Hey, this is fun!" said my wife, who normally gives gadgets I bring home a cooler reception. StarSight is a program-guide system that grabs program information hidden in your local public TV station's signal and displays it on command.
The StarSight service is free for 30 days - to get you hooked. It will. It's about US$4 per month thereafter. The StarSight schedule shows what's on and what's coming up, on broadcast or cable, for seven days. Unlike printed program guides, it's also possible to program this one to show only the channels I want, in whatever order makes sense to me - and I can arrange to tape a show just by clicking on its screen listing. I can also browse programs by type (comedy, sports, movies, etc.) and subtype (comedy movie, sitcoms, or specials), or bring up a station lineup for the next few hours.
I especially love the little blurb that tells me which station I've channel surfed into, what show is on, and how much longer it will be on - even during commercials. Another click of the remote brings up additional detail, such as plot summaries and the names of the stars. It's like a cross between Microsoft Windows and a newspaper's TV page.
Decoders that read the StarSight signals and put them on your screen are available in a set-top box from Magnavox for use with your present TV and built into TV sets from Zenith, Mitsubishi, and, soon, Sony and RCA.
The merits of the 27-inch Zenith I tried didn't end with StarSight. The set's sound and picture were good: rich, deep colors, and the kind of black and white you see on movie screens. Without the StarSight service, the Zenith won't show you what programs to expect, but the guide can still be programmed to show the name of each station or network you tune in to along with the channel number.
StarSight: US$4 per month. StarSight Telecast Inc.: (800) 643 7827, +1 (510) 657 9900. Zenith StarSight color television: $799. Zenith Electronics Corporation: +1 (708) 391 8181, fax +1 (708) 391 8334.
STREET CRED
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