Remote Controls On The March

faxafloi writes "SFGate has an article about how remote controls have proliferated in our world like rabbits. Even their inventor, Robert Adler, is befuddled by them. 'Universal' remotes help some, but are not interoperable with enough devices to drive everything, so we're stuck with multiple remotes. The article then describes the new top of the line models, ranging to (ahem) $1699.00." (Of course, there were remote controls of a sort long before Adler.) For another approach to universal remote control -- using a cell phone as display and controller -- read on below.

An anonymous reader writes "This whitepaper describes Intel's research into innovative and futuristic uses of camera phones. Cell phones are already much more than a communication device. In cities around the world, purchasing a soda out of a vending machine can be as easy as dialing your cell phone. Even parking and toll fees are easily paid through a cell phone, and they are used as debit/credit cards to purchase food, services, and gas. Now, the global proliferation of cell phones with cameras brings more opportunities to use mobile phone devices in different capacities -- and the best part is that these applications require no additional hardware. In Intel's research, camera phones are being used as pointing devices, authentication devices, storage devices, and even as user interfaces for systems that, because of cost and/or form factor, aren't able to accommodate a display of their own."

Comments

1,699$ Remote

[arieswind]

if I'm going to pay almost 1700$ on a remote, I better be able to drive my car with it like in that one James Bond movie :)

Surely 'Remote Controls Out Of Control!' ...

[Space cowboy]

subject says it all :-))

Simon

Re:Surely 'Remote Controls Out Of Control!' ...

[KReilly]

That is a little out of hand, but that is the very top of the line. I was using a 300 dollar remote at my girlfriends, and it definetly adds to the experience.

I had seen the remote before and thought it was rediculous to spend that much on a universal remote, but when you already have 2500 bucks in equipment you might as well splurge.

But, it has a touch screen interface, auto programming through ir, back lighting, etc. etc. All in all, if I was gonna invest in a good home theater I would say not to skip over buying a quality remote

Can't let that happen

[ResidntGeek]

No, we can't be making any sort of changes to our remote system - not while having 5 remotes confuses the technically inept of the world, to my endless amusement. ("Whaddya mean, I have to switch the input on both the stereo AND the TV?" - my uncle)

Consumer A/V devices suck!

[MisterP]

The main problem I see with complicated A/V systems is that each device stores its own state and the remote is completely unaware of what state each device is in. If one device is out of sync your 25 step macro button is worthless.

This is where that Harmony remote shines. It effectively "remembers" what state a device is in. I've had one of these remotes for about a year and it's awesome. It's the first remote that my wife can actually use. No more "we have $4000 worth of electronics and i can't use any of it" conversations. Unfortunately, it still takes some technical prowess to get it working 100%.

So many of these remote problems could be solved by a simple common serial protocol that all a/v components (of any brand) talk. Ideally, you add device to your system and it autonegotiates with the recevier and the TV so the TV knows what input it's on and the receiver knows what input it is on. It blows me a away that something like this hasn't been done. Infact, there has been ZERO progress in this area since I've started playing with stereos 20 years ago. It's sad.

The other problem I see with newer devices is the incredibly bad UI in most of the menu screens. In the last 2 years, I've bought 2 Toshiba TV's (one HDTV, one analog set) a Toshiba VCR and a Toshiba DVD player. All the menus on all those devices are completely different. Different "widgets", different methods of accessing sub-menus, different everything.

Re:Consumer A/V devices suck!

[Amiga Lover]

The main problem I see with complicated A/V systems is that each device stores its own state and the remote is completely unaware of what state each device is in. If one device is out of sync your 25 step macro button is worthless.

I see the problem as not only the remote->device setup sucking, but almost every electronic device's UI sucks too. There's little in the way of standards, and there's too much in the way of trying to compress all 150 functions of say, a VCR, into 5 buttons and one 2-line display, or similar.

Occasionally a device comes out that stuns the world, like the iPod seems to. How curious that what it takes to be so well regarded in its interface is for it to do little more than a cassette player did more than 30 years ago. The iPod may be easy to use, but its reputation is strengthened all the more by the panoply of horrific interfaces on most other gadgets.

Re:Consumer A/V devices suck!

[mad_dog3283]

Yes, but your remote doesn't have eyeballs. If you create a macro on your remote that, for example, turns your TV on, VCR on, switches your TV to the VCR input, and plays the videocassette, it is assuming that your TV and VCR are both Off at the time the macro is run. However, if someone manually turned the TV on before the macro was run, then running the macro would cause the TV to turn Off and the VCR on, which is useless. This is because, when you push "Power" on your remote control, the remote simply tells the TV "Change your state," rather than explicitly telling it to "Turn on" or "Turn off". If the latter was the case, then whenever the TV was already on and it received a command to "Turn on," it would just ignore the command.

Re:Consumer A/V devices suck!

[WuphonsReach]

I still haven't figured out why the car stereo I bought a few weeks ago came with a remote control... There isn't one spot from in my car that you can't reach the buttons from.

My JVC MP3 CD player came with one as well.

