WebTV Wiki - User contributions [en]

Community

2025-12-31T02:38:32Z

Ultra0: update discord invite link

Knowing that WebTV/MSN TV no longer has any real communities to allow anyone interested to discuss or share anything about it, we decided to wrangle some links to communities related to WebTV/MSN TV that alongside allowing people to revisit their nostalgia, are also more oriented towards actual discussion of the product, service, and efforts towards more nuanced hacking. The current communities we have been able to locate are very few and far between and aren't very active at the moment, but we hope you can make yourself at home in them regardless.

== Chat ==
* #WebTV @ Libera.chat (IRC) - WebTV/MSN TV-focused IRC channel hosted on Libera.chat. General and technical discussion are allowed. Not sure if it's actively maintained anymore.
** Connection details: Host <code>irc.libera.chat</code>, ports 6667 for plaintext or 6697 for TLS, channel <code>#WebTV</code>

* [https://discord.gg/bP2MyA8cqR WebTV/MSN TV Discord Server] - A Discord server about anything WebTV and MSN TV run by someone I know. Also allows general discussion and encourages technical discussion. Not much else to it.

Main Page

2025-12-14T22:40:37Z

Ultra0: update discord invite link

Main Page

2025-08-27T18:15:53Z

Ultra0: new update about wiki software updates

Archived Updates

2025-08-27T18:12:14Z

Ultra0: add older updates

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

----
'''UPDATE - 11/03/2023:''' Ultra here again, I had messed something up with the images while trying to fix image uploading for contributors, so they weren't accessible for a bit. It's been fixed now, I apologize for any inconvenience caused by this.

'''UPDATE - 11/02/2023:''' Hello everyone, Ultra talking here. JarHead has given me access to the wiki's VPS, so I was able to make some server-side changes. Namely, short URLs are here now, so now you can just do "https://wiki.webtv.zone/wiki/Main_Page" instead of "https://wiki.webtv.zone/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page". I've also updated the internal software that was outdated.

'''UPDATE - 9/11/2023:''' Hey everyone, I'm ultra0. I would like to let all readers of this wiki know that wtv-411 (aka, deef) has decided to move on from the WebTV community, and no longer wants to do anything with it. Please, respect his decision, don't contact him about any WebTV-related subjects.

He's done a lot of contributions, both to this wiki and just WebTV in general. We're very thankful of that, and we wish him good luck on his next endeavors.

'''UPDATE - 3/16/2023:''' Hello people. This is wtv-411. Bet you weren't expecting me to make another appearance after saying that I've moved on, huh? To tell the truth, I was mostly just burnt out from being involved with the WebTV community, as well as just actively running and writing for the wiki at the time, although my activity since then has been more discrete and I mostly help out with things in the background when I can. While things have gone quiet since JarHead has taken the reigns, I have been blessed with the privilege of being a contributor yet again and I have been putting in what little free time and motivation I have with this into polishing and updating the information on this wiki. I have added some more info on the hardware used by WebTV, as well as adding some minor updates to the MSN TV 2 page and some other pages, but I don't think I'll be doing anything more major than that considering how much effort is needed to keep this wiki running. Oh, and also the site doesn't properly show up in Google search results and only Google's for some reason, possibly because of the haphazard domain migration from the old domain and also the weird dual HTTP-HTTPS setup this site has right now. Wonderful. I am looking into transferring the old webtvwiki.net domain to the holder of the wiki's current domain before the end of the year, which might not change things by much but it may help in keeping things consistent.

On the flip side, I just got around to publishing the little info I have gathered and discovered on the MSN TV 2's service, as well as some info on the firmware, on a separate GitHub wiki since I feel that it is not only easier to manage, but will also allow more people to easily find it compared to a small obscure wiki that you can't even search for anymore. You can view it [https://github.com/wtv-411/msntv2-docs/wiki here]. It may not get consistent updates due to real life obligations as well as the nature of the thing the wiki is focused on, but I am definitely looking forward to working on that more than this.

'''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.

'''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.

User:Ultra0

2025-08-25T00:43:33Z

Ultra0: links, add bluesky, change wording a bit

Hello there, I'm ultra0! I do some maintenance on this wiki whenever it's needed, and I sometimes make contributions to its actual contents.

