WebTV Wiki - User contributions [en]

WTVP/Headers/List

2026-02-17T02:24:48Z

JarHead: add some things we know more about now

{{WTVPNav}}

List of known recorded WTVP headers. Most have been copied from http://web.archive.org/web/20041026232010/http://ubergeek03.mine.nu/WebTV/WebTVPHeaders.html, but we've contributed some previously unknown headers we've been able to observe, along with adding descriptions and command header classifications for all headers.

Got any information you'd like to contribute to this? [[Wanted|Send it over to us]] and it might be added onto here.

{| class="wikitable"
! Header Name !! Description !! Type !! [[WTVP#Command_Headers|Command Header?]] !! Server? !! Client?
|-
| Accept-Language || Standard HTTP header || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| Cookie || Standard HTTP header || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| Connection || Standard HTTP header. WTVP was designed with persistent connections in mind, but official WNI servers have been seen sending a <code>Keep-Alive</code> Connection header in responses nonetheless || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| Content-length || Standard HTTP header || integer || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| Content-type || Standard HTTP header || string || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| Date || Standard HTTP header. Probably only present when connecting through Microsoft TV services || timestamp || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| Expires || Standard HTTP header || timestamp || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| Set-Cookie || Standard HTTP header || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| User-Agent || Standard HTTP header || string || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| Approx-Content-Length || Sent in some responses from the WebTV/MSN TV web proxies. Contains the length of the original data for the queried resource before being sent as multipart data || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| mstv-checkurl-mode || Value currently observed as "1". Only seen when connecting through Microsoft TV services. Function unknown || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| mstv-client-caps || Only seen when connecting through Microsoft TV services. Function unknown || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| mstv-listing-id || Value currently observed as "C1020". Only seen when connecting through Microsoft TV services. Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| smartcard-data || When connecting to the WebTV/MSN TV service with a compatible smart card inserted, a box will send this header in WTVP requests with the raw smart card data. || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| passport-domain || Domain name of the Passport account (now Microsoft account) linked to the current WebTV/MSN TV subscriber/user account || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| user-id || Appears to be a long string of numbers || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-addresses-url || Contains a service URL for listing all the user's stored addresses. Addresses are sent with the name, followed by a null byte, then the address with another null byte at the end. This is used for the Address panel. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-mail:/addresslist</code>. || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ahuf || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-allow-dsc || Value currently observed as "true". Function unknown || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-backgroundmusic-add || Specifies sound files as selected by the subscriber/user to add to the background music queue || URL || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-backgroundmusic-clear || Apparently clears backlog of predefined background music to play. Value currently observed as "no_zits" || string || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-backgroundmusic-load-playlist || Sets a service URL for the client to query to get the list of background music for the user currently logged in. This header is known to be sent in the response for the [[WTVP/Processes/Retrieving settings|settings service]]. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-setup:/load-playlist</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-backgroundmusic-remove || Probably similar to wtv-backgroundmusic-add but for removing queued background music || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-boot-message-led-state || Sets the state of the message light. Value currently observed as "blinkSlow". Need more documentation on this || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-boot-url || Specifies the URL that the client should contact upon initial connection to [[WTVP/Processes/Headwaiter|Headwaiter]]. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-head-waiter:/login?</code>. || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-bypass-proxy || ??? || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-capability-flags || A hexadecimal string that [[Capability Flags|identifies the capabilities of a WebTV/MSN TV client]], and affects how the service functions on it. Need more documentation on this || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-ccs || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-challenge || A structured BLOB value that's sent by the server during the headwaiter login stage. Starts the [[WTVP/Processes/Headwaiter#Challenge/Response|challenge/response process]]. When decrypted, it contains random "challenge data" that has to be sent back in the challenge response, along with two sessions keys needed to facilitate <code>SECURE</code> communication, among other data. || BLOB || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-challenge-response || Used during the headwaiter [[WTVP/Processes/Headwaiter#Challenge/Response|challenge/response process]] to respond to the challenge with another structured BLOB value that is verified by the server. Sends back the "challenge data" from the wtv-challenge encrypted with the initial key. || BLOB || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-check-url || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-clickthru-redirect || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-client-address || Contains the IP address of the client. || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-client-bootrom-version || An integer that identifies... the boot ROM version? || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-client-date || Human-readable timestamp in GMT, used to set the clock on the client. || timestamp || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-client-rom-type || Identifies the ROM type a WebTV/MSN TV box is running || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-client-serial-number || [[Silicon Serial ID|SSID]] of the WebTV/MSN TV box - identifies who is sending a WTVP request || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-client-time-zone || Time zone that corresponds to the user's current location, in both name and offset (e.g., "PDT -0700"). It is speculated that this value is determined on the service side by using the user's ANI number when a box dials into the toll-free access number || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-connection-timeout || Value currently observed as "90". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-connect-session-id || Some hexadecimal value we can't figure out the purpose of. Function unknown || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-country || Two-letter country code. Most of the time it's just set to "US" though. Need more documentation on this || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-datadownload-checktimeoffset || Probably used to set the time that the box should power on and connect to DataDownload, in seconds. || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-datadownload-login-url || Contains the URL the box accesses when connecting for DataDownload. Value currently observed as wtv-head-waiter:/login?DataDownload=1. Also used to unlock TV Home on WebTV Plus boxes and change the offline home page on WebTV Dreamcast. || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-datadownload-url || Contains the URL that the box connects to when powering up for DataDownload. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-disk:/download-list</code>. || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-demo-mode || Tells the client whether it should automatically boot into the kiosk demo, if it has one. <code>0</code> is off, <code>1</code> is on. || integer || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-doug || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-echostar-ca || Unknown function. Value observed as "0x0" || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-echostar-receiver || Unknown function. Value observed as "R0022040763-84" || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-echostar-rom || Unknown function. Value observed as "121PBWDA-F-100BBWDA" || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-echostar-smartcard || Unknown function. Value observed as "S0004596155-62-DNASP003 Rev381" || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-edit-addresses-url || Specifies the URL used for the "Edit Addresses" button in the Address panel. || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-element-logging || Sent in the post-login headwaiter response (for BPS/New Classic boxes at least). Unknown function. Value observed as <code>60 1</code> || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-enable-jellyscript || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-encrypted || Sent by the server most likely to tell the WebTV/MSN TV box if a response is encrypted || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-encryption || Tells the server if the WebTV/MSN TV box can understand encrypted communication (<code>SECURE</code> method?). Resulting behavior unknown || boolean || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-execute-tellyscript-now || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-expire || Expires the specified page in the box's page cache. || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-expire-all || Similar to wtv-expire, but expires all assets for a page as well. Is also used to expire entire page types in some cases (e.g: wtv-expire-all: wtv-) || URL || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-explanation-url || Only observed in error responses. Contains a service URL that so far is only known to point to the <code>wtv-guide</code> service. Most likely used to give the subscriber/user a page describing the error they encountered || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-explore-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-explore2:/top</code>. Function unknown || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-fader-timeout || Value currently observed as "900". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-favorite-index-url || Contains a service URL related to the <code>wtv-favorite</code> service. Used for the F keys on the keyboard. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-favorite:/favorite-index?</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-favorites-folders-url || Contains a service URL related to the <code>wtv-favorite</code> service. Used for the list of favorites on the save panel. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-favorite:/list-folders</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-favorite-url || Contains a service URL related to the <code>wtv-favorite</code> service. This is used to define the Favorites page that should be used for the "Favs" button on the keyboard. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-favorite:/favorite</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-field-name || Appears to contain the name of another WTVP header or variable sent in a <code>POST</code> request. Possibly used for detailing protocol errors. Need more documentation on this || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-filter || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-force-heavyweight-targets || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-force-lightweight-targets || Value currently observed as <code>webtv.net:/</code>. Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-goto-url || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-home-url || Contains the service URL designated to be the service home page. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-home:/home</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-https-proxy || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-human-name || First and last name specified on a subscriber/user account || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-inactive-timeout || Value currently observed as "0". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-incarnation || A counter sent and incremented on each first connection to a frontend server. This is needed to create the encryption key for <code>SECURE</code> communication. || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-initial-key || A small opaque, 8-byte BLOB sent during pre-registration. Facilitates [[WTVP/Processes/Headwaiter#Challenge/Response|challenge/response]] on the headwaiter. || BLOB || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-input-timeout || Values currently observed are "86400" and "14400". Function unknown || integer || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-irc-nick || IRC nickname defined on subscriber/user account for usage with WebTV/MSN TV IRC services || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-language-header || Value currently observed as "en-US,en". Function unknown || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-link-transition-enabled || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-location || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-lockpage-override || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-login-timeout || Value currently observed as "7200". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logo-duration || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logo-input-interval || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logo-interval || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logon || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logout-url || Contains a service URL designated for logout probably. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-logon:/logout</code>. Only seen when connecting through Microsoft TV services || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-log-url || Contains a service URL designated for usage logging services || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-lzpf || Observed in headers of encrypted/compressed responses. Usually has a value of 0. If present, the client uses the Huffman-based "LZPF" algorithm to decompress response data. || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-mail-count || Stores how many unread messages the user has. This also controls the message light. || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-mail-url || Contains a service URL designated for mail service. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-mail:/listmail</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messagewatch-checktimeoffset || Offset in seconds since midnight for [[WTVP/Processes/MessageWatch|MessageWatch]] activation. || integer || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messagewatch-url || Contains a service URL for the client to log in to on MessageWatch connections. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-head-waiter:/login?MessageWatch=1</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-authorized || Tells the box if the subscriber/user is authorized to use the Messenger feature. 1 - authorized; 0 - not authorized || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-connect-timeout || Value currently observed as "240". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-enable || Tells the box if the subscriber/user has the Messenger feature enabled. 1 - enabled; 0 - disabled || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-login-url || Defines what service URL should be accessed for [[Services/Technical/Messenger#WTVP|Messenger login]]. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-passport:/messengerlogin</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-open-conversation-timeout || Value currently observed as "240". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-passportd-timeout || Value currently observed as "240". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-retry-timeout || Value currently observed as "20". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-server || Defines what hostname the client should use for accessing the [[Services/Technical/Messenger|Messenger service]]. The servers this would point to were a part of the MSN/Windows Live Messenger service, a completely different service that happened to be owned by Microsoft, and is completely separate from WebTV/MSN TV || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-metering-pricing || Enables or disables [[Metering protocol|metering services]] for a supported WebTV/MSN TV build || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-metering-pricing-interval || Sets the time interval in seconds that WebTV/MSN TV should wait in between contacting the Metering server || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-metering-pricing-sessionID || A 30-byte session ID WebTV/MSN TV should use when contacting the Metering server || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-metering-pricing-track-as-free || Related to metering. Function unknown || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-moviesearch-url || Contains a service URL designated for "moviesearch" - probably some ancillary and completely useless feature. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-content:/redirect?req-id=find-movie</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-msnchat-nick || The nickname used for accessing [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSN_Chat MSN Chat] services within WebTV/MSN TV. It appears to be similar to the value of the <code>wtv-irc-nick</code> header but with a ">" tacked onto the beginning of it (e.g., ">wtv-nick") || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-name-server || Defines an IP to use for DNS lookup. Probably not a command header, but multiple instances of this header can exist to define multiple DNS servers || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-next-reconnect-url || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-noads-targets || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-noback || Tells the box to disallow going back to a certain page when the user presses the "Back" button || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-noback-all || Similar to wtv-noback, but can be used to disallow all of one page type (e.g: <code>wtv-noback-all: wtv-</code>). || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-notifications-url || The URL that a box should contact when it receives a UDP notification from [[Mail Notify]]. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-notices:/notices</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-nvstorage-dump || URL to a WTVP service that saves a box's NVRAM (flash memory) data. When this header is present in a WTVP server response, the box will immediately POST to the service URL set in the header with a portion of data from NVRAM, which includes [[TellyScript]] data stored by the box. This header will only work on builds for Old Classic (bf0app) boxes. Original URL was likely <code>wtv-1800:/post-nvstorage-dump</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| [[WTVP/Headers/wtv-offline-user-list|wtv-offline-user-list]] || Base64-encoded string. When decoded, it reveals an XML string containing a list of users a WebTV/MSN TV subscriber currently has, including their user ID, username, first/last name, password, and if they have access to mail services. Need more documentation on this || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-open-access || Sent in the request to preregister if the user is using OpenISP. || boolean || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-open-isp-disabled || Tells the client whether OpenISP service is available. If false, the BYOISP setup page in dialing options is replaced with a page informing the user that it will be available "soon". || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-phone-log-url || Contains a service URL. Values currently observed are <code>wtv-log:/phone-log</code> on successful login, and a URL along the lines of <code>wtv-1800:/post-phone-log?t-baggage-parms=ani-950000000000,ethernet-ani-4156145500,subscriber-id-14331444</code>. It's been observed when the header is present in a response, on a WebTV Viewer at least, it will immediately query said service. Most likely used for usage logging || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-preregistration-number || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-printer-model || Value currently observed as "-1,-1". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-printer-pen || Value currently observed as "0,0,1,0". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-printer-setup || Tells the client which settings should be used for printing. Values correspond to "Print text in black & white", "Print date & web info", "Print background images", and "Black cartridge installed" respectively. It's worth noting that the black cartridge option is only made available to bf0 users. Value observed as "0,0,1,0". <code>0</code> is false, <code>1</code> is true. || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-print-log-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-log:/log</code>. Most likely used for usage logging || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-reconnect-url || Specifies the URL the box should access when reconnecting with the Reconnect panel. || URL || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-reload || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-reload-all || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-relogin-url || ??? || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-rename-url || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-request-rom-upgrade || ??? || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-request-type || Indicates whether the client is requesting the resource normally, or preloading it in advance. Known values observed are "primary" and "prefetch". || string || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-script-id || Carries the "hash1" value from an installed [[TellyScript]] on the WebTV/MSN TV client, or defaults to 0 if one isn't present || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-script-mod || Carries the creation time (UNIX epoch) from an installed [[TellyScript]] on the WebTV/MSN TV client, or defaults to 0 if one isn't present || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-search-url || Contains a service URL most likely designated for the search page. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-center:/search-page</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-send-thumbnail-from || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-send-thumbnail-size || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-send-thumbnail-to || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| [[WTVP/Headers/wtv-service|wtv-service]] || Defines the services supported by the WebTV/MSN TV service, the IP addresses and corresponding ports they resided on, property flags, and the maximum connections that can be made from a service || string || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-service-cookie || Sent by server on successful login. Also possibly sent by the client. Need more documentation on this || BLOB || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-service-data || Appears to be an XML string with information on the user currently logged in. Only observed when logging on through Microsoft TV services || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-service-message || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-service-timeout || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-settings-url || Contains a service URL to the settings service, which sends the client the server-side settings for the currently logged-in user. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-setup:/get-settings</code>. Need more documentation on this || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-show-time || Values observed are "0" and "3". Function unknown. Contrary to eMac's write-up, this header doesn't seem to appear in server responses, and so far has only been observed in service requests. || ??? || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-show-time-enabled || Value currently observed as "true". Function unknown. || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-show-time-record || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-smartcard-inserted-message || Related to the (rarely utilized) WebTV/MSN TV smartcard feature. Value currently observed as "Contacting service". Need more documentation on this || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-smartcard-inserted-url || Determines what URL the client should POST the contents of the Smart Card to when one is inserted. If this header isn't specified, most clients will assume <code>wtv-smartcard:/insert</code> except for bf0 clients, which will simply ignore any inserted smart cards. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-smartcard:/insert</code>. || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-smartcard-removed-url || Related to the (rarely utilized) WebTV/MSN TV smartcard feature. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-smartcard:/remove</code>. Need more documentation on this || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spotad-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-spot:/get-ad</code>. Function unknown || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-clickthru-url || Contains a service URL. Values observed are <code>wtv-spot:/ad-clickthrough?ad-click-ref=%s</code> and <code>wtv-spot:/clkURL/%s</code>. Function unknown || URL || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-directive || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-doze || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-duty-cycle || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-impression-time || ??? || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-minimum-time || ??? || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-purge-queue || Probably does something with the WebTV/MSN TV box cache. Need more documentation on this || integer || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-queue-add || Value currently observed as <code>queue=1&adID=0000001102cbda8500000000&creative=[xxxxx]</code>. Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-spot:/spot</code>. Function unknown || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ssl-certs-checksum || Contains a checksum possibly related to the certificate download defined by the <code>wtv-ssl-certs-download-url</code> header. Judging from the checksum length it's probably meant to be MD5. Need more documentation on this || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ssl-certs-download-url || Contains a service URL. Possibly used to allow the client to download new SSL root certificates. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-head-waiter:/download-ssl-certs</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ssl-log-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-log:/log</code>. Most likely used for usage logging || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ssl-timeout || Value currently observed as "240". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-start-at-tourist-page || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-system-chipversion || ??? || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-system-cpuspeed || Probably has to do with CPU speed but if that's the case, it's not known how it's measured || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-system-sysconfig || ??? || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-system-version || ??? || integer || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-tcp-log-url || Possibly related to the other "log-url" headers, but no known documentation of this header in particular is out in the wild || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ticket || An opaque blob value sent in WebTV/MSN TV service requests to verify sessions after login. Also known to be sent to a box during headwaiter login || BLOB || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-title || Used to specify the title in files that don't normally have them. Can be used in the headers of a service response or as a query for a file (e.g: <code>http://somesite.com/midi.mid?wtv-title=sometitle)</code> || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tmp-filesystem || Used to specify a location for a new ROMFS container to be downloaded by the client. This will be provided by the server when the client knows its ROMFS is damaged. || URL || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tourist-active || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tourist-enabled || ??? || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-transition || Only observed in packet captures when browsing between service pages. Currently observed values are "light" and "none". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-transition-override || Values currently observed are "normal" and "off". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-transition-page || Value currently observed as <code>wtv-home:/shared/transition/en-US/pageWithAd.html</code>. Function unknown || URL || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-transition-page-noad || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-trusted || Used to set trust on pages. For some reason, this header will distrust any page it gets sent with, regardless of if it's set to true or false. || boolean || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tvconnection-timeout || Value currently observed as "600". Function unknown || integer || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tv-vbidisable || VBI = Vertical Blanking Interval? Function unknown || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tv-zipcode || Sets the default ZIP code for TV listings. The value of this header will be used to autofill the ZIP code field in TV listings setup. || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-user-id || Probably similar to the <code>user-id</code> header. Need more documentation on this || ??? || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-user-inactive-warning-time || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-user-name || Username associated with WebTV/MSN TV account || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-user-requested-upgrade || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-videoad-path || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-videoad-playid || Value currently observed as a hexadecimal string. Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-videoad-playname || Value currently observed as a file name ending in ".mpg". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-visit || WTVP's own version of the HTTP <code>Location</code> header used mainly to route the WebTV/MSN TV box to other service URLs on non-3xx responses || URL || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-zipcode || ZIP code of WebTV/MSN TV account || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|}

The hotel N64 guys

2025-03-15T05:57:21Z

JarHead: funy

lodgenet (the hotel N64 guys) also did internet tv and called it lodgenet online i think

WTVP/Headers/List

2023-01-24T01:13:15Z

JarHead:

{{WTVPNav}}

List of known recorded WTVP headers. Most have been copied from http://web.archive.org/web/20041026232010/http://ubergeek03.mine.nu/WebTV/WebTVPHeaders.html, but we've contributed some previously unknown headers we've been able to observe, along with adding descriptions and command header classifications for all headers.

Got any information you'd like to contribute to this? [[Wanted|Send it over to us]] and it might be added onto here.

