[mythtv-users] reprise: improve frontend usability: working with a slick remote

[come se fosse antani]

On 3/28/07, Bert Van Kets <mythtv-users at vankets.com> wrote:
> Steve Hodge wrote:
> > On 3/28/07, *come se fosse antani* <antani at gmail.com
> > <mailto:antani at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> >     My "dream" is to use a very slick and little remote (like wiimote, for
> >     example) to control a rather complex app like mythfrontend; instead of
> >     using e.g. 7 buttons for "stream movements" (like stop, play, pause,
> >     rew, fwd, ffw, rrw) why not ONE "movement button" and then an osd on
> >     screen to use together with the usual up,down,right,left?
> >
> >
> > Aren't you just talking about trading "number of buttons" for "number
> > of button presses"? The resulting remote may well look better, but I
> > suspect the improvement in usability will be less than you expect (if
> > there is any).
> >
> > Steve
> >
> Steve,
> you are absolutely right!. There is a list of commands that need to be
> performed, no matter what remote you are using. A minimalistic remote
> will add the necessity to put commands several levels deep (multiple
> buttons pressed) whereas with a full blown remote you are quickly at the
> commend you need.
> Personally I prefer the latter because it allows me to quickly do what I
> want instead of having to go through a tall vertical menu tree.
>
yep. in any case is something related with a trade of "number of
buttons" with "number of button presses"... absolutely.
but:
- a slick remote is _for me_ a better remote than a 30+ buttons remote
and can be really usefull as a huge MCE remote along with a good
designed OSD
- many (every?) mythtv user use a control that is not designed for
myth and that we use remapping with lirc the needed commands. this can
means that the "text" below our buttons don't show the exact output
for myth. I'm the owner of an ati remote and for some buttons I've to
remember how I edited my lircrc and my irexec config file
- i think that our brain&eyes along with a OSD can be faster than our
fingers on the buttons... with so many buttons and when is dark
(watching tv, for example) for me is hard to recognize and remember
the position of every button on my remote :)
- I wish that the myth community can do this _before_ apple :): if
apple enters the dvr market, I'm pretty "sure" that it would use a way
like this one, decribed on this email, for what concerns the remote &
UI topic

rather too long answer for my english... hope you can understand
everything that I've written :P