If you need to contact me, here's where you can find me:
* Discord: [https://discord.com/users/399303738659045377 ultra0]
* Bluesky: [https://bsky.app/profile/ultra0.xyz @ultra0.xyz]
* Fediverse: [https://wetdry.world/@ultra0 @ultra0@wetdry.world]

User:Ultra0

2023-12-23T10:46:48Z

Ultra0: small personal page update

Hello there, I'm Ultra! I do some maintenance on this wiki whenever it's needed, and I do sometimes make some contributions to its actual contents.

If you need to contact me, here's where you can find me:
* Discord: @ultra0
* Fediverse: @ultra0@wetdry.world

Services/Gallery/Miscellaneous

2023-11-05T04:52:10Z

Ultra0: add wtv-star screenshot with webtv logo, add captioned img thingy

Gallery for images of miscellaneous service pages.

== "Upgrade available" screens ==
If an upgrade is available on the WebTV/MSN TV network, the user will be taken to a screen telling them to upgrade, and if the upgrade is optional, allow the user to skip the update for later.

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

"Free update" page (pre-MSN TV rebrand)
</div>

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

"Update available" page (MSN TV rebrand)
</div>

== Service unavailable ==

Known screenshots of screens used to notify users that the WebTV/MSN TV service is unavailable.

<div class="captioned-img">
[[File:Webtv-unavailable.jpg|200x150px|webtv-fg-upgrade-page.jpg]]

Screen with WebTV logo
</div>

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

Screen with MSN TV logo
</div>

== Sept. 30th, 2013 shutdown ==

When the MSN TV service finally shut down on September 30th, 2013, further attempts to use the service normally resulted in a full screen message appearing stating that the service is now closed.

[[File:msntv-closed-2013.jpg|200x150px|msntv-closed-2013.jpg]]

File:Webtv-unavailable.jpg

2023-11-05T04:50:06Z

Ultra0: wtv-star with WebTV logo

== Summary ==
wtv-star with WebTV logo

Main Page

2023-11-03T18:28:09Z

Ultra0: UPDATE - 11/03/2023

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 wrote on doing that: [[Backing Up WebTV (MSN TV) Hard Drives]].

Need to replace the hard drive in your WebTV/MSN TV boxes? Check out [[Replacing 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] to chat about anything WebTV/MSN TV with like minded people.

----
'''UPDATE - 11/03/2023:''' Ultra here again, I had messed something up with the images while trying to fix image uploading for contributors, so they weren't accessible for a bit. It's been fixed now, I apologize for any inconvenience caused by this.

'''UPDATE - 11/02/2023:''' Hello everyone, Ultra talking here. JarHead has given me access to the wiki's VPS, so I was able to make some server-side changes. Namely, short URLs are here now, so now you can just do "https://wiki.webtv.zone/wiki/Main_Page" instead of "https://wiki.webtv.zone/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page". I've also updated the internal software that was outdated.

'''UPDATE - 9/11/2023:''' Hey everyone, I'm ultra0. I would like to let all readers of this wiki know that wtv-411 (aka, deef) has decided to move on from the WebTV community, and no longer wants to do anything with it. Please, respect his decision, don't contact him about any WebTV-related subjects.

He's done a lot of contributions, both to this wiki and just WebTV in general. We're very thankful of that, and we wish him good luck on his next endeavors.

'''UPDATE - 3/16/2023:''' Hello people. This is wtv-411. Bet you weren't expecting me to make another appearance after saying that I've moved on, huh? To tell the truth, I was mostly just burnt out from being involved with the WebTV community, as well as just actively running and writing for the wiki at the time, although my activity since then has been more discrete and I mostly help out with things in the background when I can. While things have gone quiet since JarHead has taken the reigns, I have been blessed with the privilege of being a contributor yet again and I have been putting in what little free time and motivation I have with this into polishing and updating the information on this wiki. I have added some more info on the hardware used by WebTV, as well as adding some minor updates to the MSN TV 2 page and some other pages, but I don't think I'll be doing anything more major than that considering how much effort is needed to keep this wiki running. Oh, and also the site doesn't properly show up in Google search results and only Google's for some reason, possibly because of the haphazard domain migration from the old domain and also the weird dual HTTP-HTTPS setup this site has right now. Wonderful. I am looking into transferring the old webtvwiki.net domain to the holder of the wiki's current domain before the end of the year, which might not change things by much but it may help in keeping things consistent.