{| class="wikitable"
! Header Name !! Description !! Type !! [[WTVP#Command_Headers|Command Header?]] !! Server? !! Client?
|-
| Accept-Language || Standard HTTP header || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| Connection || Standard HTTP header. WTVP was designed with persistent connections in mind, but official WNI servers have been seen sending a <code>Keep-Alive</code> Connection header in responses nonetheless || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| Content-length || Standard HTTP header || integer || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| Content-type || Standard HTTP header || string || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| Date || Standard HTTP header. Probably only present when connecting through Microsoft TV services || timestamp || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| Expires || Standard HTTP header || timestamp || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| User-Agent || Standard HTTP header || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| mstv-checkurl-mode || Value currently observed as "1". Only seen when connecting through Microsoft TV services. Function unknown || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| mstv-client-caps || Only seen when connecting through Microsoft TV services. Function unknown || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| mstv-listing-id || Value currently observed as "C1020". Only seen when connecting through Microsoft TV services. Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| passport-domain || Domain name of the Passport account (now Microsoft account) linked to the current WebTV/MSN TV subscriber/user account || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| user-id || Appears to be a long string of numbers || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-addresses-url || Contains a service URL for listing all the user's stored addresses. Addresses are sent with the name, followed by a null byte, then the address with another null byte at the end. This is used for the Address panel. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-mail:/addresslist</code>. || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ahuf || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-allow-dsc || Value currently observed as "true". Function unknown || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-backgroundmusic-add || Specifies sound files as selected by the subscriber/user to add to the background music queue || URL || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-backgroundmusic-clear || Apparently clears backlog of predefined background music to play. Value currently observed as "no_zits" || string || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-backgroundmusic-load-playlist || Sets a service URL that does something with the background music. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-setup:/load-playlist</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-backgroundmusic-remove || Probably similar to wtv-backgroundmusic-add but for removing queued background music || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-boot-message-led-state || Sets the state of the message light. Value currently observed as "blinkSlow". Need more documentation on this || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-boot-url || Value currently observed as <code>wtv-head-waiter:/login</code>. Need more documentation on this || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-bypass-proxy || ??? || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-capability-flags || A hexadecimal string that [[Capability Flags|identifies the capabilities of a WebTV/MSN TV client]], and affects how the service functions on it. Need more documentation on this || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-ccs || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-challenge || A structured BLOB value that's sent by the server during the headwaiter login stage. Starts the [[WTVP/Processes/Headwaiter#Challenge/Response|challenge/response process]]. When decrypted, it contains random "challenge data" that has to be sent back in the challenge response, along with two sessions keys needed to facilitate <code>SECURE</code> communication, among other data. || BLOB || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-challenge-response || Used during the headwaiter [[WTVP/Processes/Headwaiter#Challenge/Response|challenge/response process]] to respond to the challenge with another structured BLOB value that is verified by the server. Sends back the "challenge data" from the wtv-challenge encrypted with the initial key. || BLOB || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-check-url || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-clickthru-redirect || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-client-address || Has an IP address of sorts, presumably of the box connecting to the server || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-client-bootrom-version || An integer that identifies… the boot ROM version? || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-client-date || Human-readable timestamp in GMT, most likely the date of when the subscriber/user successfully logged on. Need more documentation on this || timestamp || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-client-rom-type || Identifies the ROM type a WebTV/MSN TV box is running || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-client-serial-number || [[Silicon Serial ID|SSID]] of the WebTV/MSN TV box - identifies who is sending a WTVP request || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-client-time-zone || Time zone, either of the user's location or the server, in both name and offset (e.g., "PDT -0700") || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-connection-timeout || Value currently observed as "90". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-connect-session-id || Some hexadecimal value we can't figure out the purpose of. Function unknown || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-country || Two-letter country code. Most of the time it's just set to "US" though. Need more documentation on this || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-datadownload-checktimeoffset || ??? || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-datadownload-login-url || Contains the URL the box accesses when connecting for DataDownload. Value currently observed as wtv-head-waiter:/login?DataDownload=1. Also used to unlock TV Home on WebTV Plus boxes and change the offline home page on WebTV Dreamcast. || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-datadownload-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-disk:/download-list</code>. Function unknown || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-demo-mode || Value currently observed as "0". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-doug || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-echostar-ca || Unknown function. Value observed as "0x0" || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-echostar-receiver || Unknown function. Value observed as "R0022040763-84" || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-echostar-rom || Unknown function. Value observed as "121PBWDA-F-100BBWDA" || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-echostar-smartcard || Unknown function. Value observed as "S0004596155-62-DNASP003 Rev381" || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-edit-addresses-url || specifies the URL used for the "Edit Addresses" button in the Address panel. || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-enable-jellyscript || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-encrypted || Sent by the server most likely to tell the WebTV/MSN TV box if a response is encrypted || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-encryption || Tells the server if the WebTV/MSN TV box can understand encrypted communication (<code>SECURE</code> method?). Resulting behavior unknown || boolean || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-execute-tellyscript-now || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-expire || Expires the specified page in the box's page cache. || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-expire-all || Similar to wtv-expire, but expires all assets for a page as well. Is also used to expire entire page types in some cases (e.g: wtv-expire-all: wtv-) || URL || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-explanation-url || Only observed in error responses. Contains a service URL that so far is only known to point to the <code>wtv-guide</code> service. Most likely used to give the subscriber/user a page describing the error they encountered || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-explore-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-explore2:/top</code>. Function unknown || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-fader-timeout || Value currently observed as "900". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-favorite-index-url || Contains a service URL related to the <code>wtv-favorite</code> service. Used for the F keys on the keyboard. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-favorite:/favorite-index?</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-favorites-folders-url || Contains a service URL related to the <code>wtv-favorite</code> service. Used for the list of favorites on the save panel. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-favorite:/list-folders</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-favorite-url || Contains a service URL related to the <code>wtv-favorite</code> service. This is used to define the Favorites page that should be used for the "Favs" button on the keyboard. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-favorite:/favorite</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-field-name || Appears to contain the name of another WTVP header or variable sent in a <code>POST</code> request. Possibly used for detailing protocol errors. Need more documentation on this || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-filter || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-force-heavyweight-targets || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-force-lightweight-targets || Value currently observed as <code>webtv.net:/</code>. Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-goto-url || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-home-url || Contains the service URL designated to be the service home page. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-home:/home</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-https-proxy || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-human-name || First and last name specified on a subscriber/user account || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-inactive-timeout || Value currently observed as "0". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-incarnation || A counter sent and incremented on each first connection to a frontend server. This is needed to create the encryption key for <code>SECURE</code> communication. || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-initial-key || A small opaque, 8-byte BLOB sent during pre-registration. Facilitates [[WTVP/Processes/Headwaiter#Challenge/Response|challenge/response]] on the headwaiter. || BLOB || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-input-timeout || Values currently observed are "86400" and "14400". Function unknown || integer || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-irc-nick || IRC nickname defined on subscriber/user account for usage with WebTV/MSN TV IRC services || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-language-header || Value currently observed as "en-US,en". Function unknown || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-link-transition-enabled || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-location || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-lockpage-override || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-login-timeout || Value currently observed as "7200". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logo-duration || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logo-input-interval || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logo-interval || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logon || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logout-url || Contains a service URL designated for logout probably. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-logon:/logout</code>. Only seen when connecting through Microsoft TV services || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-log-url || Contains a service URL designated for usage logging services || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-lzpf || Observed in headers of encrypted/compressed responses. Usually has a value of 0. If present, the client uses the Huffman-based "LZPF" algorithm to decompress response data. || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-mail-count || Stores how many unread messages the user has. On the choose a user screen, this header contains the total of all unread mail for all users, otherwise it only has unread mail for the currently signed in user. This also controls the message light. || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-mail-url || Contains a service URL designated for mail service. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-mail:/listmail</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messagewatch-checktimeoffset || Offset in seconds since midnight for MessageWatch activation. || integer || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messagewatch-url || Contains a service URL designated for "MessageWatch". Value currently observed as <code>wtv-head-waiter:/login?MessageWatch=1</code>. Need more documentation on this || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-authorized || Tells the box if the subscriber/user is authorized to use the Messenger feature. 1 - authorized; 0 - not authorized || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-connect-timeout || Value currently observed as "240". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-enable || Tells the box if the subscriber/user has the Messenger feature enabled. 1 - enabled; 0 - disabled || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-login-url || Defines what service URL should be accessed for [[Services/Technical/Messenger#WTVP|Messenger login]]. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-passport:/messengerlogin</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-open-conversation-timeout || Value currently observed as "240". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-passportd-timeout || Value currently observed as "240". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-retry-timeout || Value currently observed as "20". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-server || Defines what hostname the client should use for accessing the [[Services/Technical/Messenger|Messenger service]]. The servers this would point to were a part of the MSN/Windows Live Messenger service, a completely different offering that happened to be owned by Microsoft, and is completely separate from WebTV/MSN TV || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-moviesearch-url || Contains a service URL designated for "moviesearch" - probably some ancillary and completely useless feature. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-content:/redirect?req-id=find-movie</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-msnchat-nick || The nickname used for accessing [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSN_Chat MSN Chat] services within WebTV/MSN TV. It appears to be similar to the value of the <code>wtv-irc-nick</code> header but with a ">" tacked onto the beginning of it (e.g., ">wtv-nick") || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-name-server || Defines an IP to use for DNS lookup. Probably not a command header, but multiple instances of this header can exist to define multiple DNS servers || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-next-reconnect-url || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-noads-targets || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-noback || Similar to wtv-noback, but can be used to disallow all of one page type (e.g: <code>wtv-noback-all: wtv-</code>). || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-noback-all || Value currently observed as "wtv-". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-notifications-url || Value currently observed as <code>wtv-notices:/notices</code>. Function unknown || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-nvstorage-dump || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| [[WTVP/Headers/wtv-offline-user-list|wtv-offline-user-list]] || Base64-encoded string. When decoded, it reveals an XML string containing a list of users a WebTV/MSN TV subscriber currently has, including their user ID, username, first/last name, password, and if they have access to mail services. Need more documentation on this || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-open-access || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-open-isp-disabled || Value currently observed as "false". Function unknown || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-phone-log-url || Contains a service URL. Values currently observed are <code>wtv-log:/phone-log</code> on successful login, and a URL along the lines of <code>wtv-1800:/post-phone-log?t-baggage-parms=ani-950000000000,ethernet-ani-4156145500,subscriber-id-14331444</code>. It's been observed when the header is present in a response, on a WebTV Viewer at least, it will immediately query said service. Most likely used for usage logging || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-preregistration-number || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-printer-model || Value currently observed as "-1,-1". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-printer-pen || Value currently observed as "0,0,1,0". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-printer-setup || Value currently observed as "0,0,1,0". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-print-log-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-log:/log</code>. Most likely used for usage logging || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-reconnect-url || Specifies the URL the box should access when reconnecting with the Reconnect panel. || URL || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-reload || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-reload-all || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-relogin-url || ??? || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-rename-url || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-request-rom-upgrade || ??? || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-request-type || Known values observed are "primary" and "prefetch". Function unknown || string || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-script-id || Carries the "hash1" value from an installed [[TellyScript]] on the WebTV/MSN TV client, or defaults to 0 if one isn't present || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-script-mod || Carries the creation time (UNIX epoch) from an installed [[TellyScript]] on the WebTV/MSN TV client, or defaults to 0 if one isn't present || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-search-url || Contains a service URL most likely designated for the search page. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-center:/search-page</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-send-thumbnail-from || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-send-thumbnail-size || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-send-thumbnail-to || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| [[WTVP/Headers/wtv-service|wtv-service]] || Defines the services supported by the WebTV/MSN TV service, the IP addresses and corresponding ports they resided on, property flags, and the maximum connections that can be made from a service || string || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-service-cookie || Sent by server on successful login. Also possibly sent by the client. Need more documentation on this || BLOB || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-service-data || Appears to be an XML string with information on the user currently logged in. Only observed when logging on through Microsoft TV services || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-service-message || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-service-timeout || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-settings-url || Contains a service URL designated for account settings. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-setup:/get-settings</code>. Need more documentation on this || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-show-time || Values observed are "0" and "3". Function unknown. Contrary to eMac's write-up, this header doesn't seem to appear in server responses, and so far has only been observed in service requests. || ??? || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-show-time-enabled || Value currently observed as "true". Function unknown. || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-show-time-record || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-smartcard-inserted-message || Related to the (rarely utilized) WebTV/MSN TV smartcard feature. Value currently observed as "Contacting service". Need more documentation on this || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-smartcard-inserted-url || Related to the (rarely utilized) WebTV/MSN TV smartcard feature. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-smartcard:/insert</code>. WebTV Classic boxes require this header for inserted smartcards to function. Need more documentation on this || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-smartcard-removed-url || Related to the (rarely utilized) WebTV/MSN TV smartcard feature. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-smartcard:/remove</code>. Need more documentation on this || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spotad-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-spot:/get-ad</code>. Function unknown || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-clickthru-url || Contains a service URL. Values observed are <code>wtv-spot:/ad-clickthrough?ad-click-ref=%s</code> and <code>wtv-spot:/clkURL/%s</code>. Function unknown || URL || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-directive || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-doze || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-duty-cycle || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-impression-time || ??? || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-minimum-time || ??? || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-purge-queue || Probably does something with the WebTV/MSN TV box cache. Need more documentation on this || integer || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-queue-add || Value currently observed as <code>queue=1&adID=0000001102cbda8500000000&creative=[xxxxx]</code>. Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-spot:/spot</code>. Function unknown || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ssl-certs-checksum || Contains a checksum possibly related to the certificate download defined by the <code>wtv-ssl-certs-download-url</code> header. Judging from the checksum length it's probably meant to be MD5. Need more documentation on this || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ssl-certs-download-url || Contains a service URL. Possibly used to allow the client to download new SSL root certificates. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-head-waiter:/download-ssl-certs</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ssl-log-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-log:/log</code>. Most likely used for usage logging || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ssl-timeout || Value currently observed as "240". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-start-at-tourist-page || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-system-chipversion || ??? || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-system-cpuspeed || Probably has to do with CPU speed but if that's the case, it's not known how it's measured || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-system-sysconfig || ??? || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-system-version || ??? || integer || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-tcp-log-url || Possibly related to the other "log-url" headers, but no known documentation of this header in particular is out in the wild || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ticket || An opaque blob value sent in WebTV/MSN TV service requests to verify sessions after login. Also known to be sent to a box during headwaiter login || BLOB || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-title || Used to specify the title in files that don't normally have them. Can be used in the headers of a service response or as a query for a file (e.g: <code>http://somesite.com/midi.mid?wtv-title=sometitle)</code> || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tmp-filesystem || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tourist-active || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tourist-enabled || ??? || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-transition || Only observed in packet captures when browsing between service pages. Currently observed values are "light" and "none". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-transition-override || Values currently observed are "normal" and "off". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-transition-page || Value currently observed as <code>wtv-home:/shared/transition/en-US/pageWithAd.html</code>. Function unknown || URL || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-transition-page-noad || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-trusted || Used to set trust on pages. For some reason, this header will distrust any page it gets sent with, regardless of if it's set to true or false. || boolean || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tvconnection-timeout || Value currently observed as "600". Function unknown || integer || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tv-vbidisable || VBI = Vertical Blanking Interval? Function unknown || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tv-zipcode || Contains user's ZIP code, but probably isn't used by the service itself. Need more documentation on this || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-user-id || Probably similar to the <code>user-id</code> header. Need more documentation on this || ??? || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-user-inactive-warning-time || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-user-name || Username associated with WebTV/MSN TV account || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-user-requested-upgrade || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-videoad-path || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-videoad-playid || Value currently observed as a hexadecimal string. Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-videoad-playname || Value currently observed as a file name ending in ".mpg". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-visit || WTVP's own version of the HTTP <code>Location</code> header used mainly to route the WebTV/MSN TV box to other service URLs on non-3xx responses || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-zipcode || ZIP code of WebTV/MSN TV account || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|}

Services/Technical/Messenger

2023-01-09T02:59:51Z

JarHead: /* MSNP8 */

Somewhere down the road, it was decided WebTV should have a Messenger feature. This feature was added in by the 2.5 client upgrade and lasted well into the MSNTV 2's lifespan.

== Basic ==
WebTV/MSN TV's Messenger feature relies on another Microsoft service, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Messenger_service MSN Messenger service] (also known as '''.NET Messenger Service''' or the '''Windows Live Messenger service'''), to operate, and it's assumed a corresponding Microsoft Passport (now Microsoft account) would have to be linked to a WebTV/MSN TV account for the feature to work. For first-generation WebTV/MSN TV, once a user successfully logs in through the headwaiter, the server will send to the box alongside all its account and configuration information: a hostname for the Messenger protocol server the box will connect to, flag values determining if the feature is authorized or enabled for the subscriber/user, the service URL to perform Messenger authentication on through WTVP (this will be covered on later), and several timeout flags that supposedly control how long the Messenger client should wait in certain scenarios.

The Messenger client on first-gen WebTV/MSN TV is mostly built into the firmware, and is very primitive. It allows a user to see whether their contacts are online or offline (FYI statuses such as Away, Busy, etc. that are supported by the underlying MSN Messenger service are translated by the client as an online status), send and receive plain text messages (first-gen WebTV/MSN TV's client doesn't support graphical emoticons, although MSNTV 2's did), manage availability and block list options through the settings on the WebTV/MSN TV service, manage their contact list through their e-mail address book, and receive notifications when people add them.

== Images ==
=== Original WebTV/MSN TV ===
<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:webtv-fg-messenger.jpg|200x150px|webtv-fg-messenger.jpg]]

Messenger conversation window (screenshot taken from third-party server)
</div>

<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:webtv-fg-messenger-notif.jpg|200x150px|webtv-fg-messenger-notif.jpg]]

Notification from Messenger being shown in the title area (screenshot taken from third-party server)
</div>

=== MSNTV 2 ===
<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:msntv2_messenger_contactlist.jpg|200x150px|msntv2_messenger_contactlist.jpg]]

Messenger contact list
</div>

<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:msntv2_messenger_contactlistempty.jpg|200x150px|msntv2_messenger_contactlistempty.jpg]]

Messenger contact list (empty)
</div>

<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:msntv2_messenger_convo.jpg|200x150px|msntv2_messenger_convo.jpg]]

Messenger conversation window
</div>

<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:msntv2_messenger_addcontact.jpg|200x150px|msntv2_messenger_addcontact.jpg]]

"Add a contact" window for Messenger
</div>

== Protocols ==
=== Client ===
The Messenger client on WebTV/MSN TV uses the MSNP protocol to communicate with the Messenger protocol server, which operates over TCP port 1863. This protocol is out of this wiki's scope and unlike WebTV/MSN TV's protocols has a fair amount of documentation floating around on the internet, and we won't go into too much depth on it here. You can read more up on it [http://web.archive.org/web/20100819183636/http://msnpiki.msnfanatic.com/index.php/Main_Page here], [http://msn-messenger-protocol.herokuapp.com here] (MSNP8 - 10), [https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-movva-msn-messenger-protocol-00 here] (MSNP2), and [http://msn-messenger-protocol.herokuapp.com/sitev1/ here] (MSNP7).
==== Protocol support ====
What is currently known about protocol support is that version 2.5 of the WebTV Viewer supports version 3 of the MSNP protocol if you configure a SOCKS proxy on the Viewer to allow connections outside of the WebTV/MSN TV network, and firmware version 2.8 supports version 6 of the protocol. It's known the latest version of MSNP the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV supported is MSNP8.
==== Identification ====
So far, it's confirmed that firmware version 2.8 of WebTV (MSN TV) sends a <code>CVR</code> command on the Messenger protocol server after logging in:
CVR (TrID) 0x0409 webtv 2.8 MIPS msntvim 2.8 msntv
To quickly explain what this command does, it identifies the client logging into the Messenger service. In this case, the client is identified as "msntv" with a version of "2.8". The OS is identified as "webtv" with the same version. Other things sent for identification are the architecture, which in this case is "MIPS", and the client library, which is <code>msntvim</code>. We don't know yet if builds before 2.8 send this on real hardware, although it's known that the 2.5 version of the WebTV Viewer doesn't send any <code>CVR</code>s for unknown reasons.

==== WebTV/MSN TV-first commands ====
So far, the only MSNP command recorded to only be used on WebTV/MSN TV clients is <code>IMS</code>, and has been [http://web.archive.org/web/20100817050916/http://msnpiki.msnfanatic.com/index.php/Command:IMS covered on] to some degree years ago.

Supposedly this is triggered after a certain amount of idle time, but what the value of this time is or where it's obtained from is not known currently. The exact behavior of <code>IMS</code> being set to "OFF" aside from it blocking new conversations initiated by others is also unknown.

=== WTVP ===
==== Login ====
During the WebTV/MSN TV box's connection to the Messenger protocol server, it will receive a <code>USR S</code> command after sending the Passport email associated with the WebTV/MSN TV account to the server. This <code>USR S</code> response contains a challenge string. On version 8 of MSNP, this is a URL-encoded and comma delimited list of key-value parameters (e.g., <code>lc=1033,id=507,tw=40,fs=1,ru=http%3A%2F%2Fmessenger%2Emsn%2Ecom,ct=1062764229,kpp=1,kv=5,ver=2.1.0173.1,tpf=43f8a4c8ed940c04e3740be46c4d1619</code>), and on versions below that, it is a decimal value (e.g., "1013928519.693957190"), but technically it can be any value, at least for <= MSNP7. Whatever the challenge value is, this is passed over to a <code>wtv-passport</code> service located at "wtv-passport:/messengerlogin".

==== MSNP3-7 ====
After receiving the challenge string from the protocol server, a <code>SECURE</code>'d <code>GET</code> request is sent to "wtv-passport:/messengerlogin?[CHALLENGE]", <code>[CHALLENGE]</code> being the aforementioned challenge string. The <code>GET</code> request alone does not appear to send any other headers identifying the WebTV/MSN TV user logging in, so it's assumed that authorization headers sent by a <code>SECURE</code> request (such as <code>wtv-ticket</code>) gives the messengerlogin service the necessary information about the WebTV/MSN TV user to authorize the request. In this case, if the user's request is authorized and they have a Passport account linked to their WebTV/MSN TV account, an MD5 hash of the challenge string concatenated with their Passport password is sent in hexadecimal format in a 200 OK response:

200 OK\n
Connection: Keep-Alive\n
wtv-encrypted: true\n
Expires: Wed, 09 Oct 1991 22:00:00 GMT\n
Content-Type: text/plain\n
Content-length: 32\n
wtv-lzpf: 0\n
\n
[encrypted and compressed MD5 hex response]

The MD5 response, when decrypted and decompressed from the WTVP response, is then sent to the protocol server and further authentication is handled there.

