HDTV Almanac - A Remote Rant

[akirby]

I don't know about you guys but I have a Harmony One to control a DirecTV receiver and I use every single hard button plus about 6 commands on the LCD. Way too many to put on one touchscreen - you'd need multiple screens.

You also can't use touchscreens without looking at them and that becomes a pain for power users.

Harmony and some other universal remotes that use a combination of hard and soft (LCD) keys gets my vote.

[alfredpoor]

akirby, you certainly make good points, especially about the power user factor; I prefer to use the Windows Office keyboard shortcuts rather than grope for the mouse every time I want to use one command or another. So I think I get that part.

However, a single touch screen can be a powerful thing. Look at all the things an iPhone can do; I bet it's way more than what your remote can. The point is that in any given situation, there are only a few of those buttons -- hard or soft -- that you can press that are meaningful in that context. At that instant, the rest are just taking up space and confusing the non-power-user. Nested menus focus your attention on the choices available at that point, and for many people, can be the start of a more efficient user interface.

As for power users not being able to "speed dial" on a touch screen, I'd point to the iPhone again. Some people can make it fly without glancing at the screen.

I'm not saying that there aren't other solutions that people can be happy using; it's just that I'm not happy with any of the ones I've experienced.

Alfred

[akirby]

I just counted and for my DirecTV HD DVR I have 39 commands/buttons that I need. You can't fit all of those on one small touchscreen.

I like touchscreen technology and in some cases it works much better than hard buttons. But there is a difference between using a touchscreen on an appliance or cell phone where you are looking at the device and using a TV remote where you're looking at the TV and not at the remote. For casual users this is probably not an issue, but for power DVR users who are constantly using the transport buttons a hard button remote or hybrid hard/LCD button remote works better.

[Roger Halstead]

Actually you can put more than 39 commands on the screen of a PDA, I-Pod, or other touch screen device. Even my little Motorola cell phone can do more than that and they are easier to use than buttons. These are "soft coded" so buttons around the edge, or spots on the screen take on different functions. Most aircraft Multi Function Displays (MFDs), GPS's and nav screens are configured like this. So you can get a relatively large screen without having to make room for a lot of buttons. I was looking at a little smart phone the other day that basically could do just about any thing I can do on here while surfing the net, looking at the weather, reading e-mail, or even filing flight plans. Thing is these devices are from a 1/3rd to a 1/4 (or even smaller) than my existing TV and satellite remotes and they are easier to use. One possibility would be soft menus on the TV screen like those used for set up. Push the menu button on the remote, then use the arrows to navigate around the TV screen. When in this mode you'd have a smaller image with the soft buttons around the outside of it. That could drop the need for everything on the remote except the On/off, up/down/right/left, menu, and select button.

[akirby]

I simply can't imagine 39 buttons on a small LCD screen being usable.

[Roger Halstead]

Remember in this case the screen is dynamic (changing) rather than static or unchanging. There are several ways of doing this, but the simplest is to have one "soft key" designated as the <function> key. the other keys on the screen will depict the operations of what ever function is selected. Press the function button/spot and the programming will change the functions of the keys displayed. Any one screen may only have 5 or 10 keys displayed, but by pressing the function key you can go through any number of screens. Also you can scroll up and down as well as right and left and zoom. IOW the screen becomes a small window into a much larger world. Key functions can be redefined at the push of a button the way they do with the "glass cockpit", or you can put your finger on the screen and move it across the screen dragging the image with it. This can reveal more keys/functions that were hidden or rather out of view as the I-pod does when browsing.

It may sound confusing, but in reality it is a system that is much easier to use than the standard remote where it may take a sequence of key presses to do something. It may also take a sequence with the touch screen or soft buttons (software defined), but if each one is well labeled as to what it does that makes the navigation much easier than old style, physical button sequences.

Probably the best analogy...that I can think of at the moment is surfing the net with a computer. You can often go through many pages, such as 10's or 100's with no more than moving the mouse and clicking on screen locations. Right and left clicks give different results and even drop down menus. I have real time RADAR running on the computer next to this one. I have 41 image display functions available, playback as a movie with variable speed, I can zoom in to a display only a few miles across or see the whole state, I can display lightning, projected storm tracks with time intervals, total precipitation at any specific area, and that is just a fraction of the capabilities. These controls take only a small portion of the screen and change depending on what I select.

Whether we'd get a touch screen remote that'd be useful or one designed by an engineer for engineers would be something else, but they do appear to be getting a bit more user friendly.

[alfredpoor]

39 buttons on a small touch screen is no more usable than 39 physical buttons on the same size remote control.

6 buttons on a touch screen is totally usable.

Seven screens of 6 context-sensitive buttons gives you more than 39 buttons in much less distracting and easier to use format.

It takes a difference of opinions to make a horserace, and I certainly understand that some folks will prefer a physical button over a virtual one, but I believe that there is a touch screen solution that would work better for me.

Alfred

[akirby]

I understand you could have multiple screens or one huge touchscreen but neither is appealing to me.

I guess the biggest issue for me is having to look at the screen to switch between play, rew, ff, skip, jump back while watching a DVR'd show. I can do that easily with my Harmony ONE by touch (same with volume) while I still have the other functions available via the other hard keys and LCD screen.

I guess it all depends on how you use it.

[Roger Halstead]

I'm talking about a screen small enough to fit on a standard remote, much like the i-pod, not a large screen. I keep coming back to the I-Pod as a comparison and really dislike the things. <:-)) I find surfing the Net with one like trying to view the world through a keyhole.

With the function you could select the DVR control and have graphics on the screen that look just like your current symbols. You'l only need to touch them, or they might be a spot on the screen where you'd only need to slide your finger right or left to forward, rewind, speed up, slow down, and pause. That would be an ideal function for a touch screen. Even with the small screen there should be room to keep the volume control where again you could just slide your finger up and down to change volume.

This approach could greatly simplify the controls on the remote...if any one ever builds one. OTOH they'd probably cost as much as one of those I-Pods.

As I said earlier in this thread, I really dislike touch screens but OTOH they do work well and could greatly simplify something like a remote, or even universal remote. I'd probably even purchase one.

[regman]

Like akirby I have 2 Logitech Harmony's - an 880 and a 1000. One is touchscreen (the 1000) and one is not but the display is somewhat programmable. I have had the Logitech 1000 for over 2 years now and it works terrific, has no scratches on the touchscreen and no protective film. It even automatically dims the lights when I hit the play button on my BlueRay. It seems that most so called "universal" remotes always have to leave out something. The Harmony 1000 doesn't and it'll even turn on your fireplace if it's remote controllable. Logitech's customer service is superb. You only get what you pay for...