On the flip side, I just got around to publishing the little info I have gathered and discovered on the MSN TV 2's service, as well as some info on the firmware, on a separate GitHub wiki since I feel that it is not only easier to manage, but will also allow more people to easily find it compared to a small obscure wiki that you can't even search for anymore. You can view it [https://github.com/wtv-411/msntv2-docs/wiki here]. It may not get consistent updates due to real life obligations as well as the nature of the thing the wiki is focused on, but I am definitely looking forward to working on that more than this.

'''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.

For older updates: [[Archived Updates]]

----

* [[UltimateTV]]
* [[Microsoft TV]] '''NEW'''
* [[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]]
** [[WebTV Memory Map]]
** [[Power-Off Codes]]
* [[ROM]]
* [[WebTV Viewer]]
* [[WebTV for Dreamcast]]
* [[Client Commands]]
* [[WebTV Upgrade History]]

* [[MSN TV 2]]

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

File:Tim.png

2023-11-03T18:18:47Z

Ultra0: test upload

== Summary ==
test upload

Main Page

2023-11-03T00:06:43Z

Ultra0: UPDATE - 11/01/2023

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 wrote on doing that: [[Backing Up WebTV (MSN TV) Hard Drives]].

Need to replace the hard drive in your WebTV/MSN TV boxes? Check out [[Replacing 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] to chat about anything WebTV/MSN TV with like minded people.

----
'''UPDATE - 11/01/2023:''' Hello everyone, Ultra talking here. JarHead has given me access to the wiki's VPS, so I was able to make some server-side changes. Namely, short URLs are here now, so now you can just do "https://wiki.webtv.zone/wiki/Main_Page" instead of "https://wiki.webtv.zone/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page". I've also updated the internal software that was outdated.

'''UPDATE - 9/11/2023:''' Hey everyone, I'm ultra0. I would like to let all readers of this wiki know that wtv-411 (aka, deef) has decided to move on from the WebTV community, and no longer wants to do anything with it. Please, respect his decision, don't contact him about any WebTV-related subjects.

He's done a lot of contributions, both to this wiki and just WebTV in general. We're very thankful of that, and we wish him good luck on his next endeavors.

'''UPDATE - 3/16/2023:''' Hello people. This is wtv-411. Bet you weren't expecting me to make another appearance after saying that I've moved on, huh? To tell the truth, I was mostly just burnt out from being involved with the WebTV community, as well as just actively running and writing for the wiki at the time, although my activity since then has been more discrete and I mostly help out with things in the background when I can. While things have gone quiet since JarHead has taken the reigns, I have been blessed with the privilege of being a contributor yet again and I have been putting in what little free time and motivation I have with this into polishing and updating the information on this wiki. I have added some more info on the hardware used by WebTV, as well as adding some minor updates to the MSN TV 2 page and some other pages, but I don't think I'll be doing anything more major than that considering how much effort is needed to keep this wiki running. Oh, and also the site doesn't properly show up in Google search results and only Google's for some reason, possibly because of the haphazard domain migration from the old domain and also the weird dual HTTP-HTTPS setup this site has right now. Wonderful. I am looking into transferring the old webtvwiki.net domain to the holder of the wiki's current domain before the end of the year, which might not change things by much but it may help in keeping things consistent.

On the flip side, I just got around to publishing the little info I have gathered and discovered on the MSN TV 2's service, as well as some info on the firmware, on a separate GitHub wiki since I feel that it is not only easier to manage, but will also allow more people to easily find it compared to a small obscure wiki that you can't even search for anymore. You can view it [https://github.com/wtv-411/msntv2-docs/wiki here]. It may not get consistent updates due to real life obligations as well as the nature of the thing the wiki is focused on, but I am definitely looking forward to working on that more than this.

'''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.

