ULTIMATE TV:
Aptly Named

 James G. DeRuvo, Hardware Editor

     Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines "ultimate" as superlative, the best or most extreme of its kind. Maximum.

     Simply put, UltimateTV®, from Microsoft, is digitally recorded television.  The UltimateTV® service digitally records satellite television so that you can watch what you want when you want.

     Digital recording means no more video tape. You can store up to 35 hours of your favorite shows (70 hours on other models) and watch them when you want (actual recording capacity depends on type of programming being recorded).  Ultimate TV does this without the use of programming VCRs or worry about if video tape gets jammed .  The Digital Video Recorder uses an internal hard drive to automatically store whatever TV show is desired in digital quality with hi-fidelity digital sound.

     You can even watch or record two shows at once, which, let's face it, is Nirvana during football season! 

     It's one touch recording and programming is frightfully easy to use - just the opposite of programming your VCR.  And if you want to keep something you've watched forever, you can always record the signal to videotape.

     Another cool feature of UltimateTV is that it automatically stores what you're watching, allowing you to control live TV shows just like you were watching a tape or DVD.  That means you can PAUSE LIVE TV!  So imagine it: Ninth inning, 3 balls, 2 strikes and NATURE CALLS!  Simply press pause and UltimateTV pauses live TV by backing up to the hard drive.  Then, upon your return, simply press the play button and UltimateTV will play what you've missed in "real time" until it catches up to the live signal. 

     There's also a handy "skipping ahead" feature which jumps 30 seconds ahead (about 10 seconds backwards) that useful for skipping those pesky commercials.  So, in theory, you would have a football game playing . hit pause for an hour while you go do something else, then plow through the game, skipping commercials and in between plays.  Some think with this process you can watch a 3 hour game in about an hour and a half. 

     Available exclusively on DIRECTVT Receivers, UltimateTV service gives you control of more than 225 channels of DIRECTV® satellite programming. 

     It even comes with WebTV Internet access (3 hours worth - unlimited for extra cost).

    And at $9.95 a month ULTIMATE TV, Microsoft's new subscription satellite TV service is indeed aptly named. 
     

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Revised: October 15, 2002 02:42 PM Pacific Time.