On Tuesday, January 2, 2001, at 12:13 PM, Wandered Inn wrote: > Peter Lohmann wrote: > > > > > > Eric Jorgensen wrote: > > > > > > > > > The data seemed to update a couple times a second, but didn't seem > > > > > to be entirely regular. Visually, it resembles a barcode. > > > > > > > > > > So, I snapped a picture. Anybody know what this is? > > > > > > > > Good thing you mentioned Arthur, since it made it easier to track down > > the > > > > likely culprit: > > > > > > > > http://www.pbs.org/digitaltv/dataNS.html > > > > > > > > I don't even want to know what they do with the Barney version. > > > > > > Figures Microsoft would encode data in the viewable area. (Even if > > > most folks will never view it) > > > > FWIW, this is the WebTV for Windows data -- program guide, etc. With > > Win98 you can optionally install this if you have a compatible decoder > > card (ATI All-in-Wonder, WinTV). > > Following the link noted above, it indicates that it is used to interact > with M$ interactive toys (Barney, Arthur..) Doesn't say anything about > webtv. Better late than never, so here goes... :-) I work at WGBH Interactive, which produced and supported the server-side programming for the Barney and Arthur Actimates. I didn't personally program it, but the guy who did is two doors down the hall. I can tell you with reasonable authority that yes, the same encoding method is used to send that data as is used to send "enhanced" data to WebTV Plus. The catch is, even though the low-level protocol used to encode the data for transmission within a broadcast signal is the same, the data format and application-level protocols are incompatible. It's sort of like how HTTP, SMTP, FTP, et al are different, even though at a lower level they all share the same transport mechanism - TCP/IP. We use the same method, btw, to encode the web "markers" that you see on Nova. If you have a WebTV Plus, those are live links. sherm--