In the event anything goes wrong (e.g., no Passport linked to WebTV/MSN TV account), it's been observed that a generic 500 error is sent:

500 MSN TV ran into a technical problem. Please try again.\n
Connection: Keep-Alive\n
wtv-encrypted: true\n
\n

==== MSNP8 ====
Once messengerlogin gets the challenge string, the first thing It'll do is request "messenger.msn.com/rdr/pprdr.asp" to get the URL used for actual authentication. The URL is in the "passporturls" header, under "DALogin". Once it has this URL, It'll send a request to the URL with an "Authorization" header that contains info about the user logging in. This header looks a little something like this:

<code>"Authorization": "Passport1.4 OrgVerb=GET,OrgURL=http%3A%2F%2Fmessenger%2Emsn%2Ecom,sign-in=anemail@email.com,pwd=supersecurepassword,lc=1033,id=507,tw=40,fs=1,ru=http%3A%2F%2Fmessenger%2Emsn%2Ecom,ct=1062764229,kpp=1,kv=5,ver=2.1.0173.1,tpf=43f8a4c8ed940c04e3740be46c4d1619"</code>

If authentication succeeds, the MSN Messenger service will send a 200 OK response with an "authentication-info" header. This header contains "from-PP", which is the token the client wants.

After that, the server will send the token in the data of the messengerlogin response, which will look something like this:

200 OK\n
Connection: Keep-Alive\n
wtv-encrypted: true\n
Expires: Wed, 09 Oct 1991 22:00:00 GMT\n
Content-Type: text/plain\n
Content-length: [Token length]\n
wtv-lzpf: 0\n
\n
[Token from MSN Messenger]

From there, the client will continue authenticating with MSN Messenger by itself.

Smart Card

2023-01-09T02:57:11Z

JarHead: /* Overview */

Smart Cards were used on the first-generation WebTV/MSN TV service to take the user to a site, set up ISP options, etc. They were rarely utilized, and removed from MSNTV 2 later.

== Overview ==
When a Smart Card is inserted into the WebTV/MSN TV receiver, it will show a message on the screen with the Smart Card name and a progress bar. In the background, it's contacting the URL from the <code>wtv-smartcard-inserted-url</code> header, which is usually <code>wtv-smartcard:/insert</code>. The box will POST the raw data read from the card to the URL (sometimes the box will base64 encode the data, but the reasoning for this is unknown), which will then decode it and return either a wtv-smartcard page with an error/confirmation page, or a redirect to somewhere else. In some cases, the box will send an error header (e.g: "error=-68") if something goes wrong.

== Structure ==
For now, we'll be focusing on Go To cards, as that's what we have info on.

This is the data stored on a Go To Smart Card:
<code>2Gÿt�Sony Value G�i999999</code>

We can break this data up into several parts to get all the data that the server decodes.

The first byte is the Smart Card generation, which appears to always be 2 except for a special type of Go To card, which uses generation 1. "Generation" is assumed to refer to the data format for the card, not a different version of Smart Cards themselves.

The second byte is the Smart Card type, which is (G)o To in this case. Other observed values include (O)penISP and (A)ffinity.

ÿ appears to be a separator, which is followed by t�, which defines the start of the Smart Card title.

G�i appears to stand for "Go To ID", which is the ID for the Go To card. The ID has a corresponding URL that is stored on the server. If the ID is unknown, then a message about the Smart Card being expired or not yet active is sent to the client. The reasoning for this approach appears to be due to the size limit of Smart Cards (around 25 bytes) and so malicious cards can't be spread around.

So, to recap:

Card Generation: 2
Card Type: G
Card Title: Sony Value
Card ID: 999999

WTVP/Services/wtv-mail/URLs

2022-10-08T15:40:04Z

JarHead:

{{WTVPNav}}

URLs for wtv-mail WTVP service.

{| class="wikitable"
! URL || Description || Methods Supported || wtv-token Present? || Notes
|-
| wtv-mail:/listmail || WebTV Mail inbox page || GET || No || "camefromhomepage=true" can be sent as a query parameter if link is accessed from home page
|-
| wtv-mail:/sendmail || "Write an e-mail message" page || GET || No ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/listmail?mailbox_name=mbox || Saved mail page || GET || No ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/listmail?mailbox_name=sent || Sent mail page || GET || No ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/listmail?mailbox_name=trash || Deleted mail page || GET || No ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/addressbook || WebTV Mail address book page || GET || No || "camefrom=inbox" can be sent as a query parameter if link is accessed from Mail inbox
|-
| wtv-mail:/addressbook&action=edit&nickname=xxxxx&address=xxxxx || Loads a page that allows you to edit a contact (selected from the address book). It is currently known that editing their name and email is possible. Need more documentation on this || GET || No || "camefrom=inbox" can be sent as a query parameter if link is accessed from Mail inbox
|-
| wtv-mail:/addressbook?action=edit&new_address=true&selected=new || Page to add a new contact to your address book. Need more documentation on this || GET || No || "camefrom=inbox" can be sent as a query parameter if link is accessed from Mail inbox
|-
| wtv-mail:/listmail?mailbox_name=xxxxx&bulk_delete=true || Bulk mail removal page - Allows a subscriber/user to remove mail in bulk from a specified mailbox ("mailbox_name"). Need more documentation on this || GET || No ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/listmail?bulk_delete=true&message_start_number=1&select_all=true&mailbox_name=xxxxx || Selects all mail in bulk mail removal page. Need more documentation on this || ??? || No ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/listmail?bulk_delete=true&message_start_number=1&mailbox_name=xxxxx || De-selects all mail in bulk mail removal page. Need more documentation on this || ??? || No ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/listmail?bulk_delete=true&message_start_number=1&select_unknown=true&mailbox_name=xxxxx || Selects all mail from unknown senders in bulk mail removal page. Need more documentation on this || ??? || No ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/readmail?message_id=NN&mailbox_name=xxxxx || Previews a single e-mail message from a specified mailbox || GET || No ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/sendmail?message_reply_id=NN&mailbox_name=xxxxx&selected=body || "Write an e-mail message" page set to reply to a specific e-mail message. Need more documentation on this || GET || No ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/spelling-words || Page to manage spelling words list || GET || Yes ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/add-spelling-word || Page to add a spelling word to the spelling list || GET || Yes ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/process-spelling-changes?new-word=xxxxx || Adds a word to the spelling list. Need more documentation on this || GET || Yes ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/change-spelling-word?word=xxxxx || Page to edit a spelling word. Need more documentation on this || GET || Yes ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/process-spelling-changes?word_to_remove=xxxxx&new-word=xxxxx || Removes/edits a spelling word. Need more documentation on this || GET || Yes ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/sendmail?discuss=true&group=xxxxx&discuss-prefix=wtv-news || Page for Discuss that allows posting a new thread to a discussion group. Need more documentation on this || GET || No ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/sendmail?discuss=true&group=xxxxx&article=NN&subject=xxxxx&discuss-prefix=wtv-news || Page for Discuss that allows posting a new post as a response to an existing post. Need more documentation on this || GET || No || "subject" usually has the value "Re: ", and the name of the original message next to it
|-
| wtv-mail:/GetSignature || ??? || ??? || ? || https://p0etv.tripod.com/mail.htm
|-
| wtv-mail:/update-light || 1x1 image that is found to be embedded on most service pages. It is speculated that it notifies the WebTV/MSN TV box of new mail. Need more documentation on this || GET || Yes ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/edit-messenger-options?nickname=xxxxx&address=xxxxx&buddyOnly=true&camefrom=messenger || ??? || GET || ? || Related to Messenger. Taken from https://www.angelfire.com/tv/limdog/wtvurls.html
|-
| wtv-mail:/addresslist || Seen in use on <code>wtv-addresses-url</code> header sent in WTVP headwaiter responses. Need more documentation on this || ??? || ? ||
|-
| wtv-mail:/sendmail?message_to=xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx&message_body=xxxxx&message_subject=xxxxx&send=send&sendoff=true || Sends an email. Need more documentation on this || GET || No || http://turdinc.kicks-ass.net/Msntv/ulTRAX/matttricks.htm
|-
| wtv-mail:/mailbox-icon || Shows mailbox icon that changes depending on the # of new messages the currently active subscriber/user has || GET || Yes || No new mail = empty mailbox; 1 new message = mailbox with one envelope inside; 2 new messages = mailbox with two envelopes inside; 3+ new messages = full mailbox
|-
| wtv-mail:/mailbox-image?mailbox-icon=true || Related to <code>wtv-mail:/mailbox-icon</code>. Seen in source code of one of the WebTV/MSN TV home pages. Need more documentation on this. || GET || ? || http://turdinc.kicks-ass.net/Msntv/NewHome.htm
|-
| wtv-mail:/verify-address || Used by MSN Messenger to verify e-mails entered in the Contact panel. Returns 1 if valid, 0 if not. || GET || No ||
|}

Template:WTVPNav

2022-09-25T16:38:37Z

JarHead:

{| class="wikitable" style="width: 200px; float: right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; text-align: center"
! style="font-size: 20px" | WTVP
|-
| [[WTVP|Overview]] • [[List of WTVP Services|List of WTVP Services]] • [[WTVP-specific Content Types|WTVP-specific Content-Types]] • [[WTVP Status Codes|Status Codes]]
|-
! style="font-size: 12px" | Concepts
|-
| [[Tokens|Tokens]] • [[WTVP/Tickets|Tickets]] • [[Capability Flags|Capability Flags]]
|-
! style="font-size: 12px" | Headers
|-
| [[WTVP/Headers/List|Header List]] • [[WTVP/Headers/Data Types|Data Types]] • [[Common WTVP Request Headers|Common Request Headers]]
|-
! style="font-size: 12px" | Processes
|-
| [[WTVP/Processes/First-Time Registration|First-Time Registration]] • [[WTVP/Processes/Headwaiter|Headwaiter (Login)]] • [[Services/Technical/Messenger#WTVP|Messenger Services]] • [[WTVP/Processes/Obtaining a new wtv-ticket|Obtaining new wtv-tickets]] • [[Smart Card|Smart Card formats]]
|-
! style="font-size: 12px" | URLs for WTVP Services
|-
| [[WTVP/Services/wtv-1800/URLs|wtv-1800]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-aroundtown/URLs|wtv-aroundtown]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-author/URLs|wtv-author]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-center/URLs|wtv-center]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-chat/URLs|wtv-chat]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-content/URLs|wtv-content]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-cookie/URLs|wtv-cookie]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-customscript/URLs|wtv-customscript]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-disk/URLs|wtv-disk]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-epguide/URLs|wtv-epguide]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-favorite/URLs|wtv-favorite]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-flashrom/URLs|wtv-flashrom]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-guide/URLs|wtv-guide]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-head-waiter/URLs|wtv-head-waiter]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-home/URLs|wtv-home]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-intro/URLs|wtv-intro]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-log/URLs|wtv-log]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-mail/URLs|wtv-mail]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-news/URLs|wtv-news]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-notices/URLs|wtv-notices]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-partner/URLs|wtv-partner]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-passport/URLs|wtv-passport]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-register/URLs|wtv-register]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-setup/URLs|wtv-setup]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-smartcard/URLs|wtv-smartcard]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-spot/URLs|wtv-spot]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-star/URLs|wtv-star]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-tricks/URLs|wtv-tricks]] • [[WTVP/Services/wtv-tutorial/URLs|wtv-tutorial]]
|}

Data Formats

2022-09-21T15:40:20Z

JarHead:

Various data formats used by WebTV/MSN TV.

* [[TellyScript]]
* [[ROMFS]]
* [[CompressFS]]
* [[ROM String Files]]
* [[Smart Card]]

MSNTV 2/Services/Login

2022-09-17T03:01:50Z

JarHead:

MSNTV 2 SG URLs for login. All are currently undocumented.

* <code>sgX.trusted.msntv.msn.com/connection/GatePage.aspx?phase=Bootstrap&purpose=Authorize</code> - URL used for <code>connection::login</code> service. POSTs some box info to BoxCheck after running.
* <code>sgX.trusted.msntv.msn.com/connection/GatePage.aspx?phase=Bootstrap&purpose=Nightly</code> - URL used for <code>connection::nightly_login</code> service. Possibly used to log a box in for nightly updates/email checks.
* <code>sgX.trusted.msntv.msn.com/connection/GatePage.aspx?phase=Bootstrap&purpose=ReAuthorize</code> - URL used for <code>connection::reconnect</code> service. Possibly used for relogin.
* <code>sgX.trusted.msntv.msn.com/connection/GatePage.aspx?phase=Bootstrap&purpose=ResetPassword</code> - URL used for <code>connection:resetpassword</code> service. Presumably used for password reset services.
* <code>sgX.trusted.msntv.msn.com/connection/GatePage.aspx?phase=BoxCheck&purpose=Authorize</code> - Contacted after <code>connection::login</code> is finished. Gets POSTed info about the box connecting to authenticate.
* <code>sgX.trusted.msntv.msn.com/connection/GatePage.aspx?phase=UserCheck&purpose=Authorize&t=[Token]</code> - Contacted after BoxCheck is finished. <code>&t=</code> is assumed to be a Passport token generated by the Passport servers. The user is assumed to be authenticated here, then gets sent to <code>home::home</code>

MSNTV 2/Extracting System Content

2022-09-16T03:38:48Z

JarHead: /* Extracting System Content */

The MSNTV 2 might just appear to be another run-of-the-mill internet appliance with nothing worth getting out of it, but as known by probably almost no one right now, the MSNTV 2 does indeed have things that are worth analyzing from its CompactFlash storage card. These things include but aren't limited to: firmware/boot data and cached files from MSNTV 2 service pages. If you're up for it and have a previously registered MSNTV 2 unit that hasn't been wiped clean, you can easily extract this content out of the unit's CompactFlash card.

== Disassembling the MSNTV 2 ==
To get to the CompactFlash card though, you'll have to dismantle your MSNTV 2 unit. It's relatively easy, but requires a few steps and a bit of patience.

First, before even getting to unscrewing anything, you'll have to cut or remove the sticker with trademark information that's conveniently placed on the right side of the back of the unit, which holds the two parts of its plastic case together and prevents anyone from being able to properly dismantle it. Since Microsoft most likely doesn't care about what anyone does with a discontinued 17-year old product for a service they no longer operate, you can easily slice this sticker by the crease it holds together, or go through the tedious process of completely removing it. However you decide to separate the sticker, that'll be dealt with and you can finally get to unscrewing the unit.

Now do you see those four rubber feet on the bottom of the unit? Underneath those are four screws that you'll have to unscrew to remove the bottom half of the unit's shell. Pry off each rubber foot and afterwards remove each of the four screws. Now gently remove the side of the shell facing you and you'll see a metal cage with even more screws that hold the motherboard and top half of the plastic shell together. Specifically, there are 5 screws holding the metal cage: two on the left, two on the right, and one somewhere in the middle. Unscrew each of these screws, and once you're done, remove the metal cage from the top half of the shell and flip it over. Now all you have to do here is remove the metal covering at the top and remove the CompactFlash card from the motherboard's card slot. Congrats, you've successfully extracted the CompactFlash card from your MSNTV 2. Next step is actually extracting the contents from it.

== Extracting System Content ==
With the CompactFlash card out of the unit, you can now extract the cache or anything else worth getting out of the card. Using a computer or device that can read CompactFlash cards, either dump the entire thing raw or look for any partitions that might be part of the CompactFlash card (these will appear as drives on Windows) and copy any files of interest from the card onto your desktop.



If you'd like to help us preserve MSNTV 2, you can send your CompactFlash card dump to us at [mailto:webtvzonewiki@gmail.com webtvzonewiki@gmail.com].

Be sure to put your MSNTV 2 unit back together after you're done, if you care.

The Great(er) Scroll of Dialing Wisdom

2022-09-14T01:37:49Z

JarHead:

The '''"Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom"''', originally known as '''"The Great Scroll of Dialing Wisdom"''', was an internal WebTV Networks technical document covering the dial-up infrastructure of the WebTV/MSN TV service, and how WebTV Networks had tackled the issue of ensuring clients could dial into their ISPs without requiring manual input from the end user. The document detailed various systems, tools, and methods in place that made up the infrastructure, and explained why they were chosen. The first draft of this document was drafted as "The Great Scroll of Dialing Wisdom" on August 27, 1996, and the last known revision was published on June 25, 1999. The document's change of name to the "Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom" took place on October 30, 1997, when the document was completely rewritten. Some time around early 1998, WebTV employee Ray Hill converted the Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom into HTML and wrote a shorter version of it named the "Lesser Scroll of Dialing Wisdom," which was intended to be used by Customer Service agents as part of connections troubleshooting training.

We've had the blessing of obtaining two revisions of this "Great(er) Scroll" document and a 1998 revision of the "Lesser Scroll". The two revisions of the "Great(er) Scroll" include the latest known revision (June 25, 1999), and one written on January 7, 1998, both of which were sent by contributors who will stay anonymous. We don't intend to cover much else about the documents in detail here, but if you'd like, you can either download them from our content archive under "First-Gen WebTV and MSN TV > Server Documentation > Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom", or you can view them directly from our web server:

=== Great(er) Scroll ===

January 7, 1998 "Greater Scroll" revision (plain text): http://wiki.webtv.zone/misc/greaterscroll/GreaterScroll_1998-01-07.txt

June 25, 1999 revision (HTML): http://wiki.webtv.zone/misc/greaterscroll/GreaterScroll_1999-06-25.html

=== Lesser Scroll ===

May 28, 1998 revision (HTML): http://wiki.webtv.zone/misc/greaterscroll/LesserScroll_1998-05-28.html

The Great(er) Scroll of Dialing Wisdom

2022-09-14T01:03:14Z

JarHead:

The '''"Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom"''', originally known as '''"The Great Scroll of Dialing Wisdom"''', was an internal WebTV Networks technical document covering the dial-up infrastructure of the WebTV/MSN TV service, and how WebTV Networks had tackled the issue of ensuring clients could dial into their ISPs without requiring manual input from the end user. The document detailed various systems, tools, and methods in place that made up the infrastructure, and explained why they were chosen. The first draft of this document was drafted as "The Great Scroll of Dialing Wisdom" on August 27, 1996, and the last known revision was published on June 25, 1999. The document's change of name to the "Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom" took place on October 30, 1997, when the document was completely rewritten. Some time around early 1998, WebTV employee Ray Hill converted the Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom into HTML and wrote a shorter version of it named the "Lesser Scroll of Dialing Wisdom," which was intended to be used by Customer Service agents as part of connections troubleshooting training.

We've had the blessing of obtaining two revisions of this "Great(er) Scroll" document and a 1998 revision of the "Lesser Scroll". The two revisions of the "Great(er) Scroll" include the latest known revision (June 25, 1999), and one written on January 7, 1998, both of which were sent by contributors who will stay anonymous. We don't intend to cover much else about the documents in detail here, but if you'd like, you can either download them from our content archive under "First-Gen WebTV and MSN TV > Server Documentation > Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom", or you can view them directly from our web server:

=== Great(er) Scroll ===

January 7, 1998 "Greater Scroll" revision (plain text): https://wiki.webtv.zone/misc/greaterscroll/GreaterScroll_1998-01-07.txt

June 25, 1999 revision (HTML): https://wiki.webtv.zone/misc/greaterscroll/GreaterScroll_1999-06-25.html

=== Lesser Scroll ===

May 28, 1998 revision (HTML): https://wiki.webtv.zone/misc/greaterscroll/LesserScroll_1998-05-28.html

Wanted

2022-09-12T19:55:32Z

JarHead:

The WebTV/MSN TV wiki aims to record as much technical and general information on the WebTV and MSN TV technology and services as possible, and we don't plan to skip a beat while doing it. That's why we're counting on you, the reader, whoever you are, to help contribute any information or content you have about the hardware, service, or whatever else relating to WebTV/MSN TV for us to put on this wiki or elsewhere. We're mainly seeking out technical info on the service, firmware, and hardware itself, and things of interest we're especially after are listed below or on certain pages covering certain topics, will mention that you can contribute information regarding said topic, but anything else we haven't explicitly mentioned we need might be useful too. We are aware that some scene sites already have some of the content we're looking for, and we have already included information from some of them onto here. Scene sites in general, though, are not a reliable source of WebTV/MSN TV information or don't have what we're exactly looking for, so while for now we have to rely on them for some information, we don't treat them as gospel and neither should you.

If you have the content we're looking for, whether it be listed here or not, then we highly suggest you send it to us over e-mail at [mailto:webtvzonewiki@gmail.com webtvzonewiki@gmail.com]. If you happen to send stuff our way and we find it useful, we'll eventually add it to the wiki where appropriate, and for things like files and service content, we plan to upload what we can either to Archive.org and present the content as best as we can. In the future we might consider opening account registrations by request so people we can trust can contribute information directly.

----
== General ==
* '''Any clarifications on any information we got wrong. Information on WebTV/MSN TV, even outside the technical realm, is severely shrouded in vague information and room for interpretation. Lots of it. If you happen to be able to convince us to correct something we might have not known is incorrect, we'll happily accept it into the wiki'''

* '''Binaries of boot/client ROM upgrades, both for first-gen WebTV/MSN TV and the MSN TV 2. We'd prefer if these are sent to us in their original, downloadable formats and have information on what version they contain and what box type and manufacturer they were made for!'''

* '''Any copies of generated TellyScripts/DialScripts for first-gen WebTV/MSN TV, Microsoft TV-based services, UltimateTV, and MSN TV 2 (if those exist for that platform)'''

* '''Any information about or data from the WebTV, MSN TV, or MSN TV 2 servers.''' This will help us better understand how the services for each worked and possibly piece together their protocols.