I guess it's for the folks who are using it in a van / RV, or who are into the "sound scene" where they fill the car with speakers and need to stand a bit away.

It's not as bad as it seems

[Rude Turnip]

Most universal remotes will handle multiple devices for you. A co-worker of mine has a $700 remote with virtual screens, etc. that takes care of his living room. However, when I asked him if his remote can access each device's special menus for things like brightness, contrast and other settings, he said he still needs the original remote controls for such purposes. However, how often do you need to fiddle with such minute settings? Stick the originals in a drawer and forget about them until you need them for very rare, specific purposes.

Keep in mind that the alternative would be having a control panel of knobs and buttons on all your devices, which only provide more points of failure.

Re:It's not as bad as it seems

[eclectro]

I use Philips universal remote

I was able to program all my devices onto it, and it learned the commands for a daewoo 5800 dvd player. I haven't found a need to touch any of my original remotes. Also, you can have it "learn" the special menus. A neat thing you can do is program any key for any device. So if you want to control the amp with the cd player selected, you can program it to. It fits really well in the hand, costs under 20 dollars, and its available at shopko.

I did a considerable amount of shopping for a low-cost universal remote, and this has the best price/performance ratio of them all. Why spend $700. I highly recommend this one.

Re:It's not as bad as it seems

[shumway]

I definitely agree...I love the 8-function version....only $25 and it has Tivo and ReplayTV buttons. Plus it is incredibly light and thin. The only flaw is that the buttons are not backlit or glow-in-the-dark (which should be a minimum requirement for all remotes).

I used to geek out on my Philips NeoPronto, their $200 "low end" progammable remote, until my toddler introduced it to the floor. It was more fun to program than it was to use, though...you don't really care about having 20-step macros and custom logo bitmaps for all your favorite channels when you keep hitting the wrong fsckin' numbers on the touch screen.

Salling Clicker

[aclarke]

It may not be a UNIVERSAL remote, but for those of us with Apple computers and bluetooth phones, Salling Clicker lets us use our phones as a display and a remote. Works great!

Too many remotes:

[chickens]

In my day, we'd change channel with a long pointy stick. Problem solved

Remote Central

[Flaken2000]

See Remote Central for in-depth info on remotes.

http://www.remotecentral.com

its true

[ErichTheWebGuy]

I have remotes for my: cable box, dvd player, tivo, vcr, tv, cd player, amp, tape deck, and eq.

If that weren't enough, my fan (yea, fan) has a remote. And, I almost bought a car stereo the other day that has a, you guess it, remote control.

Mobile phone is a great remote for laptop

[Uninen]

I've been using Nokia 6600 with Salling Clicker for a while now and it works great.

It can control just about every program and SC ships with ready scripts for the most used, like iTunes, Keynote and Powerpoint.

Old School Remotes

[MyNameIsFred]

When I was a child, TV remotes were uncommon and worked very differently -- they used sound. I vividly remember our remote. It had four metal bars visible thru the grating. Pushing the on/off button caused a hammer to hit one of the bars. The TV reacted to the sound. Very basic functionality: On/Off, volume in steps, and up/down channel changing.

Oh the hours of fun. Learning how to change channels by jiggling my Mom's car keys. Or the dog perking up when we hit certain buttons.

Although it beat by Dad's previous remote. Hey son, go change the channels. Kids today don't know what they're missing.

Re:Old School Remotes

[WindBourne]

I remember those. They were fun to find things that would change the channel. And yeah, we had a tv that the keys could change if shaken correctly.

Sure I'll buy a can of soda

[MisterSarcastic]

"In cities around the world, purchasing a soda out of a vending machine can be as easy as dialing your cell phone."

Because buying soda from a vending amchine is -so- much more difficult than dialing a cellphone. All that heavy change you have to lug around, when instead you could be reading the number off of the vending machine, entering it into your phone, paying an extra 50 cents or so for the minutes it takes to call, navigate through the menu to choose your soda and Voila! Its all taken care of transparently through the miracle of technology.

I'm going to try this out the next chance I get.

RadioShack 15-1994

[mdwebster]

The Radio Shack 15-1994 remote can be had, on sale, for $30.00. If it doesn't have the code for a device, you can have it 'read' the signal from the remote for that device. It will hold up to 20 of those, I believe.

If you want more, you can build a serial-interface cable and upload new signatures into the main memory to leave more room for dynamic buttons and macros.

Re:RadioShack 15-1994

[mdwebster]

It has 4 generic buttons right across the top below the mode switches and 7 mode switches. You can also cross-map volume, say from your stereo system, to overlap the volume controls when in Cable/Sat mode. There are also numerous buttons that a given mode would rarely use that you could map on top of like picture-in-picutre or surround mode or move.

BTW, After a bit of reading, I believe you can do 50+ custom mappings depending on the signals.

Get a JP1 remote, much cheaper

[spideyct]

Find a JP1 capable remote. You can get many great universal remotes for MUCH cheaper ($15), that have better features/compatibility than the expensive (>$100) remotes out there. JP1 capable remotes have a pin connection that lets you program them from your computer using free software developed by an avid community.