For older updates: [[Archived Updates]]

----

* [[UltimateTV]]
* [[Microsoft TV]] '''NEW'''
* [[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]]
** [[WebTV Memory Map]]
** [[Power-Off Codes]]
* [[ROM]]
* [[WebTV Viewer]]
* [[WebTV for Dreamcast]]
* [[Client Commands]]
* [[WebTV Upgrade History]]

* [[MSN TV 2]]

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

WebTV Viewer

2023-09-15T19:14:36Z

Ultra0: add bit about the mstv sim probably not meant to be public, as well as its ability to play module files

The term "WebTV Viewer" can either refer to the original WebTV Viewer software (later renamed to MSN TV Viewer), or colloquially refer to any official simulator program for the WebTV/MSN TV line of products, including derivatives such as Microsoft TV.

The original WebTV/MSN TV Viewer software is an official simulator of the WebTV/MSN TV consumer device developed by WebTV Networks. The original intent of the program was to allow web developers to test their sites in a WebTV/MSN TV browser environment without requiring the user to buy a WebTV/MSN TV box and subscribe to the service. In its original, untouched form, the user can preview web sites and local HTML files, view notes about how a page renders in the browser, view the source code of a loaded page, print and save pages, and access a limited version of the TV Home section on the WebTV/MSN TV system. It had no intended ability to connect to the live WebTV/MSN TV service and it was essentially a stripped down WebTV Plus designed for debugging websites.

== Microsoft TV Simulator ==
The Microsoft TV Simulator is another simulator developed by Microsoft, this time targeting the Microsoft TV platform. The purpose of this revision of the Viewer is assumed to be similar to the original WebTV Viewer software, but not much information is available to really draw a conclusion yet. It was clearly not meant to be public, and may have leaked from somewhere. Unlike the WebTV Viewer, it can playback module files.

== Hacking Attempts ==
If it weren't for the hacking scene, then the WebTV/MSN TV Viewer's potential as a somewhat-proper WebTV/MSN TV emulator and hacking tool wouldn't have been realized in any fashion. Contrary to what WebTV Networks wanted people to believe, the Viewer did indeed have code to allow it to connect to the live WebTV/MSN TV service. It was just disabled by default and had to be enabled in some way. "Saladman" is credited for being able to first discover a method to connect the Viewer to the service, and eMac, "VirusOmega", and "NapHead" are credited for fleshing out the method once the previous ones were patched out, "NapHead" specifically devising a method for the Viewer to work with the MSN TV revision of the service. Details on how each method was achieved is for the time being, not public and remain in the clutches of those in the inner hacking circle who had been exposed to the information.

With the ability to hack the Viewer like this, hackers were able to discover new hacks and exploits for the WebTV/MSN TV service more easily, along with being able to learn how the service worked on a protocol level and developing proof-of-concept servers to better experiment with it. One of these servers have since been [http://turdinc.kicks-ass.net/Msntv/WebTV-EMU/index.html re-released] two years ago for general usage and added support for actual WebTV/MSN TV hardware and the Dreamcast release of WebTV.

In regards to the availability of these hacked Viewers, up until recently these were also kept private, possibly due to the fear of increasing attacks on the WebTV/MSN TV network, which is ironic seeing as at least one of the "trusted" hackers with access to these tools did indeed use it to target the accounts of those they wanted to mess with, maliciously or otherwise. It wasn't until around 2019 that one of these versions of the WebTV Viewer were [http://turdinc.kicks-ass.net/Msntv/viewer/ finally released to the public] alongside several versions of the stock Viewers as a "Hackers Edition", the hacked version in question originally being version 2.5 of the stock Viewer. It is known that version 1.0 of the Viewer is possible to hack to allow connectivity to the WebTV/MSN TV service, but without clear instructions on how this was possible we may never be able to reproduce this or even extend upon it.

The Microsoft TV Simulator, funnily enough, doesn't need all these hoops to be able to have connectivity to the WebTV/MSN TV service, and only requires a few in-program steps to achieve this. Information on how this is possible will be added when time permits.

