New Gadgets For Your TV

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 8, 1999 / 9:03 AM EST / CBS

Of the thousands of products unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, only a handful were awarded best of show. They include TVGuardian and Replay TV. CBS This Morning's Consumer Correspondent Herb Weisbaum has details on both.

TVGuardian is a foul language filter. You hook this device up to your TV set and it actually finds and filters out the dirty words you don't want your kids to hear. It works with most movies and many TV shows. TVGuardian's software uses the closed captioning, even when you don't display it on screen. It scans all the words and blocks out the dirty ones before they can be spoken.

Rick Bray invented TVGuardian. The reason is simple: "I just got frustrated. I've got two kids." He says it filters out about 100 words and phrases: "About anything you can think of that's offensive, it's going to mute out."

When TVGuardian cuts the sound it puts a profanity-free phrase on the screen so you don't miss any of the story line. To give parents a range of control, TV Guardian has what's called a "tolerant" setting lets a few mildly crude words slip by, like "butt," for example.

TVGuardian will be on the market very soon, for about $150.

The second product, Replay TV, turns your TV into a VCR but no tape is required. If you are watching a program and the phone rings, you can push stop and talk to your friend. But the program being broadcast is still recording. Every time your TV is on, it's rolling. Finished with your call? Back it up a little bit, and you can start to roll again. If you want to catch up to the live broadcast, you can push "fast forward." You can also set it to record your favorite channels. It will tape it for you, erase, or save it depending on how you want it to go. It can do 7 hours, 14 hours, 28 hours worth of recording. The device is priced at $700 to $1,500, and will be out in March.