* Dumps of any removable media (HDD, CompactFlash, etc.), NVRAM, or flash ROM chips from any WebTV/MSN TV box. These dumps can expose crucial information or data such as TellyScripts, TV listings, service page assets, potentially unarchived firmware builds, and possibly even WebTV games (You Don't Know Jack, Doom, etc.). We'll be careful to not publicize any data with personally identifying information in it.
* '''Service page contents, information on how they worked, and assets loaded by them. This is both for first-gen WebTV/MSN TV and the MSN TV 2. For a basic idea of what services WebTV/MSN TV offered that we're seeking content and assets for, go browse our service image galleries ([[Services|First-gen WebTV/MSN TV]]; [[MSNTV 2/Services/Gallery|MSN TV 2]]).''' We want to be able to archive as much from them as possible and document how they worked and what content each of them offered, both for completion's sake. While some of the service page codes and most of the images they referenced have been archived over the years, most of the time, those who catalogued them didn't describe how pages and any other things they referenced had generated content. To add on to this, the page codes themselves are almost always a single static rip of one state of a specific page, and don't account for other states it could be in in certain scenarios (e.g., no mail in an inbox, no discussion posts in a newsgroup, or showing a first-time message for a specific service). Of course, since the main WebTV/MSN TV protocols (WTVP/MSN TV 2) played a part in functionality on some pages, service page codes alone won't magically rebuild everything. They'll definitely be a big help, though.

* Any info on lesser known WebTV/MSN TV variations (i.e., TracNet 100, Thomson eTV, Rogers Interactive TV, etc.)

* '''Any direct protocol captures of a WebTV/MSN TV box/viewer communicating with the original WebTV/MSN TV network.''' Preferred format for them is .pcap but any format will do. Protocol captures of any part of the service would be a big help to better understand how they worked and how content was generated to the end-user

* Information on how the WebTV Viewer software was hacked to allow connections to the WebTV/MSN TV network

* '''More information on the Messenger clients for both first-gen WebTV/MSN TV and the MSN TV 2'''

== First-Generation WebTV/MSN TV ==
* '''Any additional information on [[WTVP]] (WebTV Protocol), [[Mail Notify]], or other WebTV/MSN TV protocols'''
** For WTVP specifically, we'd also like info on the following, which includes but is not limited to:
*** Details for challenge/response method used on headwaiter
*** wtv-ticket data structure (if it has one)
*** wtv-token URLs
*** WTVP content proxies (HTTP, FTP, Gopher, etc.)
*** MSNP8 login service for WebTV/MSN TV Messenger
*** Information on how the <code>wtv-capability-flags</code> header functioned

* '''More detailed information on [[TellyScript]], [[ROM]]s (boot ROM, client ROM/flash upgrades), and other data formats WebTV/MSN TV relies on'''

* Information on proprietary WebTV/MSN TV hardware components (i.e., ROM chips, the [[Solo]] and [[DINKY]] ASICs used in WebTV boxes)

* '''Any information on the software and service used for the Japanese and Dreamcast releases of WebTV'''

* Any information on first-gen WebTV/MSN TV units that utilized broadband (e.g., Rogers Interactive TV)

* '''Information on how SSIDs are structured'''

== MSN TV 2 ==
* '''Any information on the various "protocols" used by the MSN TV 2 service. They're desperately needed at this point'''
* '''Any information on how the original boot ROMs and firmware worked'''
* Any other information you have on the device

Main Page

2022-09-12T19:54:54Z

JarHead:

Archived Updates

2022-09-12T19:54:44Z

JarHead:

Older site updates that'd otherwise clutter the front page.

----

'''IMPORTANT UPDATE - 1/21/2022:''' Hey all, wtv-411 here. I'll just be blunt and say that over the period of time this wiki has been up, I've gradually lost interest in actively maintaining it. Now that doesn't mean that I don't care about the wiki at all or won't applaud the massive progress that has been made with general WebTV/MSN TV preservation efforts since it went live (I mean, seriously, I was '''never''' expecting the wiki to get this much attention and get so much previously unknown or lost WebTV content archived at all). This also doesn't mean that I intend to take the wiki down or any nonsense like that. I feel taking it down would be a giant disservice for those who find it a valuable resource. It's just that for me, updating the wiki and helping with archival efforts alongside that has gotten very tiring and they're not things that have personally interested me much, save for the few times I messed with the hardware (i.e., when I spoofed part of the MSN TV 2 service directly from a thumb drive of all things, and also the time I made custom TellyScripts that spawned two [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0zeYgzQOW4 YouTube] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv36Y1Bg8N8 videos] showcasing them) and the initial findings of lost WebTV content that were genuinely amazing to obtain and archive. In fact, writing the first batch of pages got very tiring after finishing the WTVP pages (which honestly is the reason why I even went along with the idea of this wiki), and with a few exceptions, adding onto the wiki was more of a chore than anything that I felt passionate about. WebTV isn't something I'm personally invested in. I just find most retro tech in general fascinating, and WebTV has been kind of a personal "white whale" of mine for several years that I hoped to find proper information on, technical or otherwise. Ever since I made that dream a reality with the creation of this wiki, I feel like I've contributed as much as I'm able to with it and the overall WebTV archival efforts in the following months since then. For various personal reasons that I won't talk about, I also want to just focus on my life and put my energy towards things that I actually enjoy. What this means for the future of this wiki is: expect way less edits to pages and expect me to not get back to emails as often. I'll still try to keep this up in one form or another, I'll still try to eventually find a permanent home for the content archive, and I'll still be checking on the wiki at times to make sure it doesn't magically break or something, but don't expect me to make edits to pages anymore. I also won't be very active in the WebTV Discord anymore.

Not all hope is abandoned though. Around a week before the new year, I figured it'd be a good idea to make HM from the WebTV Discord an editor for this wiki. Dude's way more passionate about WebTV than I ever could be and seeing his work with the WebTV Discord and archiving WebTV content on a private FTP server he runs, I think I can actually put some trust in the guy. He should be keeping the wiki somewhat up to date in the future, and he'll also continue posting on the 411 WebTV channel and will also be checking the email for any important stuff that I should reply to. For now, I'll also be checking in on any updates with WebTV preservation efforts from time to time and proofread any wiki edits from HM. That's as much as I'll be willing to continue doing, however. Running this wiki for almost a year has been an exciting, wild, and stressful experience, and I'm glad there's a community of WebTV loving people that'll still keep some interest up. I'll also just put this out there and say that I should not have started this wiki out by sprinkling in patronizing comments about "getting back at the WebTV scene" and nasty comments about them. The scene has its own issues and I don't agree with everything it's done with WebTV over the years, but I believe I could've done a much better job at addressing that than making personal insults towards them on the wiki that were more or less to convince people that they were bad. That was not good for the reputation of this wiki and also for my own personal mental health, and I've stopped doing that crap since. It's been fun, everyone!

'''UPDATE - 12/16/2021:''' We've done something that we thought we would never be able to. We were able to simulate some of the MSN TV 2 login process, and we didn't even need any web servers for this! Check out the shocking evidence at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWxO_8-0zOU.

'''UPDATE - 11/28/2021:''' Major news! With the help of natalie/agirisan, we were able to salvage the contents of a Sony INT-WJ200 box's hard drive, and we not only got a TellyScript out of it, but two Japanese WebTV firmware builds and other goodies we'll eventually cover in the future. TellyScript is named "JP_WTV_20000616.tok" on the content archive under "First-Gen WebTV and MSN TV > TellyScripts and DialScripts", and the builds are now uploaded to the WebTV/MSN TV ROM collection on Archive.org (which you should be able to find with a simple Google search).

[https://archive.org/details/wtvromassembler-emac WTVROMAssembler] and the [https://archive.org/details/webtv-romfs-lib ROMFS libraries] are now on Archive.org, which should ensure that they stay preserved outside of the confines of our content archive.

'''UPDATE - 8/22/2021:''' After much stalling, most of the original files for the 1997 and 1998 WebTV Plus interactive demos are now available to download at Archive.org. The files for the original 1997 version are available at https://archive.org/details/webtv-plus-demo-1997, and the files for the 1998 version are available at https://archive.org/details/webtv-plus-demo-1998. Note that the uploads do not have all files available as the current tool that made extracting them possible ([http://turdinc.kicks-ass.net/Msntv/eMac/index.html WebTV Partition Editor]) is known to have issues reading certain files or directories from WebTV/MSN TV disk images.

'''UPDATE - 8/7/2021:''' We finally got around to writing a guide on imaging hard drives in WebTV/MSN TV boxes, which'll be useful to those who simply want to make backups and for those who are willing to send the images to us and let us salvage any important WebTV/MSN TV data off them for preservation purposes (see Wanted on the sidebar for more info). Guide is available at [[Backing Up WebTV (MSN TV) Hard Drives]].

'''UPDATE - 7/3/2021:''' An earlier version of a clip from the 2.1.1 WebTV Plus demo has been [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxWq3e7ogaU uploaded] to the 411 WebTV YouTube channel. Also look forward to the files for said demo being uploaded to the content archive pretty soon. ;)

'''UPDATE - 6/23/2021:''' A WebTV/MSN TV ROM part assembler tool written by eMac is now up on the content archive.

'''UPDATE - 6/20/2021:''' Some official service documentation from WebTV/MSN TV has been uploaded to the content archive. This includes two revisions of the humorously named "Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom", which are also available for [[Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom|direct viewing]] from our web server.

We also added a Japanese Dreamcast TellyScript sample to our content archive under the TellyScripts folder in "First-Gen WebTV and MSN TV", if anyone cares.

'''UPDATE - 6/17/2021:''' All currently available WebTV/MSN TV Viewer installers have been uploaded to the content archive.

'''UPDATE - 5/30/2021:''' A collection of clipart available from the WebTV/MSN TV Page Builder service has now been archived on both the content archive and [https://archive.org/details/WebtvPageBuilderClipart Archive.org].

'''UPDATE - 5/14/2021 (cont.):''' The MPEG clips used in the 2.1.1 WebTV Plus demo have now been individually uploaded to the [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1jnxspsT5mZFatolUcScwA 411 WebTV YouTube channel] (which I and a friend, H.M., operate), which also includes the splash videos left out of the MPEG compilation video that were used on boxes that'd carry the demo (currently known to include Sony, Philips Magnavox, and Mitsubishi). Feel free to take a gander and look at any of the uploads if you're interested. I also learned that the original MPEGs are wonky in that they don't play on normal media players (the default Windows 10 app and VLC play them and immediately stop, WMP only plays the audio), and for some reason all have the FPS set to 5, which made conversion to MP4 a bit confusing at first. Using 15fps seems to work well enough, though. Still considering uploading the MPEGs to the content archive soon, though, obviously now with the knowledge that they aren't conventionally playable.

'''UPDATE 5/13/2021:''' The ROMFS libraries hosted on our "The WebTV Files" content archive now come with two sample scripts that provide an easy command-line interface for extracting and rebuilding ROMFS data.
* '''UPDATE 1.5 - 5/14/2021:''' I would make this its own update but since I feel it's not too major to clutter this page with individual updates I'll group it under yesterday's update. The original MPEG videos used for that 2.1.1 WebTV Plus demo (the one with the cheesy narrator voice) have been ripped and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hyaONYABq0 uploaded to YouTube] in a high quality compilation (along with the background music used for the menu screen in said demo). Plans to upload the raw MPEG files and to upload them individually to YouTube are being considered.

'''UPDATE 5/6/2021:''' The firmware and boot ROM collection for first-gen WebTV/MSN TV that we got a hold of last month has now been published to the Internet Archive: [https://archive.org/details/WebtvMsntvRomCollection https://archive.org/details/WebtvMsntvRomCollection]

'''UPDATE - 4/24/2021:''' We have two major announcements to break to you all. First off, we've moved our host for our "The WebTV Files" archive from Google Drive to MEGA. The initial motive for considering this was more of a personal choice but with a major breakthrough (to us) that happened to take place yesterday, we figured moving there sooner would be beneficial to us. All old Google Drive links for our archive have since been replaced with MEGA ones.

Speaking of major breakthrough, '''we've received a crap load of ROM images that cover more hardware types and builds'''. These ROMs have since been dumped into our content archive, and a great thanks to Zefie, a WebTV scene member, for making this all possible. We got in contact with him for something completely different originally (MSNTV 2 info), but he couldn't be of assistance for that as he didn't have much interest in what we were after anyway. He did manage to be helpful with shedding more information about first-gen WebTV though, and we were shocked when he was considering sending a good portion of his ROM archive to us. The RARs Zefie sent us were 13 gigabytes alone, and when everything was uncompressed the data was so large that we figured relying on Google Drive's 15 GB of storage at this point wasn't viable, hence the sudden move to MEGA as they offer 50 gigs of storage for free users now it appears (it's also much better to manage files there than on Google Drive). We're still far from having a complete archive of this data, or anything else WebTV-related for that matter, but this definitely helped us pick up the pace a little and we hope more people will eventually contribute their own information as time goes on.

Thanks

2022-09-12T19:52:59Z

JarHead:

This page is dedicated to thanking the people who helped with my efforts, people who I think are cool, or those who simply supported me during all this. Especially with how information and revival attempts for WebTV/MSN TV and products around its time aren't exactly being treated with care, it's been rough trying to put this thing together while not submitting to the urge of quitting due to the amount of doubt pressing onto me about if this will really do anything aside from collect dust. I can't thank any of you enough for being there for me with this.

----

'''Thanks to:'''

* The few in the WebTV/MSN TV hacking scene who bothered to take the subject seriously. ulTRAX, eMac, and the guy who's developing that private first-gen WebTV/MSN TV revival server are a few names that pop into my head. While I might not be fond of the scene's overall habit of gatekeeping most critical information they find, I'm grateful all 3 of these people went out of their way to document and share whatever service/technical info they did bother to publicize, even if some of it had to be revealed years later and/or in private to me (wiki admin) directly. I've only ever talked to eMac and the guy running the private server though.
** I'd like to especially thank zefie and eMac for contributing a large amount of crucial WebTV/MSN TV information and data, whether it be to us directly or indirectly - WebTV/MSN TV binaries, info on some file formats, info on parts of WTVP, info on the hardware and ROM structures, and various tools that make working with WebTV/MSN TV content easier. They were definitely a great help in bringing all this info to light.

* The many people that operated sites covering what WebTV/MSN TV service URLs and page codes existed, which at least give a basic idea of how the service was structured and made my job of research on the service (sort of) less hard.

* [https://www.fadden.com Andy McFadden] for providing all current technical information on the [[TellyScript]] format.

* Everyone who has provided WebTV/MSN TV hard drive images for us to extract endangered content from, or other important information concerning WebTV/MSN TV as a whole.

* The friends and other people who encouraged me to go with this idea. While some might think that it isn't worth documenting anything about WebTV/MSN TV, it really is an interesting technology to explore, and it had a chance to be properly revisited and documented when the private WebTV/MSN TV servers by zefie and MattMan69 went up. I didn't even want to make a giant wiki with all this information as I felt it'd all be useless and in vain, but I've finally gotten to my senses and whether this attracts more people or not, I want to at least leave this information up so it never disappears. Sort of like a gem hiding in the sea of other WebTV/MSN TV crap.

* H.M. for making the WebTV/MSN TV Discord server (you know who you are)

* Internet Archive for preserving what it could get from those WebTV/MSN TV scene sites that no longer exist. Without it there probably wouldn't be as much WTVP info to build off of when the wiki first went live.

* The other bits and bobs of what remain of the information on WebTV/MSN TV that still exist on the internet.

* '''YOU''', for taking the time to look at this wiki. :)

WTVP

2022-09-12T17:09:18Z

JarHead:

{{WTVPNav}}

WTVP, or the '''W'''eb'''TV''' '''P'''rotocol, is the protocol that clients from the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV (boxes/Viewer/Dreamcast) use to access the WebTV/MSN TV network and content hosted by it, and is also the protocol that is understood by frontend servers in the WebTV/MSN TV service architecture. WTVP operates on top of TCP and is based on the [https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1945 HTTP 1.0 protocol], adding its own extensions on top of it such as persistent connections, encryption and authentication "using a shared secret"[http://web.archive.org/web/20190915174055/http://www.owlriver.com/casestudy/msdetails.html#_Toc462642186], compression, ticket-based authorization, and specialized headers designed to trigger certain commands on WebTV/MSN TV clients. Content delivered by WTVP can be in any format, be it proprietary formats specifically designed for WebTV/MSN TV clients or otherwise. Pages designed to be viewed by the end user, though, are usually served as HTML, with dynamic portions on said pages usually being generated server-side with the HTML or utilizing JavaScript when being loaded on the browser.

Information on this protocol and how it was exactly designed to work is very sparse as of writing. If you have any crucial information on this protocol or anything pertaining to it, then [[Wanted|don't hesitate to send it over to us!]]

== Format ==
Seeing as WTVP is heavily based off of HTTP 1.0, many concepts from that have been carried over to WTVP with barely any differences, such as headers, methods, and status codes. This leaves the general format of the protocol unchanged. The most important things to note, though, are that WTVP messages are still based on a human-readable, line-separated format, messages do not carry a version parameter as usually seen in HTTP messages, and a delimiter is used to separate lines in protocol messages. In messages sent by the client, the delimiter is a CRLF sequence (<code>\r\n</code>), but in server messages, it's believed that it was reduced to a single line feed (<code>\n</code>). Clients will accept server messages using CRLF as the delimiter regardless.

=== Requests ===
WTVP requests follow a similar format to HTTP 1.0's requests. They consist of a method to perform the request with, a path identifying the resource being requested, headers, and if appropriate, an entity body. Headers are essential to most WTVP communication and allow frontend servers to tell the client what it should do or what information to store. Entity bodies, however, are for the most part optional in WTVP. Known supported methods in WTVP are <code>GET</code>, <code>POST</code>, <code>HELP</code>, and <code>SECURE</code>. [http://web.archive.org/web/20041026232010/http://ubergeek03.mine.nu/WebTV/WebTVPHeaders.html] <code>GET</code> and <code>POST</code> requests follow this format:

{METHOD} {PATH}\r\n
[Header1: value\r\n]
[...]
[HeaderN: value\r\n]
\r\n
[BODY]

The path in a WTVP request can either be a service URL (<code>wtv-XXX:/</code>), an absolute path (<code>/xxx/yyy/...</code>), or any standard URI (like "<nowiki>http://www.example.com</nowiki>"). Headers can be a mix of standard HTTP headers and WTVP's proprietary headers, and you can find a list of all known headers used by WTVP on this wiki ("Headers > Header List" on the top-right menu), and additionally, a list of [[Common WTVP Request Headers|commonly observed headers]] usually sent in WTVP requests by both the Viewer and boxes. The entity body is usually only present in WTVP server responses if necessary, or <code>POST</code> requests sent to a frontend server. If the entity body is present in a request, then a <code>Content-length</code> header must be present containing the numeric length of the entity body, and a <code>Content-type</code> header can be present as well to identify the type of data being transported.

Getting to how <code>SECURE</code> requests are formatted, those are a bit different from <code>GET</code> and <code>POST</code> requests in that they have expected headers which are almost always sent with the request. A <code>SECURE</code> request will look like the following (headers we believe that are expected are marked in bold in the example):

SECURE ON\r\n
Accept-Language: en-US,en\r\n
'''wtv-ticket: ''{wtv-ticket}''\r\n'''
wtv-connect-session-id: 1499ac58\r\n
'''wtv-client-serial-number: ''{SSID}''\r\n'''
'''wtv-encryption: true\r\n'''
'''wtv-capability-flags: ''{capability flags}''\r\n'''
wtv-system-version: 16250\r\n
wtv-client-rom-type: US-BPS-flashdisk-0MB-8MB-softmodem-CPU5230\r\n
wtv-client-bootrom-version: 2525\r\n
wtv-system-chipversion: 84017152\r\n
wtv-system-sysconfig: 3133702\r\n
wtv-system-cpuspeed: 147993946\r\n
wtv-disk-size: 3990\r\n
wtv-script-id: 1611862638\r\n
wtv-script-mod: 1587909919\r\n
'''wtv-incarnation:47\r\n'''
\r\n

For <code>SECURE</code> requests, the area where the path would be is now replaced with the string "ON". They also don't carry any data for specific requests alone. <code>SECURE</code> requests simply signal a frontend server to start intercepting encrypted RC4 streams for actual requests, and after being sent once to a connected frontend server, a client will simply continue to send the encrypted form of further data without any preceding request. The encryption method is discussed further in this page under "SECURE method (encryption)."

So far, we do not know how the <code>HELP</code> method works, nor do we have any captures of WTVP requests using this method or any confirmation on if it's a valid method at all.

=== Responses ===
WTVP responses are also similar to HTTP 1.0's, consisting of a status code, a string explaining the aforementioned status code ("reason phrase"), headers, and an entity body, the last two being optional. The rules of the entity body requiring <code>Content-length</code> headers and allowing <code>Content-type</code> headers also apply to responses. The status code in the original RFC draft for HTTP 1.0 is expected to be 3 digits, but WTVP's status codes appear to be variable length since 4-digit status codes have been observed in network traffic as well.

{STATUS} {REASON}\n
[Header1: value\n]
[...]
[HeaderN: value\n]
\n
[BODY]

The delimiter used to end lines in official server responses is believed to be a single line feed as opposed to the CRLF combination seen in client messages, and while clients might accept server responses with CRLF delimiters nonetheless, WTVP data snippets on this wiki will reflect the single line feed in server messages for accuracy.

For certain status codes, the WebTV/MSN TV firmware will simply use the reason phrase as the message to show to the end-user.

WTVP responses commonly carry a <code>Connection</code> header with the value <code>Keep-Alive</code>, but the purpose of this header being there exactly is unknown, assuming that WTVP inherently allowed persistent connections by design.