== Technical ==
The original iteration of the WebTV/MSN TV Viewer, despite labeling itself as a simulator, does seem to utilize emulator-like technology as it requires two ROM files to operate - "Flash.vwr" and "ROM.vwr". It's not exactly clear what the purpose of "ROM.vwr" is right now, but "Flash.vwr" appears to be a container file for the firmware flash ROM. These files out of the box are encrypted with the TEA (Tiny Encryption Algorithm) algorithm, using the key <code>0xFE0F8A5040388A7C1422847CBF52A450</code> to encrypt the ROM data. When decrypted, both files appear to contain data for numerous images, scripts, and HTML pages used by the Viewer. How it reads this data isn't known at the moment.

Microsoft TV Simulator stores all files that would be loaded from ROM in a [[CompressFS]] image file named "BrowserData.image". This can be extracted with the appropriate tools, such as [https://archive.org/details/compressfs-tools UTVImage].

Thomson TAK

2023-09-15T19:02:10Z

Ultra0: change these links to saved versions from the wayback machine, just in case

The '''Thomson TAK''' was a France exclusive interactive all-in-one TV set produced by Thomson Multimedia in 2001. The device ran on an embedded Microsoft TV client and took the form of an actual monitor, unlike other WebTV devices which were only known to have been produced as set top boxes. Only one TAK model is known to have been made (the ICC20), though there's a chance that more than one are out there due to the fact that photographs of TAK devices in multiple different colors exist.

As of the last quarter of 2002, the TAK product line had been discontinued and "some related services (had) been transferred to a service provider."

== Features ==

The main features of the TAK included:

* "Practical Life" (weather reports, etc)
* Web Browsing
* Email
* A "TAK And Me" page (personalization)
* News
* TV Info + TV Guides
* Interactive TV (games, etc)
* Teletext (used in other countries under TOP Text, Fastext, FLOF text and Videotext)
* Dolby Virtual Surround
* The ability to control a Hi-Fi Radio System

== Technical ==

While not much is know about the technical side of the TAK, here's what we do know:

A VCR could be connected to the TV (AV1 socket) using a SCART/SCART cable (21 pins, all wired) which would supposedly enable similar functionality to that of connecting a WebTV to a VCR. The device could also be fitted with a modulator for recording purposes.

There's a chance that the TAK utilized CompressFS, due to the fact that the Microsoft TV platform likely did.

== Control ==

The TAK came with both a keyboard and remote. The remote seems to have capability to control a radio built into it and seems to also work as a Universal Remote.
The keyboard, (Model KCT5000) included two large buttons that were seemingly used for volume control and a TAK button that was supposedly used for "Accessing Services" which likely means that it was a key to redirect to the Home menu. The keyboard also stands out for the fact that it was designed EXTREMELY different in terms of shape from any other keyboard of the time, whether produced by other keyboard manufacturers or product for use with WebTV products.

== External links ==

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20230915185707/https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1080259/000095016803002013/d20f.htm A Trade report from Thomson in 2003 that discusses the discontinuation of the TAK]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20230915185955/https://file.haus/cdn1/files/64cca12a93abc.pdf A translated version of the TAK User's Guide]

Microsoft TV

2023-09-15T18:55:38Z

Ultra0: create link for the TAK article

''This page is currently a stub. More information will be added to this page when time permits.''

Microsoft TV was a software platform based on WebTV technology with a focus on interactive TV. It offered services such as digital video recording, electronic program guides, internet on TV, and interactive programming.

== Licensing ==
Companies were able to obtain a license to use the platform in their own products. It's unknown how many of them were given out. Examples include TV Cabo (from Portugal) with their Smartbox interactive TV product, Cablevisión Mexico, and Thomson with their [[TAK]] all-in-one TV platform.

== Technical ==
Microsoft TV appears to be based on the same technology as [[UltimateTV]], and likely ran on top of the Windows CE kernel. The simulator program released for Microsoft TV hints that the platform also may have utilized [[CompressFS]]. Compared to WebTV/MSN TV, it has a lot more usage of CSS and JavaScript. The architecture it ran on is currently not known.

