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Technology Stocks : WavePhore (WAVO)- VBI fed WaveTop for WebTV -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Paul K who wrote (845)1/23/1998 8:41:00 AM
From: AJ Berger  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 2843
 
They don't seem responsive to Shareholders Questions

right now... I sent this Tuesday, and have yet to here a peep
out of either their Relations or Technical Departments. Oh well...

This is a written follow-up to a voice mail left this morning.

ACCORDING TO YOUR WEB SITE:

To get the WaveTop data broadcast service
you'll need three things:

1. PBS (via antenna, cable, C-band, or KU
satellite)
2. A broadcast-ready PC (a PC equipped with
a WaveTop-compatible TV
tuner card)
3. The WaveTop software

The first you probably already have (99% of
the US receives PBS). To find out
more about broadcast-ready PCs and the WaveTop
software, read on.

Hi! my name is A.J. Berger, and as a member of an amature investment
club I have a very basic question about your service that is slated to
be featured prominently in MicroSoft Windows'98. Many consumers buying
computers this past year have TV-input ports integrated on their Video
Cards. Will this input be enough to receive the WaveTop broadcast from
PBS?
Will your software's reception interfere with the Video Card based tuner
software for those who use it to watch TV or do video capture on their
monitors? Must they get a SEPERATE TV-input card for another $100 or
so from your OEM's?
If they must get a seperate card, are any video card manufacturers
working to make their TV-inputs compatible with WaveTop?
If you must as of now get a seperate card, will there be/and who will
spearhead, promotional marketing and bundling in order to get consumers
to add this upgrade to their machines?
I'm not asking these questions for technical support, but rather to see
how quickly your broadcast will penetrate the market in lue of existing
and future hardware that is WaveTop-compatible TV-input, and other
promotional considerations. Please take the time to answer some of
these issues as it will benefit hundreds of current and potential small
investors who frequent Silicon Investor and the Motley Fool.



To: Paul K who wrote (845)1/27/1998 7:23:00 PM
From: AJ Berger  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 2843
 
I finally got a call back from WAVO about

(1) PBS Station Broadcast penetration: all PBS stations are currently running test content on their systems for the Beta Tester who's quantity they were unable to divulge. There are no expected "blackout" areas, and all PBS stations will be ready by launch.
(2) WaveFront will be out of Beta and available for Windows'95 before April 1st 1998. They will NOT wait for Windows'98 to provide this product/service to the public.
(3) Closer to 95% (85% of the press release was conservative) of all Video Cards with TV-inputs will work with WaveFront as they are mostly based on the same 2 or 3 different TV-signal chips out there. Some may require users to get the latest drivers that are available.
(4) The person I spoke with was polite and professional, and did not try to hype or embellish in any way. He genuinely sounded suprised by some of these questions, conveying to me the impression that all these seemingly basic issues are well on their way to being dealt with.

I was a bit disturbed by his unwillingness to volunteer the Beta Test numbers, or even entertain the idea of me being a beta tester. I suppose they simply don't want the press to get a hold of their progress. This might be because of all the other companies content they are responsible for, and may not be in a position to expose any of it till the actual release date. That's just my opinion. I think we have a winner here, but the current downdraft is certainly giving my a chill. My only consolation is the continued lack of significant volume. I just hope things pick up before I get a margin call...