<code>SECURE</code> responses from our research follow the same format as plaintext ones. When transporting encrypted data in the entity body, though, the response has expected headers like with the <code>SECURE</code> requests (expected headers are marked in bold):

{STATUS} {REASON}\n
Connection: Keep-Alive\n
'''wtv-encrypted: true\n'''
'''wtv-lzpf: 0\n'''
'''Content-length: ''{content-length}''\n'''
Content-type: ''{content-type}''\n
[...]
\n
{BODY}

The <code>wtv-lzpf</code> header in these responses is not strictly linked to encryption, and is used to compress response bodies. In this case, the service compresses the actual data before encrypting it and sending it over the wire.

A list of currently known status codes and their reason phrases is linked in the top right menu as "Status Codes".

== Command Headers ==
An interesting use of certain headers by WTVP is having them act as small commands to manipulate the WebTV/MSN TV client, and usually having multiple of them in sequence. These headers will be referred to as "command headers" on this wiki. These are used in situations where the server has to instruct the client to perform a command or a sequence of commands, like reboot, flush its cache, or update its service list. Any headers on the [[WTVP/Headers/List|Header List]] page that we consider to function as a command header will have an appropriate column marked to label it as such.

== Service Identification ==
WTVP services on the server-side are separated by an identifier and individual ports, rather than through 100% physical means, as in different machines are not always expected to handle individual services. This is especially true in the original service architecture as several services often got "pooled" onto a single frontend server to reduce costs. Most services would be identified with a "wtv-" prefix, and a short name to identify what content the service hosts (e.g., "wtv-1800" for registration of new clients, "wtv-head-waiter" for the headwaiter service, "wtv-home" for home page content, etc.). Technically though, they can take on any name, which is especially the case for the proxies used for web browsing by WebTV/MSN TV clients, like with the HTTP proxies using the "http" identifier and FTP proxies using the "ftp" identifier, to name a couple. A service can also have multiple identifiers, like how "wtv-chat" has the alternate identifier of "wtvchat" (note the lack of a hyphen).

The URI for these services on the WebTV/MSN TV network use their identifier followed by a colon and optionally, one or two forward slashes based on our knowledge of how WebTV/MSN TV handled URIs. In the case of internal service content, this allowed service pages to reference said content without the risk of letting anyone easily access it outside the network.

A list of known WTVP services is linked in the top right menu as "List of WTVP Services".

== Compression ==
WTVP can compress responses bodies if needed. The algorithm used to compress responses is known as "LZPF", based on the Huffman compression algorithm. While no proper documentation on this compression method exists on the internet as of now, the [https://archive.org/details/webtv-romfs-lib ROMFS libraries on archive.org] do have a library for LZPF written in Python. The criteria that makes response data eligible for compression isn't entirely clear.

It is assumed that a WTVP response is compressed if the <code>wtv-lzpf</code> header is present. The <code>Content-length</code> header won't match the length of the compressed data in this case as well. The data will have to be buffered as soon as it arrives from the network transport, and then has to be uncompressed for the client to determine if the length of the plaintext data it has matches with the one specified in <code>Content-length</code>.

== Web Browsing ==
To allow WebTV/MSN TV clients to access web sites outside the WebTV/MSN TV intranet, a proxy service running on top of WTVP will be defined in the service list for whatever protocols the service supports for proxying, which the client will use to access those external sites. So far it's been recorded that WebTV/MSN TV had proxy services for HTTP, FTP, and Gopher. Not much documentation on how the proxy services worked is available at the moment, though.

== Security ==
=== Ticket-based authorization (wtv-ticket) ===
Authorization for WTVP services past the headwaiter involve one global header: the <code>wtv-ticket</code> header. For more information: [[WTVP/Tickets]]

=== SECURE method (encryption) ===
The <code>SECURE</code> method is to WTVP as HTTPS is to HTTP. It allows both a WebTV/MSN TV client and the servers to communicate with an encryption layer, protecting messages from being intercepted on the wire. Encryption involves RC4, a <code>wtv-incarnation</code> sequence number incremented and sent with initial WTVP messages (both plaintext and <code>SECURE ON</code> messages) on first opening a connection to a frontend server, and two session keys generated for the client's session obtained during the [[WTVP/Processes/Headwaiter#Challenge/Response|challenge/response process]] (which are also included in [[WTVP/Tickets|tickets]]). When the client receives the <code>wtv-challenge</code> on the headwaiter login service, two special 16-byte values are sent along with the other challenge information. These are the two session keys needed to encrypt and decrypt <code>SECURE</code> WTVP messages. Immediately after the client sends the challenge response to the headwaiter do messages start being encrypted, with subsequent responses sent from the headwaiter being encrypted as well, and the client is free to send any <code>SECURE</code> requests to further services that support it.

To encrypt a WTVP message, the <code>wtv-incarnation</code> value and one of the session keys must be used, depending on what message is being encrypted. The first session key from the challenge is used exclusively for entire client -> server messages, and the second one used exclusively for entity body data from server messages, if applicable. <code>wtv-incarnation</code> is packed into a big-endian 32-bit value, and that and the chosen session key are then transformed and hashed with MD5 to create the resulting encryption key, in a manner shown by the following psuedocode:

MD5(WTV_SESSION_KEY + INCARNATION + WTV_SESSION_KEY)

RC4 encryption is then used to encrypt WTVP messages (or just entity body data for server -> client messages), using the MD5 hash generated earlier as a key.

Encrypted messages are treated as a constant stream, where they have to be decrypted as they are sent and then buffered to make sure messages are fully received.

Smart Card

2022-09-12T15:43:07Z

JarHead:

Smart Cards were used on the first-generation WebTV/MSN TV service to take the user to a site, set up ISP options, etc. They were rarely utilized, and removed from MSNTV 2 later.

== Overview ==
When a Smart Card is inserted into the WebTV/MSN TV receiver, it will show a message on the screen with the Smart Card name and a progress bar. In the background, it's contacting the URL from the <code>wtv-smartcard-inserted-url</code> header, which is usually <code>wtv-smartcard:/insert</code>. The box will POST the raw data read from the card to the URL (sometimes the box will base64 encode the data, but the reasoning for this is unknown), which will then decode it and return either a wtv-smartcard page with an error/confirmation page, or a redirect to somewhere else. In some cases, the box will send an error header (e.g: "error="-68") if something goes wrong.

== Structure ==
For now, we'll be focusing on Go To cards, as that's what we have info on.

This is the data stored on a Go To Smart Card:
<code>2Gÿt�Sony Value G�i999999</code>

We can break this data up into several parts to get all the data that the server decodes.

The first byte is the Smart Card generation, which appears to always be 2 except for a special type of Go To card, which uses generation 1. "Generation" is assumed to refer to the data format for the card, not a different version of Smart Cards themselves.

The second byte is the Smart Card type, which is (G)o To in this case. Other observed values include (O)penISP and (A)ffinity.

ÿ appears to be a separator, which is followed by t�, which defines the start of the Smart Card title.

G�i appears to stand for "Go To ID", which is the ID for the Go To card. The ID has a corresponding URL that is stored on the server. If the ID is unknown, then a message about the Smart Card being expired or not yet active is sent to the client. The reasoning for this approach appears to be due to the size limit of Smart Cards (around 25 bytes) and so malicious cards can't be spread around.

So, to recap:

Card Generation: 2
Card Type: G
Card Title: Sony Value
Card ID: 999999

Smart Card

2022-09-12T15:41:32Z

JarHead: Smart Card

Smart Cards were used on the first-generation WebTV/MSN TV service to take the user to a site, set up ISP options, etc. They were rarely utilized, and removed from MSNTV 2 later.

== Overview ==
When a Smart Card is inserted into the WebTV/MSN TV receiver, it will show a message on the screen with the Smart Card name and a progress bar. In the background, it's contacting the URL from the <code>wtv-smartcard-inserted-url</code> header, which is usually <code>wtv-smartcard:/insert</code>. The box will POST the raw data read from the card to the URL (sometimes the box will base64 encode the data, but the reasoning for this is unknown), which will then decode it and return either a wtv-smartcard page with an error/confirmation page, or a redirect to somewhere else. In some cases, the box will send an error header (e.g: "error="-68") if something goes wrong.

== Structure ==
For now, we'll be focusing on Go To cards, as that's what we have info on.

This is the data stored on a Go To Smart Card:
<code>2Gÿt�Sony Value G�i999999</code>

We can break this data up into several parts to get all the data that the server decodes.

The first byte is the Smart Card generation, which appears to always be 2 except for a special type of Go To card, which uses generation 1. "Generation" is assumed to refer to the data format for the card.

The second byte is the Smart Card type, which is (G)o To in this case. Other observed values include (O)penISP and (A)ffinity.

ÿ appears to be a separator, which is followed by t�, which defines the start of the Smart Card title.

G�i appears to stand for "Go To ID", which is the ID for the Go To card. The ID has a corresponding URL that is stored on the server. If the ID is unknown, then a message about the Smart Card being expired or not yet active is sent to the client. The reasoning for this approach appears to be due to the size limit of Smart Cards (around 25 bytes) and so malicious cards can't be spread around.

So, to recap:

Card Generation: 2
Card Type: G
Card Title: Sony Value
Card ID: 999999

WTVP/Headers/List

2022-09-12T15:10:07Z

JarHead:

{{WTVPNav}}

List of known recorded WTVP headers. Most have been copied from http://web.archive.org/web/20041026232010/http://ubergeek03.mine.nu/WebTV/WebTVPHeaders.html, but we've contributed some previously unknown headers we've been able to observe, along with adding descriptions and command header classifications for all headers.

Got any information you'd like to contribute to this? [[Wanted|Send it over to us]] and it might be added onto here.

{| class="wikitable"
! Header Name !! Description !! Type !! [[WTVP#Command_Headers|Command Header?]] !! Server? !! Client?
|-
| Accept-Language || Standard HTTP header || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| Connection || Standard HTTP header. WTVP was designed with persistent connections in mind, but official WNI servers have been seen sending a <code>Keep-Alive</code> Connection header in responses nonetheless || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| Content-length || Standard HTTP header || integer || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| Content-type || Standard HTTP header || string || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| Date || Standard HTTP header. Probably only present when connecting through Microsoft TV services || timestamp || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| Expires || Standard HTTP header || timestamp || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| User-Agent || Standard HTTP header || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| mstv-checkurl-mode || Value currently observed as "1". Only seen when connecting through Microsoft TV services. Function unknown || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| mstv-client-caps || Only seen when connecting through Microsoft TV services. Function unknown || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| mstv-listing-id || Value currently observed as "C1020". Only seen when connecting through Microsoft TV services. Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| passport-domain || Domain name of the Passport account (now Microsoft account) linked to the current WebTV/MSN TV subscriber/user account || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| user-id || Appears to be a long string of numbers || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-addresses-url || Contains a service URL for listing all the user's stored addresses. Addresses are sent with the name, followed by a null byte, then the address with another null byte at the end. This is used for the Address panel. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-mail:/addresslist</code>. || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ahuf || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-allow-dsc || Value currently observed as "true". Function unknown || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-backgroundmusic-add || Specifies sound files as selected by the subscriber/user to add to the background music queue || URL || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-backgroundmusic-clear || Apparently clears backlog of predefined background music to play. Value currently observed as "no_zits" || string || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-backgroundmusic-load-playlist || Sets a service URL that does something with the background music. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-setup:/load-playlist</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-backgroundmusic-remove || Probably similar to wtv-backgroundmusic-add but for removing queued background music || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-boot-message-led-state || Sets the state of the message light. Value currently observed as "blinkSlow". Need more documentation on this || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-boot-url || Value currently observed as <code>wtv-head-waiter:/login</code>. Need more documentation on this || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-bypass-proxy || ??? || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-capability-flags || A hexadecimal string that [[Capability Flags|identifies the capabilities of a WebTV/MSN TV client]], and affects how the service functions on it. Need more documentation on this || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-ccs || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-challenge || A structured BLOB value that's sent by the server during the headwaiter login stage. Starts the [[WTVP/Processes/Headwaiter#Challenge/Response|challenge/response process]]. When decrypted, it contains random "challenge data" that has to be sent back in the challenge response, along with two sessions keys needed to facilitate <code>SECURE</code> communication, among other data. || BLOB || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-challenge-response || Used during the headwaiter [[WTVP/Processes/Headwaiter#Challenge/Response|challenge/response process]] to respond to the challenge with another structured BLOB value that is verified by the server. Sends back the "challenge data" from the wtv-challenge encrypted with the initial key. || BLOB || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-check-url || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-clickthru-redirect || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-client-address || Has an IP address of sorts, presumably of the box connecting to the server || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-client-bootrom-version || An integer that identifies… the boot ROM version? || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-client-date || Human-readable timestamp in GMT, most likely the date of when the subscriber/user successfully logged on. Need more documentation on this || timestamp || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-client-rom-type || Identifies the ROM type a WebTV/MSN TV box is running || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-client-serial-number || [[Silicon Serial ID|SSID]] of the WebTV/MSN TV box - identifies who is sending a WTVP request || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-client-time-zone || Time zone, either of the user's location or the server, in both name and offset (e.g., "PDT -0700") || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-connection-timeout || Value currently observed as "90". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-connect-session-id || Some hexadecimal value we can't figure out the purpose of. Function unknown || string || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-country || Two-letter country code. Most of the time it's just set to "US" though. Need more documentation on this || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-datadownload-checktimeoffset || ??? || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-datadownload-login-url || Contains the URL the box accesses when connecting for DataDownload. Value currently observed as wtv-head-waiter:/login?DataDownload=1. Also used to unlock TV Home on WebTV Plus boxes and change the offline home page on WebTV Dreamcast. || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-datadownload-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-disk:/download-list</code>. Function unknown || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-demo-mode || Value currently observed as "0". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-doug || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-edit-addresses-url || specifies the URL used for the "Edit Addresses" button in the Address panel. || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-enable-jellyscript || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-encrypted || Sent by the server most likely to tell the WebTV/MSN TV box if a response is encrypted || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-encryption || Tells the server if the WebTV/MSN TV box can understand encrypted communication (<code>SECURE</code> method?). Resulting behavior unknown || boolean || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-execute-tellyscript-now || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-expire || Expires the specified page in the box's page cache. || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-expire-all || Similar to wtv-expire, but expires all assets for a page as well. Is also used to expire entire page types in some cases (e.g: wtv-expire-all: wtv-) || URL || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-explanation-url || Only observed in error responses. Contains a service URL that so far is only known to point to the <code>wtv-guide</code> service. Most likely used to give the subscriber/user a page describing the error they encountered || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-explore-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-explore2:/top</code>. Function unknown || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-fader-timeout || Value currently observed as "900". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-favorite-index-url || Contains a service URL related to the <code>wtv-favorite</code> service. Used for the F keys on the keyboard. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-favorite:/favorite-index?</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-favorites-folders-url || Contains a service URL related to the <code>wtv-favorite</code> service. Used for the list of favorites on the save panel. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-favorite:/list-folders</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-favorite-url || Contains a service URL related to the <code>wtv-favorite</code> service. This is used to define the Favorites page that should be used for the "Favs" button on the keyboard. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-favorite:/favorite</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-field-name || Appears to contain the name of another WTVP header or variable sent in a <code>POST</code> request. Possibly used for detailing protocol errors. Need more documentation on this || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-filter || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-force-heavyweight-targets || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-force-lightweight-targets || Value currently observed as <code>webtv.net:/</code>. Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-goto-url || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-home-url || Contains the service URL designated to be the service home page. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-home:/home</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-https-proxy || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-human-name || First and last name specified on a subscriber/user account || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-inactive-timeout || Value currently observed as "0". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-incarnation || A counter sent and incremented on each first connection to a frontend server. This is needed to create the encryption key for <code>SECURE</code> communication. || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-initial-key || A small opaque, 8-byte BLOB sent during pre-registration. Facilitates [[WTVP/Processes/Headwaiter#Challenge/Response|challenge/response]] on the headwaiter. || BLOB || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-input-timeout || Values currently observed are "86400" and "14400". Function unknown || integer || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-irc-nick || IRC nickname defined on subscriber/user account for usage with WebTV/MSN TV IRC services || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-language-header || Value currently observed as "en-US,en". Function unknown || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-link-transition-enabled || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-location || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-lockpage-override || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-login-timeout || Value currently observed as "7200". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logo-duration || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logo-input-interval || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logo-interval || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logon || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-logout-url || Contains a service URL designated for logout probably. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-logon:/logout</code>. Only seen when connecting through Microsoft TV services || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-log-url || Contains a service URL designated for usage logging services || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-lzpf || Observed in headers of encrypted/compressed responses. Usually has a value of 0. If present, the client uses the Huffman-based "LZPF" algorithm to decompress response data. || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-mail-count || Stores how many unread messages the user has. On the choose a user screen, this header contains the total of all unread mail for all users, otherwise it only has unread mail for the currently signed in user. This also controls the message light. || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-mail-url || Contains a service URL designated for mail service. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-mail:/listmail</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messagewatch-checktimeoffset || Offset in seconds since midnight for MessageWatch activation. || integer || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messagewatch-url || Contains a service URL designated for "MessageWatch". Value currently observed as <code>wtv-head-waiter:/login?MessageWatch=1</code>. Need more documentation on this || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-authorized || Tells the box if the subscriber/user is authorized to use the Messenger feature. 1 - authorized; 0 - not authorized || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-connect-timeout || Value currently observed as "240". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-enable || Tells the box if the subscriber/user has the Messenger feature enabled. 1 - enabled; 0 - disabled || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-login-url || Defines what service URL should be accessed for [[Services/Technical/Messenger#WTVP|Messenger login]]. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-passport:/messengerlogin</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-open-conversation-timeout || Value currently observed as "240". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-passportd-timeout || Value currently observed as "240". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-retry-timeout || Value currently observed as "20". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-messenger-server || Defines what hostname the client should use for accessing the [[Services/Technical/Messenger|Messenger service]]. The servers this would point to were a part of the MSN/Windows Live Messenger service, a completely different offering that happened to be owned by Microsoft, and is completely separate from WebTV/MSN TV || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-moviesearch-url || Contains a service URL designated for "moviesearch" - probably some ancillary and completely useless feature. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-content:/redirect?req-id=find-movie</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-msnchat-nick || The nickname used for accessing [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSN_Chat MSN Chat] services within WebTV/MSN TV. It appears to be similar to the value of the <code>wtv-irc-nick</code> header but with a ">" tacked onto the beginning of it (e.g., ">wtv-nick") || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-name-server || Defines an IP to use for DNS lookup. Probably not a command header, but multiple instances of this header can exist to define multiple DNS servers || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-next-reconnect-url || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-noads-targets || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-noback || Similar to wtv-noback, but can be used to disallow all of one page type (e.g: <code>wtv-noback-all: wtv-</code>). || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-noback-all || Value currently observed as "wtv-". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-notifications-url || Value currently observed as <code>wtv-notices:/notices</code>. Function unknown || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-nvstorage-dump || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| [[WTVP/Headers/wtv-offline-user-list|wtv-offline-user-list]] || Base64-encoded string. When decoded, it reveals an XML string containing a list of users a WebTV/MSN TV subscriber currently has, including their user ID, username, first/last name, password, and if they have access to mail services. Need more documentation on this || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-open-access || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-open-isp-disabled || Value currently observed as "false". Function unknown || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-phone-log-url || Contains a service URL. Values currently observed are <code>wtv-log:/phone-log</code> on successful login, and a URL along the lines of <code>wtv-1800:/post-phone-log?t-baggage-parms=ani-950000000000,ethernet-ani-4156145500,subscriber-id-14331444</code>. It's been observed when the header is present in a response, on a WebTV Viewer at least, it will immediately query said service. Most likely used for usage logging || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-preregistration-number || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-printer-model || Value currently observed as "-1,-1". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-printer-pen || Value currently observed as "0,0,1,0". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-printer-setup || Value currently observed as "0,0,1,0". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-print-log-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-log:/log</code>. Most likely used for usage logging || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-reconnect-url || Specifies the URL the box should access when reconnecting with the Reconnect panel. || URL || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-reload || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-reload-all || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-relogin-url || ??? || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-rename-url || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-request-rom-upgrade || ??? || ??? || ? || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-request-type || Known values observed are "primary" and "prefetch". Function unknown || string || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-script-id || Carries the "hash1" value from an installed [[TellyScript]] on the WebTV/MSN TV client, or defaults to 0 if one isn't present || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-script-mod || Carries the creation time (UNIX epoch) from an installed [[TellyScript]] on the WebTV/MSN TV client, or defaults to 0 if one isn't present || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-search-url || Contains a service URL most likely designated for the search page. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-center:/search-page</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-send-thumbnail-from || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-send-thumbnail-size || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-send-thumbnail-to || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| [[WTVP/Headers/wtv-service|wtv-service]] || Defines the services supported by the WebTV/MSN TV service, the IP addresses and corresponding ports they resided on, property flags, and the maximum connections that can be made from a service || string || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-service-cookie || Sent by server on successful login. Also possibly sent by the client. Need more documentation on this || BLOB || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-service-data || Appears to be an XML string with information on the user currently logged in. Only observed when logging on through Microsoft TV services || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-service-message || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-service-timeout || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-settings-url || Contains a service URL designated for account settings. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-setup:/get-settings</code>. Need more documentation on this || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-show-time || Values observed are "0" and "3". Function unknown. Contrary to eMac's write-up, this header doesn't seem to appear in server responses, and so far has only been observed in service requests. || ??? || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-show-time-enabled || Value currently observed as "true". Function unknown. || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-show-time-record || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-smartcard-inserted-message || Related to the (rarely utilized) WebTV/MSN TV smartcard feature. Value currently observed as "Contacting service". Need more documentation on this || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-smartcard-inserted-url || Related to the (rarely utilized) WebTV/MSN TV smartcard feature. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-smartcard:/insert</code>. WebTV Classic boxes require this header for inserted smartcards to function. Need more documentation on this || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-smartcard-removed-url || Related to the (rarely utilized) WebTV/MSN TV smartcard feature. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-smartcard:/remove</code>. Need more documentation on this || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spotad-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-spot:/get-ad</code>. Function unknown || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-clickthru-url || Contains a service URL. Values observed are <code>wtv-spot:/ad-clickthrough?ad-click-ref=%s</code> and <code>wtv-spot:/clkURL/%s</code>. Function unknown || URL || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-directive || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-doze || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-duty-cycle || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-impression-time || ??? || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-minimum-time || ??? || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-purge-queue || Probably does something with the WebTV/MSN TV box cache. Need more documentation on this || integer || Yes || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-queue-add || Value currently observed as <code>queue=1&adID=0000001102cbda8500000000&creative=[xxxxx]</code>. Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-spot-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-spot:/spot</code>. Function unknown || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ssl-certs-checksum || Contains a checksum possibly related to the certificate download defined by the <code>wtv-ssl-certs-download-url</code> header. Judging from the checksum length it's probably meant to be MD5. Need more documentation on this || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ssl-certs-download-url || Contains a service URL. Possibly used to allow the client to download new SSL root certificates. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-head-waiter:/download-ssl-certs</code> || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ssl-log-url || Contains a service URL. Value currently observed as <code>wtv-log:/log</code>. Most likely used for usage logging || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ssl-timeout || Value currently observed as "240". Function unknown || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-start-at-tourist-page || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-system-chipversion || ??? || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-system-cpuspeed || Probably has to do with CPU speed but if that's the case, it's not known how it's measured || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-system-sysconfig || ??? || integer || No || || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-system-version || ??? || integer || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-tcp-log-url || Possibly related to the other "log-url" headers, but no known documentation of this header in particular is out in the wild || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-ticket || An opaque blob value sent in WebTV/MSN TV service requests to verify sessions after login. Also known to be sent to a box during headwaiter login || BLOB || No || <center>X</center> || <center>X</center>
|-
| wtv-title || Used to specify the title in files that don't normally have them. Can be used in the headers of a service response or as a query for a file (e.g: <code>http://somesite.com/midi.mid?wtv-title=sometitle)</code> || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tmp-filesystem || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tourist-active || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tourist-enabled || ??? || boolean || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-transition || Only observed in packet captures when browsing between service pages. Currently observed values are "light" and "none". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-transition-override || Values currently observed are "normal" and "off". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-transition-page || Value currently observed as <code>wtv-home:/shared/transition/en-US/pageWithAd.html</code>. Function unknown || URL || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-transition-page-noad || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-trusted || Used to set trust on pages. For some reason, this header will distrust any page it gets sent with, regardless of if it's set to true or false. || boolean || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tvconnection-timeout || Value currently observed as "600". Function unknown || integer || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tv-vbidisable || VBI = Vertical Blanking Interval? Function unknown || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-tv-zipcode || Contains user's ZIP code, but probably isn't used by the service itself. Need more documentation on this || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-user-id || Probably similar to the <code>user-id</code> header. Need more documentation on this || ??? || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-user-inactive-warning-time || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-user-name || Username associated with WebTV/MSN TV account || string || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-user-requested-upgrade || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-videoad-path || ??? || ??? || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-videoad-playid || Value currently observed as a hexadecimal string. Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-videoad-playname || Value currently observed as a file name ending in ".mpg". Function unknown || string || ? || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-visit || WTVP's own version of the HTTP <code>Location</code> header used mainly to route the WebTV/MSN TV box to other service URLs on non-3xx responses || URL || No || <center>X</center> ||
|-
| wtv-zipcode || ZIP code of WebTV/MSN TV account || integer || No || <center>X</center> ||
|}

