Videotext

From: Andrew Davie <adavie_at_mad.scientist.com>
Date: Fri Mar 20 14:43:51 1998

> Videotext never really caught on in the US except on cable TV as a
>non-interactive display. I believe there are still a few videotext
services
>piggybacking on satellite channels. They transmit on one of the unused
scan
>lines at the top of the picture, similar to closed captioning for the deaf.


When I talked to the designer of the Mattel videotext system, I was confused
and mentiioned this piggybacking on TV signals in the blank area, and he was
kinda amused that I would confuse videotext with TELEtext. Videotext had
dedicated phone numbers your system would ring up. Teletext was piggybacked
on TV signals. He called videotext a precursor to the internet (and also
stated that he doesn't use the 'net because you have to pay for things you
want, and it's not got much useful on it anyway - I wonder how long since
he's used it?!!)

Cheers
A
Received on Fri Mar 20 1998 - 14:43:51 GMT

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