=== Protocol ===
Microsoft TV's protocol has been observed to be similar to the [[WTVP]] protocol, except that some of the services it uses have different names compared to their WebTV-equivalent services, alongside the addition of a few headers for Microsoft TV-specific functionality. The [[WebTV_Viewer#Microsoft_TV_Simulator|Microsoft TV Simulator]] is able to connect to regular WebTV/MSN TV servers, though, with it confirmed to work on [https://github.com/zefie/zefie_wtvp_minisrv/ minisrv]-based servers just fine.

=== Configuration.xml ===
Inside the CompressFS in the "Configuration" directory, a "Configuration.xml" file is present. It would presumably be edited by the the licensee using the Microsoft TV platform to configure information about the service (i.e., service IPs, name, and phone numbers) and settings in the box itself. Settings configured by this file include but are not limited to: whether the OS should show the "OneWorld" UI or not (a built-in home page with links to Microsoft TV services and rotating panes for news and weather) and what URL the box should connect to when powered on, as well as settings for the browser itself such as the user agent and app version.

=== Parameters Array ===
In a good bunch of HTML files inside the CompressFS (such as various panels from the OneWorld UI's "start menu", which is essentially its own version of the Option menu), a JavaScript file is embedded, named "parameters.js". All the code does is define an array named "parameters" and a function named "unspace". The array is seen used to access information regarding the user's current page (such as the title and the address) and some other user settings.

TAK

2023-09-15T18:54:48Z

Ultra0: create redirect for Thomson TAK

#REDIRECT [[Thomson TAK]]

Main Page

2023-09-11T23:33:44Z

Ultra0: UPDATE - 9/11/2023

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 wrote on doing that: [[Backing Up WebTV (MSN TV) Hard Drives]].

Need to replace the hard drive in your WebTV/MSN TV boxes? Check out [[Replacing 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] to chat about anything WebTV/MSN TV with like minded people.

----
'''UPDATE - 9/11/2023:''' Hey everyone, I'm ultra0. I would like to let all readers of this wiki know that wtv-411 (aka, deef) has decided to move on from the WebTV community, and no longer wants to do anything with it. Please, respect his decision, don't contact him about any WebTV-related subjects.

He's done a lot of contributions, both to this wiki and just WebTV in general. We're very thankful of that, and we wish him good luck on his next endeavours.

'''UPDATE - 3/16/2023:''' Hello people. This is wtv-411. Bet you weren't expecting me to make another appearance after saying that I've moved on, huh? To tell the truth, I was mostly just burnt out from being involved with the WebTV community, as well as just actively running and writing for the wiki at the time, although my activity since then has been more discrete and I mostly help out with things in the background when I can. While things have gone quiet since JarHead has taken the reigns, I have been blessed with the privilege of being a contributor yet again and I have been putting in what little free time and motivation I have with this into polishing and updating the information on this wiki. I have added some more info on the hardware used by WebTV, as well as adding some minor updates to the MSN TV 2 page and some other pages, but I don't think I'll be doing anything more major than that considering how much effort is needed to keep this wiki running. Oh, and also the site doesn't properly show up in Google search results and only Google's for some reason, possibly because of the haphazard domain migration from the old domain and also the weird dual HTTP-HTTPS setup this site has right now. Wonderful. I am looking into transferring the old webtvwiki.net domain to the holder of the wiki's current domain before the end of the year, which might not change things by much but it may help in keeping things consistent.

On the flip side, I just got around to publishing the little info I have gathered and discovered on the MSN TV 2's service, as well as some info on the firmware, on a separate GitHub wiki since I feel that it is not only easier to manage, but will also allow more people to easily find it compared to a small obscure wiki that you can't even search for anymore. You can view it [https://github.com/wtv-411/msntv2-docs/wiki here]. It may not get consistent updates due to real life obligations as well as the nature of the thing the wiki is focused on, but I am definitely looking forward to working on that more than this.

'''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.

For older updates: [[Archived Updates]]

----

* [[UltimateTV]]
* [[Microsoft TV]] '''NEW'''
* [[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]]
** [[WebTV Memory Map]]
** [[Power-Off Codes]]
* [[ROM]]
* [[WebTV Viewer]]
* [[WebTV for Dreamcast]]
* [[Client Commands]]
* [[WebTV Upgrade History]]

* [[MSN TV 2]]

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

Microsoft TV

2023-07-12T18:23:01Z

Ultra0: add bit about css and js usage and the parameters array

''This page is currently a stub. More information will be added to this page when time permits.''

