[mythtv-users] Minimal button requirement for remote controls?

Another Sillyname anothersname at googlemail.com
Fri Nov 6 14:46:40 UTC 2009


2009/11/6 xavier hervy <xavier.hervy at bluebottle.com>:
> Yeechang Lee wrote:
>>
>> David Engel recently wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> With a limited number of keys on most remotes, you often want to
>>> overload them for different contexts and Myth doesn't always make
>>> that easy or possible currently.
>>>
>>
>> I suspect there needs to be a consensus on what comprises a minimally
>> acceptable MythTV remote so that keybindings and on-screen prompts can
>> be built around it.
>>
>> The closest thing I've found to a consensus is the "Remote Controls"
>> section of the HOWTO
>> (<URL:http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-11.html#ss11.1>), which
>> describes a remote with 20 keys. Other key 1 and 2 don't have to be
>> bound to INFO[*] and NEXTCARD; in fact, I'd argue that with only 20
>> buttons they'd be more useful as PAGEUP and PAGEDOWN. (How many
>> remotes out there other than Apple's, no matter how minimal, don't
>> have Ch+/Ch- buttons?) This, in turn, would free 3 and 9 for David's
>> since-removed work that added 0-9 as 10%-increment jumpkeys within
>> lists, which would be an alternative to/preferable to my work--which
>> MythUI in 0.22 greatly improved by making global--implementing the
>> PAGETOP/PAGEMIDDLE/PAGEBOTTOM keybindings.
>>
>> Speaking of those bindings, unlike Ch+-/Ch- very few remotes have
>> "Top," "Middle," and "Bottom" buttons. They *are* going to have 2, 5,
>> and 8. After upgrading to 0.22 I quickly (re)bound
>> PAGETOP/PAGEMIDDLE/PAGEBOTTOM to them. Although by doing so I lost the
>> 2 binding to sort program lists by title--a conflict that didn't
>> previously exist since the bindings weren't available pre-0.22 in
>> lists with that sort functionality--the new 0.22 MENU popup menu in
>> said lists still lets me sort that way.
>>
>> The on-screen prompt still mentions 1 and 2 as sort keys,
>> though. Another example of the need for a minimal-remote consensus is
>> that, if all the number keys--not just 3 and 9--were freed from being
>> used by default for anything other than the digits themselves, then 1)
>> on-screen prompts can be rewritten accordingly to avoid the sort of
>> inaccuracy that resulted from my rebinding, and 2) David's 10%
>> functionality could be reimplemented via keybindings
>> (PAGE10/PAGE20/PAGE30/etc., etc.) and users would have a choice of
>> which set of bindings to manually bind to use to rapidly navigate
>> large lists. 3 and 9 won't be freed unless a consensus exists that any
>> MythTV-compliant remote will have Ch+/Ch- buttons, though.
>>
>> Finally, let me briefly readdress the Apple remote. While I admire its
>> minimalism, I think most MythTV users would agree that said minimalism
>> is insufficient for our use. In any case, having six buttons is only
>> feasible for Apple's purposes because users can do things like holding
>> down the Menu button for secondary actions; given that MythTV users
>> use LIRC and keyboards--neither of which can easily distinguish
>> between "long" and "short" button presses--that isn't going to work
>> for us.
>>
>> [*] This of course changed with 0.22, but I trust that eventually we
>> are going to move away from the strange need for two "menu" buttons.
>>
>>
>
> I have to disagree. I am mainly using a wii remote with only 10 buttons
> (including info + menu) and it is sufficient.
> Personally I believe 7 buttons should be enough (arrow key, select + back +
> menu). The rest SHOULD be accessible via a menu. It is up to the user to use
> extra button as a shortcut.
> Xavier
>
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Only 7 buttons when you have over 100 channels could take a while for
channel selection


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