DINKY

2022-09-12T14:33:49Z

JarHead:

'''DINKY''' is an ASIC chip found primarily in "New Classic" WebTV/MSN TV boxes. It was designed in 1999 and made by Toshiba, basing the chip off of their 3.3/5V TC223 ASIC. What purpose it serves is currently unknown, but it's believed to be based off of the [[Solo]] chip found in WebTV Plus and Japanese WebTV boxes.

Boxes known to carry the DINKY chip:
* Sony INT-W150
* Philips Magnavox MAT965
* RCA RM2100 (MSN TV)

Wanted

2022-09-12T14:30:35Z

JarHead:

The WebTV/MSN TV wiki aims to record as much technical and general information on the WebTV and MSN TV technology and services as possible, and we don't plan to skip a beat while doing it. That's why we're counting on you, the reader, whoever you are, to help contribute any information or content you have about the hardware, service, or whatever else relating to WebTV/MSN TV for us to put on this wiki or elsewhere. We're mainly seeking out technical info on the service, firmware, and hardware itself, and things of interest we're especially after are listed below or on certain pages covering certain topics, will mention that you can contribute information regarding said topic, but anything else we haven't explicitly mentioned we need might be useful too. We are aware that some scene sites already have some of the content we're looking for, and we have already included information from some of them onto here. Scene sites in general, though, are not a reliable source of WebTV/MSN TV information or don't have what we're exactly looking for, so while for now we have to rely on them for some information, we don't treat them as gospel and neither should you.

If you have the content we're looking for, whether it be listed here or not, then we highly suggest you send it to us over e-mail at [mailto:webtvzonewiki@gmail.com webtvzonewiki@gmail.com]. If you happen to send stuff our way and we find it useful, we'll eventually add it to the wiki where appropriate, and for things like files and service content, we plan to upload what we can either to Archive.org and present the content as best as we can. In the future we might consider opening account registrations by request so people we can trust can contribute information directly.

----
== General ==
* '''Any clarifications on any information we got wrong. Information on WebTV/MSN TV, even outside the technical realm, is severely shrouded in vague information and room for interpretation. Lots of it. If you happen to be able to convince us to correct something we might have not known is incorrect, we'll happily accept it into the wiki'''

* '''Binaries of boot/client ROM upgrades, both for first-gen WebTV/MSN TV and the MSN TV 2. We'd prefer if these are sent to us in their original, downloadable formats and have information on what version they contain and what box type and manufacturer they were made for!'''

* '''Any copies of generated TellyScripts/DialScripts for first-gen WebTV/MSN TV, Microsoft TV-based services, UltimateTV, and MSN TV 2 (if those exist for that platform)'''

* '''Any information about or data from the WebTV, MSN TV, or MSN TV 2 servers.''' This will help us better understand how the services for each worked and possibly piece together their protocols.

* <del>Dumps of any removable media (HDD, CompactFlash, etc.), NVRAM, or flash ROM chips from any WebTV/MSN TV box. These dumps can expose crucial information or data such as TellyScripts, TV listings, service page assets, potentially unarchived firmware builds, and possibly even WebTV games (You Don't Know Jack, Doom, etc.). We'll be careful to not publicize any data with personally identifying information in it.</del> '''We aren't accepting hard drive/CompactFlash dumps at this time until further notice.''' We have enough data from WebTV disk images to work with and rest assured, they'll be used to their full extent eventually.

* '''Service page contents, information on how they worked, and assets loaded by them. This is both for first-gen WebTV/MSN TV and the MSN TV 2. For a basic idea of what services WebTV/MSN TV offered that we're seeking content and assets for, go browse our service image galleries ([[Services|First-gen WebTV/MSN TV]]; [[MSNTV 2/Services/Gallery|MSN TV 2]]).''' We want to be able to archive as much from them as possible and document how they worked and what content each of them offered, both for completion's sake. While some of the service page codes and most of the images they referenced have been archived over the years, most of the time, those who catalogued them didn't describe how pages and any other things they referenced had generated content. To add on to this, the page codes themselves are almost always a single static rip of one state of a specific page, and don't account for other states it could be in in certain scenarios (e.g., no mail in an inbox, no discussion posts in a newsgroup, or showing a first-time message for a specific service). Of course, since the main WebTV/MSN TV protocols (WTVP/MSN TV 2) played a part in functionality on some pages, service page codes alone won't magically rebuild everything. They'll definitely be a big help, though.

* Any info on lesser known WebTV/MSN TV variations (i.e., TracNet 100, Thomson eTV, Rogers Interactive TV, etc.)

* '''Any direct protocol captures of a WebTV/MSN TV box/viewer communicating with the original WebTV/MSN TV network.''' Preferred format for them is .pcap but any format will do. Protocol captures of any part of the service would be a big help to better understand how they worked and how content was generated to the end-user

* Information on how the WebTV Viewer software was hacked to allow connections to the WebTV/MSN TV network

* '''More information on the Messenger clients for both first-gen WebTV/MSN TV and the MSN TV 2'''

== First-Generation WebTV/MSN TV ==
* '''Any additional information on [[WTVP]] (WebTV Protocol), [[Mail Notify]], or other WebTV/MSN TV protocols'''
** For WTVP specifically, we'd also like info on the following, which includes but is not limited to:
*** Details for challenge/response method used on headwaiter
*** wtv-ticket data structure (if it has one)
*** wtv-token URLs
*** WTVP content proxies (HTTP, FTP, Gopher, etc.)
*** MSNP8 login service for WebTV/MSN TV Messenger
*** Information on how the <code>wtv-capability-flags</code> header functioned

* '''More detailed information on [[TellyScript]], [[ROM]]s (boot ROM, client ROM/flash upgrades), and other data formats WebTV/MSN TV relies on'''

* Information on proprietary WebTV/MSN TV hardware components (i.e., ROM chips, the [[Solo]] and [[DINKY]] ASICs used in WebTV boxes)

* '''Any information on the software and service used for the Japanese and Dreamcast releases of WebTV'''

* Any information on first-gen WebTV/MSN TV units that utilized broadband (e.g., Rogers Interactive TV)

* '''Information on how SSIDs are structured'''

== MSN TV 2 ==
* '''Any information on the various "protocols" used by the MSN TV 2 service. They're desperately needed at this point'''
* '''Any information on how the original boot ROMs and firmware worked'''
* Any other information you have on the device

Main Page

2022-09-12T14:07:15Z

JarHead:

Welcome to the WebTV/MSN TV Wiki! WebTV, later known as MSN TV, is an internet access device consisting of a set top box that utilized dial-up access (and later on, broadband), using a keyboard and remote for user input. It was also a specialized service complementing said devices that they would connect to for access to the general internet and WebTV/MSN TV's own online services. The product and service launched in 1996 as WebTV, and a year later the company behind this technology, WebTV Networks, was acquired by Microsoft. WebTV later became MSN TV circa 2001, and the entire service would eventually be discontinued on September 30, 2013. This wiki is '''NOT''' about the "WebTV for Windows" application bundled with Windows 98, which is essentially a souped up TV tuner, nor is this wiki about any video streaming services with "Web TV" in the name.

What we are accomplishing with this wiki is to seek out, collect, and document as much information as we can gather on the WebTV/MSN TV internet product's hardware, services, protocols, and other subjects concerning it. Much to the surprise of many, WebTV/MSN TV did indeed already have people focused on learning about the product and how it worked, primarily in its hacking scene. Up until 2021, however, only surface level information about the product and service (especially in regards to its many vulnerabilities), or basic writeups about the technical portions of WebTV/MSN TV were available for public consumption, with most information about WebTV/MSN TV either remaining undocumented, poorly preserved, or in regards to some technical information, circulated privately by select people, never to see the light of day. We're here to make up for that and make all information on WebTV/MSN TV <u>centralized</u>, <u>public</u>, and <u>easily accessible</u>, using information that we have been able to obtain from scene sites, from our own research, and in private from those who know a bit about the product/service. '''We are here to rip open the guts of the entire WebTV/MSN TV service and technology and make it known for all!'''

This wiki was originally run by an anonymous person, wtv-411, from early 2021 to September 2022. Ownership of the wiki has since been transferred to JarHead, and future updates to the wiki will be published here.

For now, this wiki will mostly focus on the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV (pre-MSN TV 2) technologies and services, and try to make sense of how they worked. We hope to extend on other information we have though, especially with information concerning the MSN TV 2 seeing as information on that variant of the product and corresponding service specifically is extremely endangered, moreso than the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV products to our knowledge.

----

Do you or someone you know have any crucial WebTV-related information we're seeking to preserve? Check out our [[Wanted]] page.

Interested in backing up your WebTV/UltimateTV/DishPlayer hard drives for any reason? Check out the guide we recently wrote on doing that: [[Backing Up WebTV (MSN TV) Hard Drives]].

Want to install Linux on an MSN TV 2 box? Check out [[Installing Linux on the MSN TV 2 (RM4100)]].

Join the [https://discord.gg/qke279EUa8 WebTV/MSN TV Discord server] or IRC channel on [https://libera.chat Libera.chat] (irc.libera.chat, channel <code>#WebTV</code>) to chat about anything WebTV/MSN TV.

----
'''IMPORTANT UPDATE - 9/11/2022:''' Hey everybody! I'm JarHead, the new operator of this wiki from now on. Things have been a bit hectic the past few hours, so things might not be exactly correct just yet. Outside of domains just changing, I'll also be publishing my own knowledge about WebTV that I've gained over the past 3 years I've been working with WebTV, so I hope you can learn as much as I have.

'''IMPORTANT UPDATE - 1/21/2022:''' Hey all, wtv-411 here. I'll just be blunt and say that over the period of time this wiki has been up, I've gradually lost interest in actively maintaining it. Now that doesn't mean that I don't care about the wiki at all or won't applaud the massive progress that has been made with general WebTV/MSN TV preservation efforts since it went live (I mean, seriously, I was '''never''' expecting the wiki to get this much attention and get so much previously unknown or lost WebTV content archived at all). This also doesn't mean that I intend to take the wiki down or any nonsense like that. I feel taking it down would be a giant disservice for those who find it a valuable resource. It's just that for me, updating the wiki and helping with archival efforts alongside that has gotten very tiring and they're not things that have personally interested me much, save for the few times I messed with the hardware (i.e., when I spoofed part of the MSN TV 2 service directly from a thumb drive of all things, and also the time I made custom TellyScripts that spawned two [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0zeYgzQOW4 YouTube] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv36Y1Bg8N8 videos] showcasing them) and the initial findings of lost WebTV content that were genuinely amazing to obtain and archive. In fact, writing the first batch of pages got very tiring after finishing the WTVP pages (which honestly is the reason why I even went along with the idea of this wiki), and with a few exceptions, adding onto the wiki was more of a chore than anything that I felt passionate about. WebTV isn't something I'm personally invested in. I just find most retro tech in general fascinating, and WebTV has been kind of a personal "white whale" of mine for several years that I hoped to find proper information on, technical or otherwise. Ever since I made that dream a reality with the creation of this wiki, I feel like I've contributed as much as I'm able to with it and the overall WebTV archival efforts in the following months since then. For various personal reasons that I won't talk about, I also want to just focus on my life and put my energy towards things that I actually enjoy. What this means for the future of this wiki is: expect way less edits to pages and expect me to not get back to emails as often. I'll still try to keep this up in one form or another, I'll still try to eventually find a permanent home for the content archive, and I'll still be checking on the wiki at times to make sure it doesn't magically break or something, but don't expect me to make edits to pages anymore. I also won't be very active in the WebTV Discord anymore.

Not all hope is abandoned though. Around a week before the new year, I figured it'd be a good idea to make HM from the WebTV Discord an editor for this wiki. Dude's way more passionate about WebTV than I ever could be and seeing his work with the WebTV Discord and archiving WebTV content on a private FTP server he runs, I think I can actually put some trust in the guy. He should be keeping the wiki somewhat up to date in the future, and he'll also continue posting on the 411 WebTV channel and will also be checking the email for any important stuff that I should reply to. For now, I'll also be checking in on any updates with WebTV preservation efforts from time to time and proofread any wiki edits from HM. That's as much as I'll be willing to continue doing, however. Running this wiki for almost a year has been an exciting, wild, and stressful experience, and I'm glad there's a community of WebTV loving people that'll still keep some interest up. I'll also just put this out there and say that I should not have started this wiki out by sprinkling in patronizing comments about "getting back at the WebTV scene" and nasty comments about them. The scene has its own issues and I don't agree with everything it's done with WebTV over the years, but I believe I could've done a much better job at addressing that than making personal insults towards them on the wiki that were more or less to convince people that they were bad. That was not good for the reputation of this wiki and also for my own personal mental health, and I've stopped doing that crap since. It's been fun, everyone!

'''UPDATE - 12/16/2021:''' We've done something that we thought we would never be able to. We were able to simulate some of the MSN TV 2 login process, and we didn't even need any web servers for this! Check out the shocking evidence at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWxO_8-0zOU.

'''UPDATE - 11/28/2021:''' Major news! With the help of natalie/agirisan, we were able to salvage the contents of a Sony INT-WJ200 box's hard drive, and we not only got a TellyScript out of it, but two Japanese WebTV firmware builds and other goodies we'll eventually cover in the future. TellyScript is named "JP_WTV_20000616.tok" on the content archive under "First-Gen WebTV and MSN TV > TellyScripts and DialScripts", and the builds are now uploaded to the WebTV/MSN TV ROM collection on Archive.org (which you should be able to find with a simple Google search).

[https://archive.org/details/wtvromassembler-emac WTVROMAssembler] and the [https://archive.org/details/webtv-romfs-lib ROMFS libraries] are now on Archive.org, which should ensure that they stay preserved outside of the confines of our content archive.

For older updates: [[Archived Updates]]

----

* [[UltimateTV]]
* [[SNAP2 Corporation]]
* [[MAME]]
* [[Doom for WebTV]]
* [[Network]]
** [[Services]]
** [[Protocols]]
** [[Tokens]]
** [[Network Infrastructure|Infrastructure]]
** "[[The Great(er) Scroll of Dialing Wisdom|Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom]]"
* [[Data Formats]]
* [[Hardware]]
** [[Hardware Models|Models]]
** [[Power-Off Codes]]
* [[ROM]]
* [[WebTV Viewer]]
* [[WebTV for Dreamcast]]
* [[Client Commands]]
* [[WebTV Upgrade History]]

* [[MSNTV 2]]

* [[Glossary]]
* [[Further Links]]
* [[Wanted]]
* [[Community]]
* [[Thanks]]

Main Page

2022-09-12T14:07:04Z

JarHead:

Services/Technical/Messenger

2022-09-12T14:06:14Z

JarHead: /* MSNP8 */

Somewhere down the road, it was decided WebTV should have a Messenger feature. This feature was added in by the 2.5 client upgrade and lasted well into the MSNTV 2's lifespan.

== Basic ==
WebTV/MSN TV's Messenger feature relies on another Microsoft service, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Messenger_service MSN Messenger service] (also known as '''.NET Messenger Service''' or the '''Windows Live Messenger service'''), to operate, and it's assumed a corresponding Microsoft Passport (now Microsoft account) would have to be linked to a WebTV/MSN TV account for the feature to work. For first-generation WebTV/MSN TV, once a user successfully logs in through the headwaiter, the server will send to the box alongside all its account and configuration information: a hostname for the Messenger protocol server the box will connect to, flag values determining if the feature is authorized or enabled for the subscriber/user, the service URL to perform Messenger authentication on through WTVP (this will be covered on later), and several timeout flags that supposedly control how long the Messenger client should wait in certain scenarios.

The Messenger client on first-gen WebTV/MSN TV is mostly built into the firmware, and is very primitive. It allows a user to see whether their contacts are online or offline (FYI statuses such as Away, Busy, etc. that are supported by the underlying MSN Messenger service are translated by the client as an online status), send and receive plain text messages (first-gen WebTV/MSN TV's client doesn't support graphical emoticons, although MSNTV 2's did), manage availability and block list options through the settings on the WebTV/MSN TV service, manage their contact list through their e-mail address book, and receive notifications when people add them.

== Images ==
=== Original WebTV/MSN TV ===
<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:webtv-fg-messenger.jpg|200x150px|webtv-fg-messenger.jpg]]

Messenger conversation window (screenshot taken from third-party server)
</div>

<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:webtv-fg-messenger-notif.jpg|200x150px|webtv-fg-messenger-notif.jpg]]

Notification from Messenger being shown in the title area (screenshot taken from third-party server)
</div>

=== MSNTV 2 ===
<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:msntv2_messenger_contactlist.jpg|200x150px|msntv2_messenger_contactlist.jpg]]

Messenger contact list
</div>

<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:msntv2_messenger_contactlistempty.jpg|200x150px|msntv2_messenger_contactlistempty.jpg]]

Messenger contact list (empty)
</div>

<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:msntv2_messenger_convo.jpg|200x150px|msntv2_messenger_convo.jpg]]

Messenger conversation window
</div>

<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:msntv2_messenger_addcontact.jpg|200x150px|msntv2_messenger_addcontact.jpg]]

"Add a contact" window for Messenger
</div>

== Protocols ==
=== Client ===
The Messenger client on WebTV/MSN TV uses the MSNP protocol to communicate with the Messenger protocol server, which operates over TCP port 1863. This protocol is out of this wiki's scope and unlike WebTV/MSN TV's protocols has a fair amount of documentation floating around on the internet, and we won't go into too much depth on it here. You can read more up on it [http://web.archive.org/web/20100819183636/http://msnpiki.msnfanatic.com/index.php/Main_Page here], [http://msn-messenger-protocol.herokuapp.com here] (MSNP8 - 10), [https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-movva-msn-messenger-protocol-00 here] (MSNP2), and [http://msn-messenger-protocol.herokuapp.com/sitev1/ here] (MSNP7).
==== Protocol support ====
What is currently known about protocol support is that version 2.5 of the WebTV Viewer supports version 3 of the MSNP protocol if you configure a SOCKS proxy on the Viewer to allow connections outside of the WebTV/MSN TV network, and firmware version 2.8 supports version 6 of the protocol. It's known the latest version of MSNP the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV supported is MSNP8.
==== Identification ====
So far, it's confirmed that firmware version 2.8 of WebTV (MSN TV) sends a <code>CVR</code> command on the Messenger protocol server after logging in:
CVR (TrID) 0x0409 webtv 2.8 MIPS msntvim 2.8 msntv
To quickly explain what this command does, it identifies the client logging into the Messenger service. In this case, the client is identified as "msntv" with a version of "2.8". The OS is identified as "webtv" with the same version. Other things sent for identification are the architecture, which in this case is "MIPS", and the client library, which is <code>msntvim</code>. We don't know yet if builds before 2.8 send this on real hardware, although it's known that the 2.5 version of the WebTV Viewer doesn't send any <code>CVR</code>s for unknown reasons.