Since I bought my JP1-enabled One For All Cinema 7 two years ago, it is the only remote I've needed in my living room (with TV, DVD, VCR, Stereo, CD Player, Satellite). I'm serious, all of the other remotes are sitting in a drawer somewhere collecting dust. I think it cost me less than $20.

I've had some luck...

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

Details: Tivo, Sony Universal remote that doesn't do Tivo.

I have the packard bell IR remote reciever connected to my linux server with about 25' of cat5. Custom shell script recieves the input (Sony thinks it is talking to a VCR) and pumps it back out to the Tivo via another serial. Also works for a RCA directv reciever, which the sony remote only partially implements (some menu buttons are gone, etc). Dishnet is a problem, they don't have external serial ports, and even hacking inside doesn't work, seems to be nothing for it in firmware.

Now I just need a 4way (or better) svideo switch, that speaks serial (since we damn well know that even if I got that $70 remote controlled one, my universal remote can't speak that). Think if I got one of those manual button ones, that I could use a PIC or atmel and a few transistors?

PS. The trouble with even the learning remotes, is that they don't have enough generic buttons. Waiting for one that has a "tivo" button isn't the solution, put a few "A", "B", "C" buttons on it, for godsake.

Remotely Controlled Apparatus

[dignome]

The Teleautomaton - Another first for Tesla.

Who else likes alternating current?

universal remote

[darkain]

Laptop: $500
ATI RemoteWonder: $50
IR-Blaster: $50

ability to use an RF remote to control virutally *any* IR device? priceless.

Why not a wand remote instead?

[AltaMannen]

I'm getting enough of button pressing when I'm at work so why not change the user interface of the remote to a gesture with a wand?

It couldn't be that hard to make something like a ps2 eye-toy that interprets motions made using a black stick with a white tip, and voice recognition for the device choice. Just say 'TV' and draw the channel number in the air. Move the stick sideways to increase/decrease volume and juggle the stick for hilarious results!

Slap a Harry Potter logo on the box and it's bound to sell millions as well!

JINI + bluetooth + phone/pda ideal solution

[MCRocker]

Surely his is the perfect place for JINI technology to really shine.

All you need is a bluetooth or WiFi enabled Java/JINI phone/pda or some such gadget. As you walk into the room, your device gets updated with the appropriate GUI control software for all of your entertainment boxes and you just select the ones you want to use and interact with them via the user interface provided via JINI.

No more searching for the correct controller. The too many buttons syndrome could also be overcome because these apps will be able to use rich client interfaces to simplify the huge number of options and even provide help documentation!

I doubt it'll happen any time soon though.

Remote Control Design

[maggeth]

I'm not going to get into all this camera phone business, but I once saw one of those "smart" living room setups where you basically have a PDA to control everything. I can't imagine sitting there fumbling with a stylus to change the channel. If I can't operate it when I'm drunk/tired/etc. it's not simple enough!

Remember, these are Americans you are designing for!

Could have changed the industry years ago

[TrickFred]

...Oh, if only I had invented the Finglonger...

Don't buy the $1699 iPronto

[Rufosx]

Piece of crap, really. Lots of defective units from the factory. Not as easy to use as the earlier Pronto remotes (which I really do like a lot). Surfing the net is slow and hard to use a touchscreen for.

Lots of promise in this unit, as it does run Linux and does a lot of cool stuff, but it just didn't turn out that well.

My recomendation : get a Harmony or a Pronto. If you have a Tivo, get a Pronto (because you don't need the guide in the Harmony).

Sony AV2100

[sbaker]

We have the Sony AV2100 - it was once considered up-market for a 'learning remote' but not in the thousands of dollars range. I paid a little over $100 - but nowadays you can pick one up on eBay for around $30.

Ours has replaced every single remote we have in our family room (EIGHT of them!!). It even successfully learned Lego Mindstorms commands.

It's better than just a regular record/replay learning remote because it can chain together bunches of commands from different remotes and knows things like "when you are controlling the TV, you should still send volume control messages to the home-theatre amplifier". With the chained commands, I can press a single touch-screen button to tell my TV to listen to the DVD player, the DVD player to eject so I can put a disk in, the Amplifier to go to 'Action Movie' mode, the TV to accept wide-format video and the dimmer on the room lighting to go to 10% brightness. Now if I can just get the Lego robot to fetch me a beer, I'll be in business!

The AV2100 has regular mechanical buttons for common things like channel changing, volume control and switching major modes - but it also has a large LCD panel with a touch screen for everything else. The blue back-light on the LCD is worth having so you can see what you are doing in a darkened room.

The best thing of all - it's too big to lose between two sofa cushions. Trust me - that's far-and-away it's best feature!

As a kid, I was my Dad's remote...

[bergeron76]

... so yes, they did exist (of sorts) before they evolved into what they are today.

Boy were my legs happy when our Betmax player came with a wired remote!

Ahh, the memories.