Microsoft TV was a software platform based on WebTV technology with a focus on interactive TV. It offered services such as digital video recording, electronic program guides, internet on TV, and interactive programming.

== Licensing ==
Companies were able to obtain a license to use the platform in their own products. It's unknown how many of them were given out. Examples include TV Cabo (from Portugal) with their Smartbox interactive TV product, Cablevisión Mexico, and Thomson with their "TAK" all-in-one TV platform.

== Technical ==
Microsoft TV appears to be based on the same technology as [[UltimateTV]], and likely ran on top of the Windows CE kernel. The simulator program released for Microsoft TV hints that the platform also may have utilized [[CompressFS]]. Compared to WebTV/MSN TV, it has a lot more usage of CSS and JavaScript. The architecture it ran on is currently not known.

=== Protocol ===
Microsoft TV's protocol has been observed to be similar to the [[WTVP]] protocol, except that some of the services it uses have different names compared to their WebTV-equivalent services, alongside the addition of a few headers for Microsoft TV-specific functionality. The [[WebTV_Viewer#Microsoft_TV_Simulator|Microsoft TV Simulator]] is able to connect to regular WebTV/MSN TV servers, though, with it confirmed to work on [https://github.com/zefie/zefie_wtvp_minisrv/ minisrv]-based servers just fine.

=== Configuration.xml ===
Inside the CompressFS in the "Configuration" directory, a "Configuration.xml" file is present. It would presumably be edited by the the licensee using the Microsoft TV platform to configure information about the service (i.e., service IPs, name, and phone numbers) and settings in the box itself. Settings configured by this file include but are not limited to: whether the OS should show the "OneWorld" UI or not (a built-in home page with links to Microsoft TV services and rotating panes for news and weather) and what URL the box should connect to when powered on, as well as settings for the browser itself such as the user agent and app version.

=== Parameters Array ===
In a good bunch of HTML files inside the CompressFS (such as various panels from the OneWorld UI's "start menu", which is essentially its own version of the Option menu), a JavaScript file is embedded, named "parameters.js". All the code does is define an array named "parameters" and a function named "unspace". The array is seen used to access information regarding the user's current page (such as the title and the address) and some other user settings.

User:Ultra0/Microsoft TV

2023-07-10T21:45:26Z

Ultra0: Created page with "Microsoft TV was a software platform based on WebTV technology with a focus on interactive TV. It offered services such as digital video recording, electronic program guides, internet on TV, and interactive programming. == Licensing == Companies were able to obtain a license to use the platform in their own products. It's unknown how many of them were given out. Examples include TV Cabo (from Portugal), Cablevision Mexico and supposedly Thomson ("TAK"). == Technical =..."

Microsoft TV was a software platform based on WebTV technology with a focus on interactive TV. It offered services such as digital video recording, electronic program guides, internet on TV, and interactive programming.

== Licensing ==
Companies were able to obtain a license to use the platform in their own products. It's unknown how many of them were given out. Examples include TV Cabo (from Portugal), Cablevision Mexico and supposedly Thomson ("TAK").

== Technical ==
The platform ran on the Windows CE kernel, and utilizes [[CompressFS]] in a file named "BrowserData.image". The architecture it ran in is unknown, but is suspected to be x86.

=== Protocol ===
Microsoft TV's protocol, to our knowledge, is more or less the same as WTVP with a few additions to allow Microsoft TV-specific functionality. The [[WebTV_Viewer#Microsoft_TV_Simulator|Simulator]] is able to connect to [https://github.com/zefie/zefie_wtvp_minisrv/ minisrv] servers just fine.

=== Configuration.xml ===
Inside the CompressFS in the "Configuration" directory, a "Configuration.xml" file is present. It would presumably be used by the the company who's using the platform to configure information about the service (such as its IPs, name and phone numbers) and settings in the box itself (whether it should use One World or not, what URL should the box use when powered on and in other cases, user agent, app version, etc).

User:Ultra0

2023-07-10T21:44:56Z

Ultra0: make the page

Hello there, I'm Ultra! I plan on contributing to this wiki.