Are all TV Remote Controls bad?

S.V. is that your remote set? Pretty hilarious.

Reminds me of this awesome write-up by Jakob Nielsen:

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040315.html

He compares the Tivo remote (another very good remote design, without a touchscreen) with a standard remote.

As for touchscreens, I think we are jumping to them too quickly. Look at what happened to Ford in J.D. Power’s survey of quality. Huge drop because of a crappy user interface on the computer. Let’s work to get really great button interfaces and save the touch screens only for when absolutely necessary.

http://www.activityvehicle.com/2011/06/myford-touch-hurts-ford-in-jd-power-quality/

BTW, if you don’t subscribe to the useit blog, you should. Maybe 3/4 of the stuff is talking about web sites and programs, but the other 1/4 of the really relevant design stuff is gold.

Sure, remote controls indeed appear to be an afterthought in terms of their design and usability. However, I think the remote control itself is partly to blame. The real problem I feel is the lack of a clear link for the user between the product and its remote control. Anyone who has ever tried changing settings in a TV or DVD menu probably knows what I mean. TV’s user interfaces are horrible and have no apparent relation with the buttons (and their labels) on your remote. It reminds me of the remote controls in the 90s which had this separate lid to cover certain buttons which you only had to use every now and then. It makes the remote LOOK easier to use due to less visual clutter. Great solution I think, what ever happened to that?

This picture shows that in a DIY way! I’ve seen that pic in one of Donald Norman’s books.

Agreed. We all know how difficult it is to operate them in the dark although one of my remotes has glow in the dark buttons, which helps but is not sufficient. Also, all buttons on a remote basically have the same shape and topography which makes it even more harder. Why not make their shapes more distinct so you can feel what the button should do? Or perhaps give dedicated areas to common operations (channel, volume, etc.) on the side of the RC? Or using natural gestures like simon_four_fingers suggests.

The reality is that each home is cluttered with perhaps 3-5 remote controls which control one product each. Although I agree that each remote control should be optimized in terms of design and usability to create a coherent UX we cannot expect manufacturers to come with a remote that can control all other products (from other brands) in your home as well. That is why solutions such like the Harmony exists.

Of all the remote controls I’ve ever used I found this to be the best:

Ergonomic in my hand, easy to pick up from a table because of the curved sides, clear dedicated areas for volume and channel right underneath your thumb, and very limited controls.

Cool! Hiding the keys at the back in such a way that you can also hold it easily without accidentally pressing the buttons on the front.

T

That is a great link.

Thinking back to when I’ve bought AV equipment- never has a salesperson even mentioned how to use it, or has even shown the remote, it’s all about features. Then again, I’ve only bought from ‘big box’ retailers or department stores, not specialty shops.

:slight_smile:

Who even uses TV remotes anyways?? If you have cable you are most likely going to be running it through the PVR remote ya?? Then if you have a stereo you’ll be using the amplifier remote?

I’m already controlling my itunes through my phone, maybe there is a remote control app? Also do you still have to program remotes like you used to? That is such a pain.

Not quite there yet, but you can imagine how well this will work n 5 years: KinEmote Control Windows Media Center, Boxee, XBMC & more Microsoft Kinect - YouTube

I love my Harmony…the design on my older model isn’t great - buttons have horrible tactile differentiation and I’ll often hit the wrong key if I’m trying to blindly do it, but at least it’s back lit. But the fact that it controls my TV, AV Reciver, DVR, PS3, XBox, Wii and Radio (and can even control the blinds and lights if you have the right wiring in the house) is pretty amazing. The touch screen lends itself very nice to context aware controls. I don’t need a full time button for something that might only work on the receiver.

We have a B&O stereo from the 80s in our studio with 2 remotes, an earlier version of the one posted before, and a massive desktop one. They are the most cryptic things ever, I have no idea what anything but the function and volume buttons do. And the manuals are AWFUL. But the build quality of the stick remote makes up for that almost- cast metal body, you could knock someone out with it (would work better at that actually than as a remote), I love it as an object. It works with multiple generations of their equipment which is nice given the quality of the hardware.

and

I have a harmony for my HT setup in my living room, but it is a let down, and after recently switching to FIOS I want to lock whoever designed their remote and DVR interface in a closet with the cast of Jersey Shore. The FIOS iphone app shows a glimmer of being awesome, in a few generations it will be a great alternative.

That desktop B&O remote was the one I was looking for when I posted earlier. They seem to have the idea that if all the buttons are the same size and lined up, it will make operating it easier. They do look great though.

This jumped out at me from the junk mail today:


Looks like it works pretty good too:

anyone used one?

Few comments:

  1. I’d be scared to talk to that chick, she didn’t stop swinging her arms around the whole video. Jeez

  2. Like she says, this works with the UI in the TV, but add a cable box and I’m immediately stuck with my original problem. Whose bright idea was it to require an HD cable box today…they just ruined all the progress we had made with TV UI in one swoop by forcing us to have two remotes.

When I was setting up a home media center pc these Logitechs seemed to be made just for the home media center: the Air Mouse and the Dinovo

I guess it more meta than just a TV remote, but still relevant. I think the iphone can control iTV too… or at least itunes remotely

This is pretty awesome too… saw it last year in the UK news


The Duke of Edinburgh has attacked the complexity of television sets and remote controls, giving a rare glimpse of life inside the Windsor household.

BBC link

+1 for Prince Phillip. That guy just went up a notch in my book.

Well, the man has some history in this respect:

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=68759 (no audio)

It’s a T3 video, so I was sort of expecting her to take her top off.

That is sensational. I can not imagine him using a video though, or even driving a car and worrying about petrol- I thought he’d have a valet for that (I wonder what he watches? “The Inbetweeners” until 'er indoors comes in and he quickly changes the channel to the News).

I was waiting for a racist comment on the ethnicity of the nation of manufacture of the TV.


I’d like to see the rest of the interview and watch Kevin McCloud’s gentle critiquing style on Phil.