==== WebTV/MSN TV-first commands ====
So far, the only MSNP command recorded to only be used on WebTV/MSN TV clients is <code>IMS</code>, and has been [http://web.archive.org/web/20100817050916/http://msnpiki.msnfanatic.com/index.php/Command:IMS covered on] to some degree years ago.

Supposedly this is triggered after a certain amount of idle time, but what the value of this time is or where it's obtained from is not known currently. The exact behavior of <code>IMS</code> being set to "OFF" aside from it blocking new conversations initiated by others is also unknown.

=== WTVP ===
==== Login ====
During the WebTV/MSN TV box's connection to the Messenger protocol server, it will receive a <code>USR S</code> command after sending the Passport email associated with the WebTV/MSN TV account to the server. This <code>USR S</code> response contains a challenge string. On version 8 of MSNP, this is a URL-encoded and comma delimited list of key-value parameters (e.g., <code>lc=1033,id=507,tw=40,fs=1,ru=http%3A%2F%2Fmessenger%2Emsn%2Ecom,ct=1062764229,kpp=1,kv=5,ver=2.1.0173.1,tpf=43f8a4c8ed940c04e3740be46c4d1619</code>), and on versions below that, it is a decimal value (e.g., "1013928519.693957190"), but technically it can be any value, at least for <= MSNP7. Whatever the challenge value is, this is passed over to a <code>wtv-passport</code> service located at "wtv-passport:/messengerlogin".

==== MSNP3-7 ====
After receiving the challenge string from the protocol server, a <code>SECURE</code>'d <code>GET</code> request is sent to "wtv-passport:/messengerlogin?[CHALLENGE]", <code>[CHALLENGE]</code> being the aforementioned challenge string. The <code>GET</code> request alone does not appear to send any other headers identifying the WebTV/MSN TV user logging in, so it's assumed that authorization headers sent by a <code>SECURE</code> request (such as <code>wtv-ticket</code>) gives the messengerlogin service the necessary information about the WebTV/MSN TV user to authorize the request. In this case, if the user's request is authorized and they have a Passport account linked to their WebTV/MSN TV account, an MD5 hash of the challenge string concatenated with their Passport password is sent in hexadecimal format in a 200 OK response:

200 OK\n
Connection: Keep-Alive\n
wtv-encrypted: true\n
Expires: Wed, 09 Oct 1991 22:00:00 GMT\n
Content-Type: text/plain\n
Content-length: 32\n
wtv-lzpf: 0\n
\n
[encrypted and compressed MD5 hex response]

The MD5 response, when decrypted and decompressed from the WTVP response, is then sent to the protocol server and further authentication is handled there.

In the event anything goes wrong (e.g., no Passport linked to WebTV/MSN TV account), it's been observed that a generic 500 error is sent:

500 MSN TV ran into a technical problem. Please try again.\n
Connection: Keep-Alive\n
wtv-encrypted: true\n
\n

==== MSNP8 ====
Once messengerlogin gets the challenge string, the first thing it'll do is request messenger.msn.com/rdr/pprdr.asp to get the URL used for actual authentication. The URL is in the "passporturls" header, under "DALogin". Once it has this URL, it'll send a request to the URL with an "Authorization" header that contains info about the user logging in. This header looks a little something like this:

<code>"Authorization": "Passport1.4 OrgVerb=GET,OrgURL=http%3A%2F%2Fmessenger%2Emsn%2Ecom,sign-in=anemail@email.com,pwd=supersecurepassword,lc=1033,id=507,tw=40,fs=1,ru=http%3A%2F%2Fmessenger%2Emsn%2Ecom,ct=1062764229,kpp=1,kv=5,ver=2.1.0173.1,tpf=43f8a4c8ed940c04e3740be46c4d1619"</code>

If authentication succeeds, the MSN Messenger service will send a 200 OK response with an "authentication-info" header. This header contains "from-PP", which is the token the client wants.

After that, the server will send the token in the data of the messengerlogin response, which will look something like this:

200 OK\n
Connection: Keep-Alive\n
wtv-encrypted: true\n
Expires: Wed, 09 Oct 1991 22:00:00 GMT\n
Content-Type: text/plain\n
Content-length: [Token length]\n
wtv-lzpf: 0\n
\n
[Token from MSN Messenger]

From there, the client will continue authenticating with MSN Messenger by itself.

Services/Technical/Messenger

2022-09-12T13:30:02Z

JarHead: /* Login */

Somewhere down the road, it was decided WebTV should have a Messenger feature. This feature was added in by the 2.5 client upgrade and lasted well into the MSNTV 2's lifespan.

== Basic ==
WebTV/MSN TV's Messenger feature relies on another Microsoft service, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Messenger_service MSN Messenger service] (also known as '''.NET Messenger Service''' or the '''Windows Live Messenger service'''), to operate, and it's assumed a corresponding Microsoft Passport (now Microsoft account) would have to be linked to a WebTV/MSN TV account for the feature to work. For first-generation WebTV/MSN TV, once a user successfully logs in through the headwaiter, the server will send to the box alongside all its account and configuration information: a hostname for the Messenger protocol server the box will connect to, flag values determining if the feature is authorized or enabled for the subscriber/user, the service URL to perform Messenger authentication on through WTVP (this will be covered on later), and several timeout flags that supposedly control how long the Messenger client should wait in certain scenarios.

The Messenger client on first-gen WebTV/MSN TV is mostly built into the firmware, and is very primitive. It allows a user to see whether their contacts are online or offline (FYI statuses such as Away, Busy, etc. that are supported by the underlying MSN Messenger service are translated by the client as an online status), send and receive plain text messages (first-gen WebTV/MSN TV's client doesn't support graphical emoticons, although MSNTV 2's did), manage availability and block list options through the settings on the WebTV/MSN TV service, manage their contact list through their e-mail address book, and receive notifications when people add them.

== Images ==
=== Original WebTV/MSN TV ===
<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:webtv-fg-messenger.jpg|200x150px|webtv-fg-messenger.jpg]]

Messenger conversation window (screenshot taken from third-party server)
</div>

<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:webtv-fg-messenger-notif.jpg|200x150px|webtv-fg-messenger-notif.jpg]]

Notification from Messenger being shown in the title area (screenshot taken from third-party server)
</div>

=== MSNTV 2 ===
<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:msntv2_messenger_contactlist.jpg|200x150px|msntv2_messenger_contactlist.jpg]]

Messenger contact list
</div>

<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:msntv2_messenger_contactlistempty.jpg|200x150px|msntv2_messenger_contactlistempty.jpg]]

Messenger contact list (empty)
</div>

<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:msntv2_messenger_convo.jpg|200x150px|msntv2_messenger_convo.jpg]]

Messenger conversation window
</div>

<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:msntv2_messenger_addcontact.jpg|200x150px|msntv2_messenger_addcontact.jpg]]

"Add a contact" window for Messenger
</div>

== Protocols ==
=== Client ===
The Messenger client on WebTV/MSN TV uses the MSNP protocol to communicate with the Messenger protocol server, which operates over TCP port 1863. This protocol is out of this wiki's scope and unlike WebTV/MSN TV's protocols has a fair amount of documentation floating around on the internet, and we won't go into too much depth on it here. You can read more up on it [http://web.archive.org/web/20100819183636/http://msnpiki.msnfanatic.com/index.php/Main_Page here], [http://msn-messenger-protocol.herokuapp.com here] (MSNP8 - 10), [https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-movva-msn-messenger-protocol-00 here] (MSNP2), and [http://msn-messenger-protocol.herokuapp.com/sitev1/ here] (MSNP7).
==== Protocol support ====
What is currently known about protocol support is that version 2.5 of the WebTV Viewer supports version 3 of the MSNP protocol if you configure a SOCKS proxy on the Viewer to allow connections outside of the WebTV/MSN TV network, and firmware version 2.8 supports version 6 of the protocol. It's known the latest version of MSNP the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV supported is MSNP8.
==== Identification ====
So far, it's confirmed that firmware version 2.8 of WebTV (MSN TV) sends a <code>CVR</code> command on the Messenger protocol server after logging in:
CVR (TrID) 0x0409 webtv 2.8 MIPS msntvim 2.8 msntv
To quickly explain what this command does, it identifies the client logging into the Messenger service. In this case, the client is identified as "msntv" with a version of "2.8". The OS is identified as "webtv" with the same version. Other things sent for identification are the architecture, which in this case is "MIPS", and the client library, which is <code>msntvim</code>. We don't know yet if builds before 2.8 send this on real hardware, although it's known that the 2.5 version of the WebTV Viewer doesn't send any <code>CVR</code>s for unknown reasons.

==== WebTV/MSN TV-first commands ====
So far, the only MSNP command recorded to only be used on WebTV/MSN TV clients is <code>IMS</code>, and has been [http://web.archive.org/web/20100817050916/http://msnpiki.msnfanatic.com/index.php/Command:IMS covered on] to some degree years ago.

Supposedly this is triggered after a certain amount of idle time, but what the value of this time is or where it's obtained from is not known currently. The exact behavior of <code>IMS</code> being set to "OFF" aside from it blocking new conversations initiated by others is also unknown.

=== WTVP ===
==== Login ====
During the WebTV/MSN TV box's connection to the Messenger protocol server, it will receive a <code>USR S</code> command after sending the Passport email associated with the WebTV/MSN TV account to the server. This <code>USR S</code> response contains a challenge string. On version 8 of MSNP, this is a URL-encoded and comma delimited list of key-value parameters (e.g., <code>lc=1033,id=507,tw=40,fs=1,ru=http%3A%2F%2Fmessenger%2Emsn%2Ecom,ct=1062764229,kpp=1,kv=5,ver=2.1.0173.1,tpf=43f8a4c8ed940c04e3740be46c4d1619</code>), and on versions below that, it is a decimal value (e.g., "1013928519.693957190"), but technically it can be any value, at least for <= MSNP7. Whatever the challenge value is, this is passed over to a <code>wtv-passport</code> service located at "wtv-passport:/messengerlogin".

==== MSNP3-7 ====
After receiving the challenge string from the protocol server, a <code>SECURE</code>'d <code>GET</code> request is sent to "wtv-passport:/messengerlogin?[CHALLENGE]", <code>[CHALLENGE]</code> being the aforementioned challenge string. The <code>GET</code> request alone does not appear to send any other headers identifying the WebTV/MSN TV user logging in, so it's assumed that authorization headers sent by a <code>SECURE</code> request (such as <code>wtv-ticket</code>) gives the messengerlogin service the necessary information about the WebTV/MSN TV user to authorize the request. In this case, if the user's request is authorized and they have a Passport account linked to their WebTV/MSN TV account, an MD5 hash of the challenge string concatenated with their Passport password is sent in hexadecimal format in a 200 OK response:

200 OK\n
Connection: Keep-Alive\n
wtv-encrypted: true\n
Expires: Wed, 09 Oct 1991 22:00:00 GMT\n
Content-Type: text/plain\n
Content-length: 32\n
wtv-lzpf: 0\n
\n
[encrypted and compressed MD5 hex response]

The MD5 response, when decrypted and decompressed from the WTVP response, is then sent to the protocol server and further authentication is handled there.

In the event anything goes wrong (e.g., no Passport linked to WebTV/MSN TV account), it's been observed that a generic 500 error is sent:

500 MSN TV ran into a technical problem. Please try again.\n
Connection: Keep-Alive\n
wtv-encrypted: true\n
\n

==== MSNP8 ====
Once messengerlogin gets the challenge string, the first thing it'll do is request messenger.msn.com/rdr/pprdr.asp to get the URL used for actual authentication. The URL is in the "passporturls" header, under "DALogin". Once it has this URL, it'll send a request to the URL with an "Authorization" header that contains info about the user logging in. This header looks a little something like this:

<code>"Authorization": "Passport1.4 OrgVerb=GET,OrgURL=http%3A%2F%2Fmessenger%2Emsn%2Ecom,sign-in=anemail@email.com,pwd=supersecurepassword,lc=1033,id=507,tw=40,fs=1,ru=http%3A%2F%2Fmessenger%2Emsn%2Ecom,ct=1062764229,kpp=1,kv=5,ver=2.1.0173.1,tpf=43f8a4c8ed940c04e3740be46c4d1619"</code>

If authentication succeeds, the MSN Messenger service will send a 200 OK response with an "authentication-info" header. This header contains "from-PP", which is the token the client wants.

After that, the server will send the token in the data of the messengerlogin response, which will look something like this:

200 OK\n
Connection: Keep-Alive\n
wtv-encrypted: true\n
Expires: Wed, 09 Oct 1991 22:00:00 GMT\n
Content-Type: text/plain\n
Content-length: 32\n
wtv-lzpf: 0\n
\n
[Token from MSN Messenger]

From there, the client will continue authenticating with MSN Messenger by itself.

File:Msntv-settings-overview-user.png

2022-09-12T03:19:53Z

JarHead: Censor username in title area

== Summary ==
Source: Personal screenshot of a hacked WebTV Viewer connected to a third-party private server

File:Msntv-mail-inbox-2013.png

2022-09-12T03:18:37Z

JarHead: Source: YouTube video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuvDkIZmU3s "The WEBTV (MSNTV) Experience"]

== Summary ==
Source: YouTube video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuvDkIZmU3s "The WEBTV (MSNTV) Experience"]

File:Msntv2 music radioplus.png

2022-09-12T03:18:04Z

JarHead: Taken from this PDF: http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/70/70131/0702_KVH.pdf

== Summary ==
Taken from this PDF: http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/70/70131/0702_KVH.pdf

File:Msntv2 video.jpg

2022-09-12T03:17:36Z

JarHead: Taken from this PDF: http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/70/70131/0702_KVH.pdf

== Summary ==
Taken from this PDF: http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/70/70131/0702_KVH.pdf

File:Image0425-2347(CVBS).jpg

2022-09-12T03:16:55Z

JarHead: Source: Midnight Channel archive (https://archive.midnightchannel.net; Warning: heavy usage of ads)

== Summary ==
Source: Midnight Channel archive (<nowiki>https://archive.midnightchannel.net</nowiki>; Warning: heavy usage of ads)

File:Image0425-2347(CVBS)(1).jpg

2022-09-12T03:16:12Z

JarHead:

== Summary ==
Source: Midnight Channel archive (<nowiki>https://archive.midnightchannel.net</nowiki>; Warning: heavy usage of ads)

File:Image0425-2347(CVBS)(1).jpg

2022-09-12T03:16:02Z

JarHead: Source: Midnight Channel archive (https://archive.midnightchannel.net; Warning: heavy usage of ads)

== Summary ==
Source: Midnight Channel archive (<nowiki>https://archive.midnightchannel.net</nowiki; Warning: heavy usage of ads)

File:Ultimatetv-logo.png

2022-09-12T03:15:09Z

JarHead: Source: "Starting MAME on a original WebTV Plus unit." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XYejtxwDwY)

== Summary ==
Source: "Starting MAME on a original WebTV Plus unit." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XYejtxwDwY)

File:Ultimatetv-logo.png

2022-09-12T03:14:46Z

JarHead: UltimateTV logo. Logo owned by Microsoft.

== Summary ==
UltimateTV logo. Logo owned by Microsoft.

File:Solo1-wj200.jpg

2022-09-12T03:13:36Z

JarHead: Solo1-wj200.jpg

== Summary ==
Solo1-wj200.jpg

File:Solo3-chip.jpg

2022-09-12T03:13:05Z

JarHead: Source: INT-W200 board pictures taken by "HM".

== Summary ==
Source: INT-W200 board pictures taken by "HM".

File:Solo3-chip.jpg

2022-09-12T03:12:37Z

JarHead: /* Summary */

Source: INT-W200 board pictures taken by "HM".

File:W200-unit-top-open-nohdd-solo1.png

2022-09-12T03:11:11Z

JarHead: /* Summary */

== Summary ==
INT-W200 board (LC2) containing SOLO1 Source: HelloMumble

Main Page

2022-09-12T02:25:49Z

JarHead:

Welcome to the WebTV/MSN TV Wiki! WebTV, later known as MSN TV, is an internet access device consisting of a set top box that utilized dial-up access (and later on, broadband), using a keyboard and remote for user input. It was also a specialized service complementing said devices that they would connect to for access to the general internet and WebTV/MSN TV's own online services. The product and service launched in 1996 as WebTV, and a year later the company behind this technology, WebTV Networks, was acquired by Microsoft. WebTV later became MSN TV circa 2001, and the entire service would eventually be discontinued on September 30, 2013. This wiki is '''NOT''' about the "WebTV for Windows" application bundled with Windows 98, which is essentially a souped up TV tuner, nor is this wiki about any video streaming services with "Web TV" in the name.

What we are accomplishing with this wiki is to seek out, collect, and document as much information as we can gather on the WebTV/MSN TV internet product's hardware, services, protocols, and other subjects concerning it. Much to the surprise of many, WebTV/MSN TV did indeed already have people focused on learning about the product and how it worked, primarily in its hacking scene. Up until 2021, however, only surface level information about the product and service (especially in regards to its many vulnerabilities), or basic writeups about the technical portions of WebTV/MSN TV were available for public consumption, with most information about WebTV/MSN TV either remaining undocumented, poorly preserved, or in regards to some technical information, circulated privately by select people, never to see the light of day. We're here to make up for that and make all information on WebTV/MSN TV <u>centralized</u>, <u>public</u>, and <u>easily accessible</u>, using information that we have been able to obtain from scene sites, from our own research, and in private from those who know a bit about the product/service. '''We are here to rip open the guts of the entire WebTV/MSN TV service and technology and make it known for all!'''

This wiki was originally run by an anonymous person, wtv-411, from early 2021 to September 2022. Ownership of the wiki has since been transferred to JarHead, and future updates to the wiki will be published here.

For now, this wiki will mostly focus on the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV (pre-MSN TV 2) technologies and services, and try to make sense of how they worked. We hope to extend on other information we have though, especially with information concerning the MSN TV 2 seeing as information on that variant of the product and corresponding service specifically is extremely endangered, moreso than the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV products to our knowledge.

----


'''We are no longer accepting emails or submissions of any wanted content for the foreseeable future.'''

Interested in backing up your WebTV/UltimateTV/DishPlayer hard drives for any reason? Check out the guide we recently wrote on doing that: [[Backing Up WebTV (MSN TV) Hard Drives]].

Want to install Linux on an MSN TV 2 box? Check out [[Installing Linux on the MSN TV 2 (RM4100)]].

Join the [https://discord.gg/qke279EUa8 WebTV/MSN TV Discord server] or IRC channel on [https://libera.chat Libera.chat] (irc.libera.chat, channel <code>#WebTV</code>) to chat about anything WebTV/MSN TV.

----
'''IMPORTANT UPDATE - 9/11/2022:''' Hey everybody! I'm JarHead, the new operator of this wiki from now on. Things have been a bit hectic the past few hours, so things might not be exactly correct just yet. Outside of domains just changing, I'll also be publishing my own knowledge about WebTV that I've gained over the past 3 years I've been working with WebTV, so I hope you can learn as much as I have.

'''IMPORTANT UPDATE - 1/21/2022:''' Hey all, wtv-411 here. I'll just be blunt and say that over the period of time this wiki has been up, I've gradually lost interest in actively maintaining it. Now that doesn't mean that I don't care about the wiki at all or won't applaud the massive progress that has been made with general WebTV/MSN TV preservation efforts since it went live (I mean, seriously, I was '''never''' expecting the wiki to get this much attention and get so much previously unknown or lost WebTV content archived at all). This also doesn't mean that I intend to take the wiki down or any nonsense like that. I feel taking it down would be a giant disservice for those who find it a valuable resource. It's just that for me, updating the wiki and helping with archival efforts alongside that has gotten very tiring and they're not things that have personally interested me much, save for the few times I messed with the hardware (i.e., when I spoofed part of the MSN TV 2 service directly from a thumb drive of all things, and also the time I made custom TellyScripts that spawned two [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0zeYgzQOW4 YouTube] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv36Y1Bg8N8 videos] showcasing them) and the initial findings of lost WebTV content that were genuinely amazing to obtain and archive. In fact, writing the first batch of pages got very tiring after finishing the WTVP pages (which honestly is the reason why I even went along with the idea of this wiki), and with a few exceptions, adding onto the wiki was more of a chore than anything that I felt passionate about. WebTV isn't something I'm personally invested in. I just find most retro tech in general fascinating, and WebTV has been kind of a personal "white whale" of mine for several years that I hoped to find proper information on, technical or otherwise. Ever since I made that dream a reality with the creation of this wiki, I feel like I've contributed as much as I'm able to with it and the overall WebTV archival efforts in the following months since then. For various personal reasons that I won't talk about, I also want to just focus on my life and put my energy towards things that I actually enjoy. What this means for the future of this wiki is: expect way less edits to pages and expect me to not get back to emails as often. I'll still try to keep this up in one form or another, I'll still try to eventually find a permanent home for the content archive, and I'll still be checking on the wiki at times to make sure it doesn't magically break or something, but don't expect me to make edits to pages anymore. I also won't be very active in the WebTV Discord anymore.

