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Unison Internet tv boxes

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  • 20-10-2011 8:36pm
    #1
    Enda Murphy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 58 ✭✭


    Does anybody here have any ideas why they didnt take off ? At the time a computer cost IR£1000 and they seemed like such an easy way for everybody to get online, Was it that most irish people just had no interest in the internet in the 90s?


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    #2
    bluemachaveli
    Registered Users Posts: 1,743 ✭✭✭bluemachaveli


    They were awful to use to be honest. We got one free through Chorus at the time, I think. I still cringe thinking back now on all the hours I wasted trying to use the feckin thing. Scrolling webpages was a nightmare and it took forever to render.

    OK idea but badly implemented.


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    #3
    Explosive_Cornflake
    Registered Users Posts: 2,113 ✭✭✭Explosive_Cornflake


    Text was very readable/very hard to look at on a CRT TV.
    If LCD's were the rage back then they would have taken off.
    They used 56k modems, I don't believe the internet really took off until broadband became available. I did suffer a 56k connection for years though.


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    #4
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,852 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Unison was £299 and was little more than a modem with a keyboard

    Playstation 2 was £100 more and it could play games, DVD's and surf too
    IIRC the PS/2 wasn't even that much more than some standalone DVD players

    Compare to the PS/2 the unison was very low spec. And while new PC's cost a grand you could pick up a windows 95 machine (5 years old by then) for a fraction of that price which would have far more functionality.

    http://www.iolfree.ie/~icdg/chorus_unison.htm
    The most well known version is that sold for £299 in electrical retailers (If you live in the North - while you cannot subscribe to Unison - you can have one of these boxes for £5 a month on top of an ONdigital subscription). This is a dial-up box that offers free access to the internet through a 56KBPS modem- telephone charges apply.


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    #5
    Solair
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,230 ✭✭✭Solair


    Well, considering that you only get about 480 lines of actual resolution on a standard PAL display. (410 on NTSC) so computer-generated text looks awful.


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    #6
    galvo_clare
    Registered Users Posts: 669 ✭✭✭galvo_clare


    I remember playing around with a very early box - it might even have been pre-release. Myself and a friend, a complete Linux head, spend hours trying
    to get it even to connect.
    Hopeless rubbish, that's why they didn't take off!


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    #7
    Bebo Rocks
    Site Banned Posts: 23 ✭Bebo Rocks


    Someone was taking the piss on adverts.ie recently, trying to sell one for for €200.


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    #8
    Pen.Island
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 447 ✭✭Pen.Island


    Does anyone know what the homepage was on eircom internet? Nostalgia.


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    #9
    demanufactured
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,756 ✭✭✭demanufactured


    tinet.ie


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