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˙pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ƃuoɹʍ ƃuıɥʇǝɯos sı ǝɹǝɥʇ ʞuıɥʇ ı ?ɹǝʇndɯoɔ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ǝɯ dlǝɥ ǝuoǝɯos uɐɔ
The unexplained TVGOS outage this week led me to find more information on its predecessor. I actually owned one of the devices but had forgotten its name. I found the information, though.
It was called the VideoGuide and the manufacturer was also called VideoGuide. The device was released in 1995 and was sold at Radio Shack. In fact, Radio Shack still has the product manuals online. The device received its guide data over-the-air via regional pager networks. You got 30 days of free service with the device, after that you paid a monthly subscription fee.
The box did not have a tuner. Rather, it used your existing tuner and had its own bypass switch. When you wanted to view the guide data, it would automatically bypass your cable or antenna feed and would change your TV to channel 3 where it would display the guide screen. You could then browse the guide and select a show and it would turn off the bypass and change the channel on your TV to the channel you selected. It was a pretty clever idea at the time.
In December, 1996, Gemstar bought VideoGuide. 9 months later, they shuttered the VideoGuide service without explanation. They offered a refund to people who shipped their now-useless VideoGuide boxes back to the company. They continued developing the technology but decided to license it to other manufacturers for use in TVs and VCRs. This was called "Guide+".
4 years later, Gemstar bought TV Guide and continued developing the Guide+ product, now under its new name, TV Guide On Screen. In fact, if you try to visit the original website for VideoGuide you get redirected to the TV Guide On Screen website.
Here, you can see the evolution of the interface from 1995's VideoGuide to 2007's TVGOS:
It was called the VideoGuide and the manufacturer was also called VideoGuide. The device was released in 1995 and was sold at Radio Shack. In fact, Radio Shack still has the product manuals online. The device received its guide data over-the-air via regional pager networks. You got 30 days of free service with the device, after that you paid a monthly subscription fee.
The box did not have a tuner. Rather, it used your existing tuner and had its own bypass switch. When you wanted to view the guide data, it would automatically bypass your cable or antenna feed and would change your TV to channel 3 where it would display the guide screen. You could then browse the guide and select a show and it would turn off the bypass and change the channel on your TV to the channel you selected. It was a pretty clever idea at the time.
In December, 1996, Gemstar bought VideoGuide. 9 months later, they shuttered the VideoGuide service without explanation. They offered a refund to people who shipped their now-useless VideoGuide boxes back to the company. They continued developing the technology but decided to license it to other manufacturers for use in TVs and VCRs. This was called "Guide+".
4 years later, Gemstar bought TV Guide and continued developing the Guide+ product, now under its new name, TV Guide On Screen. In fact, if you try to visit the original website for VideoGuide you get redirected to the TV Guide On Screen website.
Here, you can see the evolution of the interface from 1995's VideoGuide to 2007's TVGOS:
˙pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ƃuoɹʍ ƃuıɥʇǝɯos sı ǝɹǝɥʇ ʞuıɥʇ ı ?ɹǝʇndɯoɔ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ǝɯ dlǝɥ ǝuoǝɯos uɐɔ
It really did. They put a lot of effort into the GUI and managed to squeeze every bit they could out of the 512k of RAM the device had.
The remote control was a very simple device, too. Steve would have been proud of it.
Here is a low-res image of the device and the remote:
The remote control was a very simple device, too. Steve would have been proud of it.
Here is a low-res image of the device and the remote:
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