evolves towards the MSN homepage.

Winter (December) 1999 - Client Version 2.3.1
(DishPlayer Personal Tv Upgrade)

Digital Video Recording (DVR) lets the user record up to 5 hours of programming on the hard drive along with the following controls: Fast Forward, Rewind, Pause and Commercial Skip (skips 30 seconds at a time) also including Advanced Pause to pause a live Tv program longer than the typical 30 minutes.
Instant Replay feature displays a 7 second replay (also the ability to rewind further back into the program as well).
PTv subscribers get a new remote sent to them free by mail. This remote has new buttons for all the PTv functions.
WebTv Instant News feature allows the user to recieve personalized entertainment news, headlines, sports scores, stock info and weather forecasts via satellite without being connected to WebTv.

The cost of the PTv features is $9.99 per month paid to Dish Network and a $5.00 discount on their monthly WebTv Plus Service fee.

WebTv's homepage from April of 2000.

Note that WebTv Plus screens have the Tv Home link.

Summer (June) 2000 - Client Version 2.5

Flash 3.0 offers support for most Shockwave Flash animations in version 3.0 and lower.
Javascript 1.3 enhancements.
MSN Messenger Service allows instant messaging between other WebTv users and computer users who have the MSN IM program downloaded.
Real Audio Upgrade - support for Real Player G2 streaming audio.
Windows Media Player enhancements give the ability to play a large percentage of all Windows Media streaming video and audio files.

This upgrade will be the last upgrade for the first generation WebTv units for many years. Also note that in order for the first generation WebTv units to be Instant Messenger capable, the ability to play .MPEG files was removed and the WMP (Windows Media Player) was never available due to internal memory capacity.

WebTv's homepage from February 2001.

Note the addition of the pulldown menu.

Winter (February) 2001 - Client Version 2.6

Improved Windows Media Player enables the user to shrink the size of the video frame along with other added features.
Printing enhancements give the user the ability to print text and all images in black and white if selected.
Shockwave Flash Level 4.0
Start/Stop Real Audio music embedded in Some Signatures can now be done by pressing Options and selecting Stop while viewing some e-mails or NewsGroup posts.
Web Browser upgrades bring the levels to Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 & Mozilla 4.0 and HTML 4.0

WebTv Plus users receive all the features above plus:

MSN Messenger Upgrades gives the user the ability to watch Tv in PIP window and use MSN Messenger by shrinking the size of the Messenger window.
Movable PIP Window now allows a user to place the PIP window in one of four corners of the screen.
Tv Wallet allows a user to make purchases, request samples and more while watching certain Tv programs without having to dial in to WebTv during the program.
Interactive Tv (iTv) Search added to TV Listings Search function

This upgrade is not available for the first generation WebTv Classics or DishPlayers

Fall (September) 2001 - Client Version 2.7

Online notification of Hotmail.
MSN re-branding throughout the entire network.
MSN Chat available to users (this includes all units).

This upgrade is not available for the first generation WebTv Classics or DishPlayers.

WebTv's homepage from January of 2003.

Note that there were many slight changes in the Homepage within a 6 month span.

Spring (April-May) 2003 - Client Version 2.8

Improved SSL Encryption access (broader secure server access).
New Faster Loading Redesigned Home Page.
Server/Network enhancements.
SSL Status Window text changed from Secure Page to Encrypted Page.

This upgrade is not available for the first generation WebTv Classics or DishPlayers

Spring (June) 2003 - Client Version 2.5.7

WebTv Classic Upgrade for first generation units

Elimination of ads from e-mail and start page.
Enhancements on the network for continued support.
Redesigned Home Page.
SSL encryption upgrades for Secure Server access.

This upgrade is a network-wide forced upgrade (Version 2.5.7) for all the first generation Classics to standardize the network and prepare for what may be the very last time the first generation WebTv units will be able to be upgraded. This is due to many factors such as the proprietary 33.6K modem and the limited cache. As the internet has evolved over the 7 years since these were first introduced, the technology has grown beyond this unit's ability to expand to meet the internet's ongoing evolution.

Summer (August - September) 2003 - Client Version 2.8.1

Passport Changes. Passport is now required to use MSN Messenger and to access Hotmail and MSN accounts added as extra users on your MsnTV account.
Some users whose passports could not be verified by msntv and attempted to create a new passport during this time had to wait several weeks before the passport issue could be resolved and once again be able to use Messenger services. Hotmail and msn.com users could not be fixed.
WebTV user names with a dash - in the nick may no longer have access to the Messenger service due to the new security measures.
The Power Off code that was being used in MSN Chat to knock WebTV users offline is no longer able to be used.

This upgrade is not available for the first generation WebTv Classics or DishPlayers

Summer - (August) 2003

MSN takes away the ability to create extra users that are @msn.com and @hotmail.com domains. This was another passport security related issue.

Fall (November) 2003 - Client Version 2.8.2

This upgrade concerns MSN chat. It gives chatters the ability to create a room on the MSN chat server.
To receive this upgrade you would need to go to the MSN chat server and click on create. You would then be offered the upgrade.

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July 2004 - Client Version 2.9

The 2.9 upgrade addressed several issues and is also the groundwork for other upcoming updates.
For the Old Plus it is 56 parts.
The New Plus units receives 22 parts
The New Classic receives 13 parts.
The back button has at times sent people back two pages/sites previous instead of back to just the previous site or page. The 2.9 attempted to fix this problem.
It will address browser issues that people have been having with places like the New York Times and�Yahoo etc....�
Changes�will be put in place to further help correct the JS bug problem.
It seems to have now made CSS come to more standard like it did with JS on the 2.8. The image positioning tag used in CSS sidebars no longer works.
There will be improved handling of cookies and improved handling of secure sites. Which will allow us to get into and navigate more secure sites.
The msn one plan "username and password don't match" problem�that some have experienced will be�fixed.
MsnTV stopped givng retrogrades at the 800# though you can still retrograde by using the tricks codes.
MsnTV has stated they will be forcing this upgrade soon in order to bring everyone to the same upgrade levels.
At this time they have held off forcing it due to problems the older plus units are having with DNS, IP and the address book.

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August 2004 - Client Version 2.5.9

The 2.5.9 upgrade included the same material as the 2.9 but is for the old original classics. It was a 16 part upgrade.

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Thanks for Visiting!

While the facts in this timeline were tirelessly researched by either contacting actual WebTv Pioneers or by online research, some errors may have occured.

If you have additional information or additional screen shots that would be useful to this timeline, please contact me at X-Quizit@webtv.net!
All contributions will be credited! :)

To my long time friend, Me262, this page nor most of my pages would not be what they are without your early on mentoring and friendship. Thank you for everything.

Special Thanks go out to Michaeld for their assistance in this project and being a great friend who is always there!

WebTV, MSNtv and it's associated images/logos are �1996-2003 ~ Microsoft Networks.

The screenshot from 0997 is courtesy of Ruel's.

All images, graphics and page content (not listed above) are �1997-2003 ~ StormBringer Grafix, all rights reserved.

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