The most exciting thing to happen to TV since color.
Introducing TCI digital cable.
All the channels you get now plus lots more.
More movie channel.
More new program.
More of the kind of TV you want.
The future is here and it's full of options.
More choices than you ever had before.
So how do viewers manage all this information without being overwhelmed and confused?
It seems like a big question, but the answer is as simple as this small remote.
Preview Interactive, the electronic program guide.
It makes sure you get the most out of your new digital cable television service.
I'll demonstrate Preview Interactive for you using this remote control.
Let's start where the viewer will start with the set top box off.
Now I'll turn it on.
The first thing you see is television.
We don't force you through any complicated menus.
When you turn your box on, you see TV because that's what you expect.
Now as I begin to change channels and I'm just pressing the channel up button here,
we bring up our flip bar.
This little bar down at the bottom of the screen tells the viewer what channel they're
on, the name of the program they're watching, when it started and when it's over.
It disappears after five seconds.
The flip bar comes up every time you change channels.
Even if a commercial is on, it allows viewers to see what program's on that channel.
You can make the flip bar appear or disappear any time you're watching TV by pressing the
OK button.
That's flip.
Now if I press my arrow keys rather than the channel up and down key, I bring the bar
back up.
And now if you'll notice it says browse.
Browse mode allows me to see what's on other channels and what's on later without leaving
what I'm currently watching.
I can continue to watch heart to heart here, but if I press the up arrow, I can see what's
on other channels.
If I see something I like better, I press the OK button and I tune to it.
Now the other thing I can do in browse is go ahead in time and see what's on later in
the day, again without leaving what I'm currently watching.
To do this, I simply press the right arrow and now I'm going ahead a half hour at a time
and seeing what's on later in the day.
If I see something I like, like Thundercats, I don't want to miss that, I press the OK
button.
This time I can't tune to it because the program doesn't come on until two o'clock this afternoon.
But what I can do is set a reminder for this program so I'm sure not to miss it.
I move the highlight by pressing left and right.
I highlight yes, I press OK.
Now this check mark indicates that I have a reminder set for Thundercats.
And a few minutes before this program starts, no matter what I'm watching, a reminder will
come up on the screen.
To get out of browse or to get out of any of our menus, you simply press the exit button
and you're back to watching TV.
Now if I press the menu button, this takes us into the navigator.
This is our main menu.
The screen is divided into three basic sections.
Let's start over here with the left hand column.
The preview interactive listing screens offer six different ways to find out what's on TV,
starting with by time.
I press the OK button and now I see a menu with all the programs for the current half
hour time slot.
These menus work by highlighting a program and pressing OK.
Let me pick a program, General Hospital.
I highlight it, press OK, and I'm tuned to General Hospital.
To get back to the listings by time menu, I simply press the guide button.
The other thing I can do in the by time menu is press the right arrow and go ahead in time
to see what's on all my channels later in the day.
I can come down, highlight a program, say Joy of Painting, that starts at two o'clock.
So I press OK and I'm invited to set a reminder.
I'll just say no.
All of the preview listing screens work the same way.
I highlight a program, I press OK, and one of three things is going to happen.
I'll either tune to the program if it's on.
I'll be asked to set a reminder for it if it's not on or I'll be invited to purchase
it if it's a purchasable program.
Going back to the navigator, I come down to by channel.
Now I've got all the times down the left hand column, the current channel at the top, and
I can see what's on various channels throughout the rest of the day.
I have the same options I had in the by time menu and in all of the preview interactive
menus the programs are color coded.
Red for movies, green for sports, and blue for all other programs.
I highlight a program and I can tune to it, set a reminder for it, or purchase it.
Next, I've got the three most popular genre categories of movies, sports, and children.
Let's take a look at each of these very quickly.
Notice the little eye icon on the right hand side of the listings.
This means I have additional information available for this program.
So I come down here and highlight something to talk about and I press the info button.
I get a quick description of something to talk about, including plot line, actors, and
the current rating.
I press info again to get rid of that and it returns me to my movie listings.
We also have sports programs.
Here again, I've got information available for these programs.
