ISP To Launch Set-Top Service With iDVD Device

By Steven Bonisteel, Newsbytes

4-Apr-00

A Texas company is set to launch next week a set-top device it is convinced will help connect to the Internet a large share of the many un-wired North American households. The NEO iDVD, backed by Internet service provider (ISP) eisa.com, combines a popular piece of home-entertainment electronics - a DVD-Video player - with all the technology required to connect to the Internet and surf the Web using TV as a monitor. eisa.com's Campbell Angus, President and Chief Executive Officer, told Newsbytes he thinks his company has a business model that will gain a healthy share of consumers who haven't already logged on to the Internet as PC owners. For starters, he said, the proposed $99 retail price of the NEO iDVD is an attractive price just for the DVD-Video player component. In addition, the company claims getting online with the device couldn't be easier. A recent report from market-research firm Cahners In-Stat Group predicted that 60 percent of US households will be connected to the Internet by the end of this year. However, it also found that the remaining 40 percent mark a digital divide and are in no rush to buy PCs and connect them to the Internet. To close the divide, Angus said, ""a number of things have to take place. One is that the Web has to be easier to use, and that will happen through the Web appliances... allowing people to get on to the Internet without using a PC to do so.""Angus said the NEO iDVD plugs into a television set just like any VCR or DVD-Video player, while the device's internal modem plugs into a standard telephone jack. When the NEO iDVD is turned on, it automatically dials a toll-free number and configures itself for local dial-up access through eisa.com's network in both the US and Canada. The device also comes with a full-sized keyboard. The ongoing costs of the eisa.com dial-up access is $23.95 a month, and Angus said NEO iDVD owners are required to sign up for two years of service when they purchase their devices. Angus said the iDVD, developed by National Semiconductor's Mediamatics subsidiary, offers ""all the features you would find on a high-end DVD payer, but with Web functionality built into it."" The device's internal browser was developed by Planetweb, the company behind the browser software in the new Sega Dreamcast consoles. The eisa.com implementation of the iDVD carries the NEO brand name and is configured to automatically connect to it own dial-up network, which currently has more than 700 points of presence across North America. eisa has been on a buying spree, accumulating the assets - and staff - of other ISPs, most recently acquiring San Francisco, California-based Surfree.com. eisa.com also offers high-speed digital subscriber line (DSL) services in some cities, but Angus said the NEO iDVD device is not yet capable of DSL connectivity.