Not all hope is abandoned though. Around a week before the new year, I figured it'd be a good idea to make HM from the WebTV Discord an editor for this wiki. Dude's way more passionate about WebTV than I ever could be and seeing his work with the WebTV Discord and archiving WebTV content on a private FTP server he runs, I think I can actually put some trust in the guy. He should be keeping the wiki somewhat up to date in the future, and he'll also continue posting on the 411 WebTV channel and will also be checking the email for any important stuff that I should reply to. For now, I'll also be checking in on any updates with WebTV preservation efforts from time to time and proofread any wiki edits from HM. That's as much as I'll be willing to continue doing, however. Running this wiki for almost a year has been an exciting, wild, and stressful experience, and I'm glad there's a community of WebTV loving people that'll still keep some interest up. I'll also just put this out there and say that I should not have started this wiki out by sprinkling in patronizing comments about "getting back at the WebTV scene" and nasty comments about them. The scene has its own issues and I don't agree with everything it's done with WebTV over the years, but I believe I could've done a much better job at addressing that than making personal insults towards them on the wiki that were more or less to convince people that they were bad. That was not good for the reputation of this wiki and also for my own personal mental health, and I've stopped doing that crap since. It's been fun, everyone!

'''UPDATE - 12/16/2021:''' We've done something that we thought we would never be able to. We were able to simulate some of the MSN TV 2 login process, and we didn't even need any web servers for this! Check out the shocking evidence at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWxO_8-0zOU.

'''UPDATE - 11/28/2021:''' Major news! With the help of natalie/agirisan, we were able to salvage the contents of a Sony INT-WJ200 box's hard drive, and we not only got a TellyScript out of it, but two Japanese WebTV firmware builds and other goodies we'll eventually cover in the future. TellyScript is named "JP_WTV_20000616.tok" on the content archive under "First-Gen WebTV and MSN TV > TellyScripts and DialScripts", and the builds are now uploaded to the WebTV/MSN TV ROM collection on Archive.org (which you should be able to find with a simple Google search).

[https://archive.org/details/wtvromassembler-emac WTVROMAssembler] and the [https://archive.org/details/webtv-romfs-lib ROMFS libraries] are now on Archive.org, which should ensure that they stay preserved outside of the confines of our content archive.

For older updates: [[Archived Updates]]

----

* [[UltimateTV]]
* [[SNAP2 Corporation]]
* [[MAME]]
* [[Doom for WebTV]]
* [[Network]]
** [[Services]]
** [[Protocols]]
** [[Tokens]]
** [[Network Infrastructure|Infrastructure]]
** "[[The Great(er) Scroll of Dialing Wisdom|Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom]]"
* [[Data Formats]]
* [[Hardware]]
** [[Hardware Models|Models]]
** [[Power-Off Codes]]
* [[ROM]]
* [[WebTV Viewer]]
* [[WebTV for Dreamcast]]
* [[Client Commands]]
* [[WebTV Upgrade History]]

* [[MSNTV 2]]

* [[Glossary]]
* [[Further Links]]
* [[Wanted]]
* [[Community]]
* [[Thanks]]

Main Page

2022-09-12T01:03:11Z

JarHead:

Welcome to the WebTV/MSN TV Wiki! WebTV, later known as MSN TV, is an internet access device consisting of a set top box that utilized dial-up access (and later on, broadband), using a keyboard and remote for user input. It was also a specialized service complementing said devices that they would connect to for access to the general internet and WebTV/MSN TV's own online services. The product and service launched in 1996 as WebTV, and a year later the company behind this technology, WebTV Networks, was acquired by Microsoft. WebTV later became MSN TV circa 2001, and the entire service would eventually be discontinued on September 30, 2013. This wiki is '''NOT''' about the "WebTV for Windows" application bundled with Windows 98, which is essentially a souped up TV tuner, nor is this wiki about any video streaming services with "Web TV" in the name.

What we are accomplishing with this wiki is to seek out, collect, and document as much information as we can gather on the WebTV/MSN TV internet product's hardware, services, protocols, and other subjects concerning it. Much to the surprise of many, WebTV/MSN TV did indeed already have people focused on learning about the product and how it worked, primarily in its hacking scene. Up until 2021, however, only surface level information about the product and service (especially in regards to its many vulnerabilities), or basic writeups about the technical portions of WebTV/MSN TV were available for public consumption, with most information about WebTV/MSN TV either remaining undocumented, poorly preserved, or in regards to some technical information, circulated privately by select people, never to see the light of day. We're here to make up for that and make all information on WebTV/MSN TV <u>centralized</u>, <u>public</u>, and <u>easily accessible</u>, using information that we have been able to obtain from scene sites, from our own research, and in private from those who know a bit about the product/service. '''We are here to rip open the guts of the entire WebTV/MSN TV service and technology and make it known for all!'''

This wiki was originally run by an anonymous person, wtv-411, from early 2021 to September 2022. Ownership of the wiki has since been transferred to JarHead, and future updates to the wiki will be published here.

For now, this wiki will mostly focus on the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV (pre-MSN TV 2) technologies and services, and try to make sense of how they worked. We hope to extend on other information we have though, especially with information concerning the MSN TV 2 seeing as information on that variant of the product and corresponding service specifically is extremely endangered, moreso than the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV products to our knowledge.

----


'''We are no longer accepting emails or submissions of any wanted content for the foreseeable future.'''

Interested in backing up your WebTV/UltimateTV/DishPlayer hard drives for any reason? Check out the guide we recently wrote on doing that: [[Backing Up WebTV (MSN TV) Hard Drives]].

Want to install Linux on an MSN TV 2 box? Check out [[Installing Linux on the MSN TV 2 (RM4100)]].

Join the [https://discord.gg/qke279EUa8 WebTV/MSN TV Discord server] or IRC channel on [https://libera.chat Libera.chat] (irc.libera.chat, channel <code>#WebTV</code>) to chat about anything WebTV/MSN TV.

----
'''IMPORTANT UPDATE - 9/11/2022:''' Hey everybody! I'm JarHead, the new operator of this wiki from now on. Things have been a bit hectic the past few hours, so things might not be exactly correct just yet. Outside of domains just changing, I'll also be publishing my own knowledge about WebTV that I've gained over the past 3 years I've been working with WebTV, so I hope you can learn as much as I have.

'''IMPORTANT UPDATE - 1/21/2022:''' Hey all, wtv-411 here. I'll just be blunt and say that over the period of time this wiki has been up, I've gradually lost interest in actively maintaining it. Now that doesn't mean that I don't care about the wiki at all or won't applaud the massive progress that has been made with general WebTV/MSN TV preservation efforts since it went live (I mean, seriously, I was '''never''' expecting the wiki to get this much attention and get so much previously unknown or lost WebTV content archived at all). This also doesn't mean that I intend to take the wiki down or any nonsense like that. I feel taking it down would be a giant disservice for those who find it a valuable resource. It's just that for me, updating the wiki and helping with archival efforts alongside that has gotten very tiring and they're not things that have personally interested me much, save for the few times I messed with the hardware (i.e., when I spoofed part of the MSN TV 2 service directly from a thumb drive of all things, and also the time I made custom TellyScripts that spawned two [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0zeYgzQOW4 YouTube] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv36Y1Bg8N8 videos] showcasing them) and the initial findings of lost WebTV content that were genuinely amazing to obtain and archive. In fact, writing the first batch of pages got very tiring after finishing the WTVP pages (which honestly is the reason why I even went along with the idea of this wiki), and with a few exceptions, adding onto the wiki was more of a chore than anything that I felt passionate about. WebTV isn't something I'm personally invested in. I just find most retro tech in general fascinating, and WebTV has been kind of a personal "white whale" of mine for several years that I hoped to find proper information on, technical or otherwise. Ever since I made that dream a reality with the creation of this wiki, I feel like I've contributed as much as I'm able to with it and the overall WebTV archival efforts in the following months since then. For various personal reasons that I won't talk about, I also want to just focus on my life and put my energy towards things that I actually enjoy. What this means for the future of this wiki is: expect way less edits to pages and expect me to not get back to emails as often. I'll still try to keep this up in one form or another, I'll still try to eventually find a permanent home for the content archive, and I'll still be checking on the wiki at times to make sure it doesn't magically break or something, but don't expect me to make edits to pages anymore. I also won't be very active in the WebTV Discord anymore.

Not all hope is abandoned though. Around a week before the new year, I figured it'd be a good idea to make HM from the WebTV Discord an editor for this wiki. Dude's way more passionate about WebTV than I ever could be and seeing his work with the WebTV Discord and archiving WebTV content on a private FTP server he runs, I think I can actually put some trust in the guy. He should be keeping the wiki somewhat up to date in the future, and he'll also continue posting on the 411 WebTV channel and will also be checking the email for any important stuff that I should reply to. For now, I'll also be checking in on any updates with WebTV preservation efforts from time to time and proofread any wiki edits from HM. That's as much as I'll be willing to continue doing, however. Running this wiki for almost a year has been an exciting, wild, and stressful experience, and I'm glad there's a community of WebTV loving people that'll still keep some interest up. I'll also just put this out there and say that I should not have started this wiki out by sprinkling in patronizing comments about "getting back at the WebTV scene" and nasty comments about them. The scene has its own issues and I don't agree with everything it's done with WebTV over the years, but I believe I could've done a much better job at addressing that than making personal insults towards them on the wiki that were more or less to convince people that they were bad. That was not good for the reputation of this wiki and also for my own personal mental health, and I've stopped doing that crap since. It's been fun, everyone! -->

'''UPDATE - 12/16/2021:''' We've done something that we thought we would never be able to. We were able to simulate some of the MSN TV 2 login process, and we didn't even need any web servers for this! Check out the shocking evidence at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWxO_8-0zOU.

'''UPDATE - 11/28/2021:''' Major news! With the help of natalie/agirisan, we were able to salvage the contents of a Sony INT-WJ200 box's hard drive, and we not only got a TellyScript out of it, but two Japanese WebTV firmware builds and other goodies we'll eventually cover in the future. TellyScript is named "JP_WTV_20000616.tok" on the content archive under "First-Gen WebTV and MSN TV > TellyScripts and DialScripts", and the builds are now uploaded to the WebTV/MSN TV ROM collection on Archive.org (which you should be able to find with a simple Google search).

[https://archive.org/details/wtvromassembler-emac WTVROMAssembler] and the [https://archive.org/details/webtv-romfs-lib ROMFS libraries] are now on Archive.org, which should ensure that they stay preserved outside of the confines of our content archive.

For older updates: [[Archived Updates]]

----

* [[UltimateTV]]
* [[SNAP2 Corporation]]
* [[MAME]]
* [[Doom for WebTV]]
* [[Network]]
** [[Services]]
** [[Protocols]]
** [[Tokens]]
** [[Network Infrastructure|Infrastructure]]
** "[[The Great(er) Scroll of Dialing Wisdom|Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom]]"
* [[Data Formats]]
* [[Hardware]]
** [[Hardware Models|Models]]
** [[Power-Off Codes]]
* [[ROM]]
* [[WebTV Viewer]]
* [[WebTV for Dreamcast]]
* [[Client Commands]]
* [[WebTV Upgrade History]]

* [[MSNTV 2]]

* [[Glossary]]
* [[Further Links]]
* [[Wanted]]
* [[Community]]
* [[Thanks]]

Main Page

2022-09-12T00:55:47Z

JarHead:

Welcome to the WebTV/MSN TV Wiki! WebTV, later known as MSN TV, is an internet access device consisting of a set top box that utilized dial-up access (and later on, broadband), using a keyboard and remote for user input. It was also a specialized service complementing said devices that they would connect to for access to the general internet and WebTV/MSN TV's own online services. The product and service launched in 1996 as WebTV, and a year later the company behind this technology, WebTV Networks, was acquired by Microsoft. WebTV later became MSN TV circa 2001, and the entire service would eventually be discontinued on September 30, 2013. This wiki is '''NOT''' about the "WebTV for Windows" application bundled with Windows 98, which is essentially a souped up TV tuner, nor is this wiki about any video streaming services with "Web TV" in the name.

What we are accomplishing with this wiki is to seek out, collect, and document as much information as we can gather on the WebTV/MSN TV internet product's hardware, services, protocols, and other subjects concerning it. Much to the surprise of many, WebTV/MSN TV did indeed already have people focused on learning about the product and how it worked, primarily in its hacking scene. Up until 2021, however, only surface level information about the product and service (especially in regards to its many vulnerabilities), or basic writeups about the technical portions of WebTV/MSN TV were available for public consumption, with most information about WebTV/MSN TV either remaining undocumented, poorly preserved, or in regards to some technical information, circulated privately by select people, never to see the light of day. We're here to make up for that and make all information on WebTV/MSN TV <u>centralized</u>, <u>public</u>, and <u>easily accessible</u>, using information that we have been able to obtain from scene sites, from our own research, and in private from those who know a bit about the product/service. '''We are here to rip open the guts of the entire WebTV/MSN TV service and technology and make it known for all!'''

This wiki was originally run by an anonymous person, wtv-411, from early 2021 to September 2022. Ownership of the wiki has since been transferred to JarHead, and future updates to the wiki will be published here.

For now, this wiki will mostly focus on the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV (pre-MSN TV 2) technologies and services, and try to make sense of how they worked. We hope to extend on other information we have though, especially with information concerning the MSN TV 2 seeing as information on that variant of the product and corresponding service specifically is extremely endangered, moreso than the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV products to our knowledge.

----


'''We are no longer accepting emails or submissions of any wanted content for the foreseeable future.'''

Interested in backing up your WebTV/UltimateTV/DishPlayer hard drives for any reason? Check out the guide we recently wrote on doing that: [[Backing Up WebTV (MSN TV) Hard Drives]].

Want to install Linux on an MSN TV 2 box? Check out [[Installing Linux on the MSN TV 2 (RM4100)]].

Join the [https://discord.gg/qke279EUa8 WebTV/MSN TV Discord server] or IRC channel on [https://libera.chat Libera.chat] (irc.libera.chat, channel <code>#WebTV</code>) to chat about anything WebTV/MSN TV.

----

'''IMPORTANT UPDATE - 1/21/2022:''' Hey all, wtv-411 here. I'll just be blunt and say that over the period of time this wiki has been up, I've gradually lost interest in actively maintaining it. Now that doesn't mean that I don't care about the wiki at all or won't applaud the massive progress that has been made with general WebTV/MSN TV preservation efforts since it went live (I mean, seriously, I was '''never''' expecting the wiki to get this much attention and get so much previously unknown or lost WebTV content archived at all). This also doesn't mean that I intend to take the wiki down or any nonsense like that. I feel taking it down would be a giant disservice for those who find it a valuable resource. It's just that for me, updating the wiki and helping with archival efforts alongside that has gotten very tiring and they're not things that have personally interested me much, save for the few times I messed with the hardware (i.e., when I spoofed part of the MSN TV 2 service directly from a thumb drive of all things, and also the time I made custom TellyScripts that spawned two [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0zeYgzQOW4 YouTube] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv36Y1Bg8N8 videos] showcasing them) and the initial findings of lost WebTV content that were genuinely amazing to obtain and archive. In fact, writing the first batch of pages got very tiring after finishing the WTVP pages (which honestly is the reason why I even went along with the idea of this wiki), and with a few exceptions, adding onto the wiki was more of a chore than anything that I felt passionate about. WebTV isn't something I'm personally invested in. I just find most retro tech in general fascinating, and WebTV has been kind of a personal "white whale" of mine for several years that I hoped to find proper information on, technical or otherwise. Ever since I made that dream a reality with the creation of this wiki, I feel like I've contributed as much as I'm able to with it and the overall WebTV archival efforts in the following months since then. For various personal reasons that I won't talk about, I also want to just focus on my life and put my energy towards things that I actually enjoy. What this means for the future of this wiki is: expect way less edits to pages and expect me to not get back to emails as often. I'll still try to keep this up in one form or another, I'll still try to eventually find a permanent home for the content archive, and I'll still be checking on the wiki at times to make sure it doesn't magically break or something, but don't expect me to make edits to pages anymore. I also won't be very active in the WebTV Discord anymore.

Not all hope is abandoned though. Around a week before the new year, I figured it'd be a good idea to make HM from the WebTV Discord an editor for this wiki. Dude's way more passionate about WebTV than I ever could be and seeing his work with the WebTV Discord and archiving WebTV content on a private FTP server he runs, I think I can actually put some trust in the guy. He should be keeping the wiki somewhat up to date in the future, and he'll also continue posting on the 411 WebTV channel and will also be checking the email for any important stuff that I should reply to. For now, I'll also be checking in on any updates with WebTV preservation efforts from time to time and proofread any wiki edits from HM. That's as much as I'll be willing to continue doing, however. Running this wiki for almost a year has been an exciting, wild, and stressful experience, and I'm glad there's a community of WebTV loving people that'll still keep some interest up. I'll also just put this out there and say that I should not have started this wiki out by sprinkling in patronizing comments about "getting back at the WebTV scene" and nasty comments about them. The scene has its own issues and I don't agree with everything it's done with WebTV over the years, but I believe I could've done a much better job at addressing that than making personal insults towards them on the wiki that were more or less to convince people that they were bad. That was not good for the reputation of this wiki and also for my own personal mental health, and I've stopped doing that crap since. It's been fun, everyone! -->

'''UPDATE - 12/16/2021:''' We've done something that we thought we would never be able to. We were able to simulate some of the MSN TV 2 login process, and we didn't even need any web servers for this! Check out the shocking evidence at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWxO_8-0zOU.

'''UPDATE - 11/28/2021:''' Major news! With the help of natalie/agirisan, we were able to salvage the contents of a Sony INT-WJ200 box's hard drive, and we not only got a TellyScript out of it, but two Japanese WebTV firmware builds and other goodies we'll eventually cover in the future. TellyScript is named "JP_WTV_20000616.tok" on the content archive under "First-Gen WebTV and MSN TV > TellyScripts and DialScripts", and the builds are now uploaded to the WebTV/MSN TV ROM collection on Archive.org (which you should be able to find with a simple Google search).

[https://archive.org/details/wtvromassembler-emac WTVROMAssembler] and the [https://archive.org/details/webtv-romfs-lib ROMFS libraries] are now on Archive.org, which should ensure that they stay preserved outside of the confines of our content archive.

For older updates: [[Archived Updates]]

----

* [[UltimateTV]]
* [[SNAP2 Corporation]]
* [[MAME]]
* [[Doom for WebTV]]
* [[Network]]
** [[Services]]
** [[Protocols]]
** [[Tokens]]
** [[Network Infrastructure|Infrastructure]]
** "[[The Great(er) Scroll of Dialing Wisdom|Greater Scroll of Dialing Wisdom]]"
* [[Data Formats]]
* [[Hardware]]
** [[Hardware Models|Models]]
** [[Power-Off Codes]]
* [[ROM]]
* [[WebTV Viewer]]
* [[WebTV for Dreamcast]]
* [[Client Commands]]
* [[WebTV Upgrade History]]

* [[MSNTV 2]]

* [[Glossary]]
* [[Further Links]]
* [[Wanted]]
* [[Community]]
* [[Thanks]]

Main Page

2022-09-12T00:49:32Z

JarHead:

Welcome to the WebTV Wiki! WebTV, later known as MSN TV, is an internet access device consisting of a set top box that utilized dial-up access (and later on, broadband), using a keyboard and remote for user input. It was also a specialized service complementing said devices that they would connect to for access to the general internet and WebTV/MSN TV's own online services. The product and service launched in 1996 as WebTV, and a year later the company behind this technology, WebTV Networks, was acquired by Microsoft. WebTV later became MSN TV circa 2001, and the entire service would eventually be discontinued on September 30, 2013. This wiki is <strong>NOT</strong> about the "WebTV for Windows" application bundled with Windows 98, which is essentially a souped up TV tuner, nor is this wiki about any video streaming services with "Web TV" in the name.

What we are accomplishing with this wiki is to seek out, collect, and document as much information as we can gather on the WebTV/MSN TV internet product's hardware, services, protocols, and other subjects concerning it. Much to the surprise of many, WebTV/MSN TV did indeed already have people focused on learning about the product and how it worked, primarily in its hacking scene. Up until 2021, however, only surface level information about the product and service (especially in regards to its many vulnerabilities), or basic writeups about the technical portions of WebTV/MSN TV were available for public consumption, with most information about WebTV/MSN TV either remaining undocumented, poorly preserved, or in regards to some technical information, circulated privately by select people, never to see the light of day. We're here to make up for that and make all information on WebTV/MSN TV centralized, public, and easily accessible, using information that we have been able to obtain from scene sites, from our own research, and in private from those who know a bit about the product/service. <strong>We are here to rip open the guts of the entire WebTV/MSN TV service and technology and make it known for all!</strong>

For now, this wiki will mostly focus on the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV (pre-MSN TV 2) technologies and services, and try to make sense of how they worked. We hope to extend on other information we have though, especially with information concerning the MSN TV 2 seeing as information on that variant of the product and corresponding service specifically is extremely endangered, moreso than the first generation of WebTV/MSN TV products to our knowledge.