Goodbye Remote Control

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
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At the Consumer Electronics Show, the Israeli company showed off a next-generation TV interface that lets you control your TV experience with a wave of your hand. Like Kinect, the system uses a 3D camera with chips made by PrimeSense that can capture your movement in a 3D space and translate those motions into commands for the TV. If it succeeds, you can say adios to your TV remote control and engage in what PrimeSense calls “total digital immersion” with your body as the control for future smart TVs.
 
Sounds like when Bill Gates insisted that the keyboard would be gone by now in favor of voice.
 
Very interesting! It'll be interesting to see in the future how universal remotes will be replaced by gesture commands. My Harmony volume control is linked to my Yamaha receiver while the play/stop/etc button is linked to my media center and the power button is linked to everything.
 
It looks about as easy as trying to use a trackball upside-down with a sprained wrist.
 
Won't work. The problem with these is that you have to continuously check if what you are motioning is correct. while with a remote you know you press channel down, when you press channel down button. When you have to pull your hand back, you have to mentally keep checking if you have pulled your hand back far enough to register the command.

Also the same is feedback time. Users like their commands to be understood by the device quickly, otherwise it gets annoying. having to keep conscious focus of entering a simple command would be too much when compare to just pressing buttons.
 
The remote control isn't really the problem, it's the terrible user interfaces that most TV/DVR providers use. If a Windows program has a bad interface you don't get rid of your mouse.
 
Cool concept, but it should be an add-on, not a replacement for a remote lol.

They should also add in object recognition. If a bunch of guys show up and sit in front of the TV while wearing hockey jerseys, it automatically switches to the hockey game. :D If there is a variation in jerseys then it tries to find a game with those two teams are playing.
 
This seems pointless to me. Most are forced to use a cable or satelite box (at least here in Canada) to get their TV programming, so being able to change the channel on the TV with a gesture would be pointless...

Heck, I rarely do anything other than turn the power on and off on my TV. Sound and video switching all happens on the AVR. The Harmony remote takes care of the TV power on function anyhow. Sounds like another useless function to sell some more sets. As long as it could be turned off and still has an IR receiver built into the set, it would be ok I guess.
 
all this motion shit and touch screen crap just seems inefficient to me... slower, takes longer, and more enegry spent doing basic things.
 
MrGuvernment said:
all this motion shit and touch screen crap just seems inefficient to me... slower, takes longer, and more enegry spent doing basic things.
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Exactly. Just because technology allows us to do something, it doesn't always mean its better.
 
people go nuts about "touch screens"... it is like saying a console controller is better...

lets see you browser the net with a controller...


a mouse and keyboard is faster and more accurate... i mena you got a whole website dedicated to iPhone screw up on auto fill...
 
brb novelty
brb hands, arms tired.
brb comcast watching me
brb minority cable report
brb bluetooth is superior
 
I walked by their booth a couple of times. I didn't even slow down, except to watch the woman do yoga poses, trying to mirror the animation on the screen.

The response didn't seem to be all that fluid.
 
I think it's a great idea, but the implementation may be hard to pull off. I mean seriously, who likes havin to track down their remotes all the time, replace batteries, pay excessive replacement costs when they break, etc. If they could pull this off in a reasonable manner, I'd say this concept is a winner.
 
If every TV/DVR had wifi access, it'd solve a lot of problems. The best remote I have is my phone for my WDTV live hub. It's freaking awesome and I now don't have to hunt for the remotes.
 
It could be useful as a replacement for touch, when navigating more complex menus and screens or browsing the web on a TV. For just changing the channel, pressing a button on a remote is more convenient.

Simply integrating a trackball or touchpad into the remote would of course be even better since you don't have to wave your hands in front of the TV like an idiot. Also, that gives you much better precision.
 
if someone is too lazy to use a remote control, they must really have issues.
 
Even if this worked it reminds me a lot of Zaphod listening to the radio in Hitchhiker's Guide. He had to remain still or the channel would change because the radio responded, badly, to even slight gestures.
 
Parmenides said:
Sounds like when Bill Gates insisted that the keyboard would be gone by now in favor of voice.
Click to expand...

Would be awesome if speech-to-text worked perfectly. However...

Also, I'd still have one for gaming regardless.
 
My Blu-Ray player has a gesture control sensor and my wife's laptop has gesture control...I disabled that shit on both in hardly no time.

Purely idiotic idea if there ever was one. The problems are mostly the software is stupid: Simple movements, intentional or not, get interpreted as control gestures, and when you want it to do something, it NEVER gets it right. Maybe in 100 years the technology will get smart, but it will take AI and lots of it. Even then, just think to the silent gesture commands used by the military...even smart trained people get it wrong sometime. And they think a TV or computer is ever going to get it right?
 
MavericK96 said:
Would be awesome if speech-to-text worked perfectly. However...

Also, I'd still have one for gaming regardless.
Click to expand...

The day they switch to speech to text at work is the day I walk out. It's bad enough working in a sea of cubicles without having to listen to everyone shouting at their computers for 8 hours a day...
 
Worst. Idea. Ever.

People watch TV to be lazy and relax, who in their right mind is going to want to have to be active to control their TV while their head is on a pillow and their stomach full of carbohydrates? Let me get up and out from the warmth of my couch/blanket or bed to turn off my TV. Brilliant!
 
I think it's a good idea but agree with you all about the random gestures that could be read wrong or read when your not trying to make a control gesture.

What I am interest in with this product is the wireless pc to tv interface. I have been looking for something that does pc to tv over wireless. The WiDi concept is awesome but I can't use it on any desktop or existing laptop I have. I have my computer in the office and sometimes I just want to sit in the living room and play a game on the big screen. This could be a good product for this with the built in control. The current option is to use a brite-view product with a separate wireless keyboard/mouse/controller.
 
MrGuvernment said:
all this motion shit and touch screen crap just seems inefficient to me... slower, takes longer, and more enegry spent doing basic things.
Click to expand...

This was my thoughts as well, pretty sure we already hit the pinnacle of functionality with the remote. Voice is a maybe, waving around is just dumb, wasted energy that is probably slower.
 
B2BigAl said:
I think it's a great idea, but the implementation may be hard to pull off. I mean seriously, who likes havin to track down their remotes all the time, replace batteries, pay excessive replacement costs when they break, etc. If they could pull this off in a reasonable manner, I'd say this concept is a winner.
Click to expand...

Yes, because I like the idea of having to remember which way to flail my arms around to change the channel, volume, receiver, power everything up, etc.

I'm on logitech harmony remote #2 over the past 7 years or so? Rechargeable, and only 1 remote to keep track of. Oh, and I don't have to do jumping jacks to change the channel.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Cool concept, but it should be an add-on, not a replacement for a remote lol.
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Agreed.


Red Squirrel said:
They should also add in object recognition. If a bunch of guys show up and sit in front of the TV while wearing hockey jerseys, it automatically switches to the hockey game. :D If there is a variation in jerseys then it tries to find a game with those two teams are playing.
Click to expand...

Interesting concept. I think a combination of voice command and gestures is the way to go though. I just can't envision object recognition being necessary, nor desireable. Imagine the abuse advertisers could inflict by the TV scanning your living room and sending back reports on shit you own. "I see you masturbate a lot and go through kleenex's like crazy. Click here for a coupon. Also, there's a special on Fleshlights this week at...."
 
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