Remotes

A Media Center PC is operated from the couch and therefore you need a remote. Remotes come in all shapes and sizes. Most remotes only send a one-way signal to your home theatre equipment, but Windows Vista is inspiring the introduction of several interesting two-way remotes. The Ricavision Sideshow Remote is an example. The 2.5" color screen is what catches the eye, but what's really new is that the display shows information from the Media Center PC. So this will enable you to select music from the harddrive without switching your tv on! This device was announced in December and is supposed to cost about US$ 200, but I haven't seen it actually for sale yet.

The functionality is based on the Sideshow feature of Windows Vista. The remote will show and control any gadget that you prefer to include in the Sideshow bar. The question is of course how this functionality will transfer to other HTPC front-end software packages than Vista MCE. And how this will integrate into multi functional remotes like the Logitech Harmony.

My personal preference would still be two separate devices. One "simple" remote with buttons that you can feel and operate blindfolded. And a more sophisticated, touch screen operated, PDA type remote that shows the Media Center user interface. Finally the keyboard and mouse will serve as a backup only.

Now, the simple remote should be as simple as possible. I think there should be a minimum set of buttons and that the software user interface should be designed such that it's fully operable with this minimum set of commands.
The minimum set of buttons is:
- On and off buttons that will not only operate the mediacenter pc but also the receiver, tv set, etc.
- The standard buttons for play, pause, stop, fast forward, rewind, previous and next. I don't think the "record" button is particularly useful anymore. You'll often see that commands like "forward" and "next", or "play" and "pause" are combined in a single buttons. I think that should be outlawed
- Channel + and -
- Volume + and -
- Arrow buttons that will shift the focus on screen from one item to the next
- An "OK" button that will select the highlighted item
- A "menu" button that will show all options for the highlighted item
- A "back" button that will get you back to the previous screen without selecting anything
- The 0-9 buttons are optional. These clutter up the remote and I don't see a real need. Selecting channels with numbers is out-dated. And while the number buttons can be used for text message style editing of text, I don't see that as particularly user friendly either.
- Nice-to-have is a "home" button that will get you back to the start screen from wherever you are in the user interface.
- Another nice-to-have is a couple of multifunctional buttons, that are specific to your hardware setup or your preferences as a user. These buttons should be next to a display that shows what the actual functionality of these buttons is.