From: wbeeck@dart.de (Wilfried Beeck)
Subject: NeXT on TV
Organization: d'ART Computer GmbH
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 92 22:00:39 GMT

NeXT is on television every day in many countries in europe ...
... but few people know. Although they could even be part of it.

But let me explain:

As part of the DOCUMENTA a multimedia workgroup from Hamburg, Germany has made  
an experimental installation of interactive television, which is broadcasted by  
German Television 3SAT every day.

For the one or two people on the net, who don't know what DOCUMENTA is: It's  
the world's biggest art exhibition which is held every four years in Kassel,  
Germany. Sort of the Olympics of arts. It started in June and continues until  
sometime in September.

One of the big projects at DOCUMENTA is an Electronic Media Art Lab, done by a  
workgroup called Van Gogh TV. These people, who have gathered from all over  
europe, have done an experimental installation of interactive television.

You might wanna ask: What is interactive television?

Van Gogh TV has integrated many different communication methods in a computer  
network of PCs, Macintoshes and NeXTs, which is then broadcasted live together  
on a single screen.
They support 2 modem lines, a fax-modem, 2 phone-lines, a picture-phone, an  
on-site video-camera, etc.
So you can dial into the system with a modem and watch what you are typing live  
on TV. Or fax to them and watch your fax on TV. Or you can just call them and  
talk on TV, exchange messages with other people, who are maybe connected to the  
system via modem or picture-phone. And if you happen to have a touchtone  
telephone, you can play videogames on TV, or music notes by hitting different  
numbers. And so on. It's a weird combination of modern electronic communication  
tools. Last year, when we planned this, we thought it would be the most extreme  
example of Interpersonal Computing. To comply with the newer NeXT marketing  
strategies, we're now also emphasizing on the mission critical part.
If you watch Van Gogh TV, you will find that it really has some aspects of  
complete chaos as well. And this certainly complies with the NeXT marketing  
strategies that we've seen in the past :-)

Van Gogh TV uses a NeXTdimension configuration as part of the system. For  
instance the incoming faxes are received by a DSP-modem from i link and are  
then transferred to the broadcasting system using the NeXTdimension video  
output.

So if you are in Europe, you can watch this on 3SAT, which is available on  
cable TV or Satellite ASTRA in many countries in Europe. It is also broadcasted  
by some local stations in other countries, like even Lituania and Russia. The  
project is called "Piazza Virtuale". On 3SAT it is broadcasted sometimes at  
lunchtime, but mostly at night.

If you don't just wanna watch it, but be part of it, be warned: There are only  
about a dozen lines into the system and at certain times the telephone company  
has measured more than 40.000 calls per hour. So it might take some time until  
you get a connection.
And if you finally get one, you should be careful with what you do: a lot of  
people are watching you!!

Fewer people, but still some tenthousand, are also watching a NeXTdimension  
display every saturday. And this one is really big: It's the large 30 feet  
video display at the football stadium of Karlsruhe.
A special software supports features like animated graphics, a picture database  
of every player, etc.
And during the break you can watch the largest NeXT advertisement you've ever  
seen. In case you don't wanna come to Karlsruhe to see this (although it's a  
really beautifull place), stay tuned: It's only the first installation in a  
row.

You still don't believe that the NeXT multimedia features can be integrated  
with mission critical custom application development?

So here's another one:

Digital Collection, a NeXT VAR, also from Hamburg, has written a special  
information retrieval system, which is used by broadcasting and publishing  
companies to integrate the different types of information resources on every  
desk. Sort of a hyper multimedia Digital Librarian. It connects a network of  
NeXT computers directly to news agencies like Reuter and DPA. And it's capable  
of archiving complete editions of newspapers and magazines in the original  
PostScript layout, so that users can call up any page directly from their  
desktop. In high quality color resolution. And print it out on a Canon CLC  
color laser copier. 

These are a few examples of typical installations, where desktop publishing,  
interpersonal computing, multimedia and custom application development have  
been integrated to do something unique that could have not been done on any  
other plattform. At least not in the given timeframe. And that's because no  
other system has the custom application development part. So maybe the NeXT  
marketing has never been wrong. It just had to go thru all these steps to put  
it all together.

Wilfried Beeck					d'ART Computersysteme GmbH
(040) 38023-0					Virchowstrasse 17-19
(040) 38023-290 fax				2000 Hamburg 50
wbeeck@dart.de					Germany