Then children's programs.
When the kids get home from school, they've got their own menu to see what's on.
Pushing out this column is the program search feature.
Let's say I want to watch the Flintstones.
I have no idea what time or what channel they're on.
I would press the down arrow here to adjust to the letter F.
Then I press the right arrow and my database is quickly updated to the Fs.
So I'll enter the next letter, L, then the letter I.
Well, there they are.
As soon as I see them, I press OK.
I go down into the menu and I've got the same three choices I have in any of my other menus.
Now coming over to the center column, I've got two different looks at pay-per-view programs.
One organized by start time, one organized by title.
Let's go into pay-per-view by title.
I'll come down and pick a program.
Let's say I want to buy balance of power.
So I highlight balance of power.
I press OK.
My next step is to select the start time.
I highlight confirm and that's it.
I've just purchased a pay-per-view movie without picking up the phone.
And don't worry, preview automatically sets reminders for pay-per-view orders.
Now, if you don't watch this program, the first thing you'll see the next time you turn
on your TV set is a program missed notice.
It says you are not charged for this program and you are asked if you would like to reschedule
a viewing.
Going back to the Navigator, special events is a list of pay-per-view programs such as
boxing and concerts.
Next is premium.
If you subscribe to premium services, you can tune to those channels through this menu
option.
Going back to the Navigator, this is our digital music menu.
It has a list of all the available music formats.
To listen to a digital music channel, I simply highlight it.
I select 80s oldies and I press OK.
After five seconds, the screen goes black.
So viewers have the illusion their TV set is off while listening to music.
OK, enough of the 80s oldies.
Let's go back to the Navigator.
Finally, we'll finish up with the viewer services.
Let's start with the message center.
This is where you get messages.
To read a message, I simply highlight it and press OK.
Then I have the choice to keep or delete this message.
I'll go ahead and keep it.
Let's look at favorites.
I highlight favorites and press OK.
The favorites feature allows viewers to set up a list of their favorite channels.
The way to set up favorites is to highlight the channel, then I press the fave button.
The channel turns blue, which indicates it's now a favorite channel.
Do this to as many channels as you like.
Then while watching TV, simply press the fave button to access just your favorites.
To see all of your channels again, press the fave button and you see the entire lineup.
It's just a toggle back and forth between your favorites and everything.
This is parental control.
I highlight and press OK.
Of course, I have to know the secret four-digit code to get into the parental control feature.
Here's where parents can restrict the viewing of programming.
You've got three different ways to do that.
I can set a lock feature for an entire channel.
I highlight it and press OK.
The padlock appears indicating that all programming on MTV is locked out.
I can also set locks on ratings.
I'll put a lock on everything rated R. Or I can get specific and lock out a title.
In this case, I've locked out the title Beavis and Butt-Head.
So no matter what time or what channel this program comes on, it'll be locked out.
To show you what a lock looks like, I'll tune to MTV where I've locked out a channel.
See, we bring up a restricted screen.
As soon as I enter the code, it's freed up.
Now, if I flip off a lock channel and then come back, it's still locked.
Finally, Preview Interactive has a number of setup features.
The flip and browse bars that I showed you earlier can be put at the top of the screen
instead of the bottom.
I can turn the flip bar off if I don't want it appearing every time I change channels.
The message envelope at the top of the screen I can turn off completely.
And I can adjust when I want the reminder notice to appear in one minute intervals up
to 15 minutes.
For rental controls, this is where I set my viewing lockout codes and purchase codes.
The purchase code keeps the little ones from buying things without talking to me about
it first.
As you can see, I also have a number of setup choices for my set top box.
My audio output and my video screen.
Well, now you've seen the main features of Preview Interactive, the electronic program
guide for digital television.
We've made it easier than ever for you to access the valuable programming choices TCI
brings you each month.
For more detailed information, be sure to refer to the Preview Interactive Reference
Guide in your resource kit.
And if you can't find the answer, please don't hesitate to call TCI at the number listed
on the system information card in your resource kit.
Preview Interactive, the future is here with TCI Digital Cable.
Thanks.
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