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Remote controls, wireless and Linux
I have a home theater with a reasonably advanced remote control set-up -- the Universal Remote 950 MX. While having a conventional "remote stick" form factor, it is actually an embedded system running some small version of Windows CE. The remote sends RF signals on the 47 MHz "narrow" band to a receiver box in my equipment cabinet, and that box in turn drives flasher LEDs to control the various devices. This system, all in all, cost approximately zillions of dollars to set up, but it's reasonably robust. However, it has some problems.
1) The programming and smarts are in the remote, not the base unit. This means that if I want two remotes, I have to program two remotes, each of which is expensive (on the order of $500 each).
2) The narrow-band RF is somewhat sensitive to interference. I initially had a wide-band version, which would work or not based on the phase of the moon -- going narrowband made it "mostly reliable," but it's not perfect.
3) The display on the remote is black-and-white, not touch sensitive, and the UI is... basic. It's also one-way -- there is no feedback on what's going on, other than what I happen to be noticing (like, the volume gets louder, if there happens to be anything playing).
Some of my gear is smart enough to actually have bi-directional capability -- the receiver has a serial port, and the media PC (a macMini) runs Windows Vista, so it could talk to anything, any time, if it wanted. The Xbox and the Playstation could talk back -- as in, they have the necessary ports and smarts -- but they aren't actually programmed to do so. The Playstation is extra annoying -- it doesn't even have an IR receiver for remote control!
So, there are some things I want to see happening:
a) Some kind of universal remote control standard based on Ethernet, and a Rendez-Vous/mDNS-like service discovery protocol.
b) Ethernet jacks on all consumer electronics. We're actually pretty close -- even Blu-Ray players have Ethernet these days, for firmware upgrades and BD-Live. Receivers are generally computer-like devices on the inside -- some already come with Internet Radio, others don't.
c) WiFi based remote controls. Or, rather -- why not use your iTouch/Android/iPhone/WindowsPhone for remote control? Assuming the right protocols and standards are there, it would Just Work (tm).
While a service-level protocol would be "the embedded way" (commands like "list your commands and settings using some descriptor language" -- "read values" -- "write values"), there's really no reason these devices couldn't just have mini-web-servers that would control the devices. The UI for the remote controls would then just be a web browser. $50 wireless gateways can do it -- so why not $150, or $500, or $2,000 consumer electronics?
There may be a niche here. Perhaps you could take something like a ALIX box (the successor to WRAP) or an Atom motherboard, provide it with WiFi and Ethernet and IR flashers (for backwards compatibility), load some software on it, and make it a "home entertainment control hub." (Such devices often sell to high-end, custom installers for > $1000!) You could also buy the low end of WiFi devices with UI -- say, iTouch, Zune, etc -- and put custom software on them to act as remote controls. You'd have fancy, color, roaming wireless touch-screen remote control devices for < $200 each, and a home center controller for $300. This is assuming a narrow margin for the software -- if you were to turn this into a business, you'd probably want a mark-up of $100 per remote control device, and $200 for the hub. (Let's say there are 5,000 customers a year, on average buying one of each device -- that would give you $1.5M in gross margin, which is enough to sustain a small niche company).
Wouldn't that niche die when "remote control" just turns into web browsers? Well, yes -- but looking at the conservative nature of consumer electronics manufacturers, it's not clear that the market will go there anytime soon!
Creating the software has a pretty steep ramp-up, though -- device compatibility is a never-ending nightmare. You could probably start with something like the Pronto database of IR codes, but for the smarter devices (Denons with Ethernet, Sonys with serial ports, etc) you'd have to do significant research and manufacturer outreach. The first year or two of this niche business would be really tough, before there would even be many customers. But maybe it's worth it.
Let's do this: If you think my ideas above sound interesting, how about you become my first customer? You pay me some amount of money, and I develop the central control hub and an Android or WinPhone7 app for remote control. Your payment would mostly just cover the development hardware and initial outlay for tools -- all the time I spend, you'd get for free. In return, I agree to work on compatibility with the specific consumer electronics devices you want to control, as long as information is available or manufacturers willing to talk. Really! Serious inquiries only ;-)
Some Linux fanatics will of course say that a mark-up on the software would be useless, because "anyone" can put together the same system "with only a week's worth" of work. They'd probably want this solution to be open source. However, a lot of people don't want to put in that effort just to get a working remote control :-) Also, because the expense is really in creating device support, rather than the underlying software, trying to run this as open source would probably end up not capable of sustaining a business. Also, because this would be a high-end, niche product, it would have to be designed to be robust -- USB dongles that are so heavy that they jiggle out over time would be a bad idea.
Yes, there are a number of remote/automation/DVR solutions available already. Anything from the low end Logitech crap, all the way up to AMX style custom systems. I guess what I'm thinking is that with a smidgen of vision, smarts and cooperation among the consumer electronics manufacturers, AMX-style systems would be affordable even by normal human beings.
Anyway, there you have it -- my random thought of the day, triggered by the incongruity of expensive, black-and-white UIs and cheap, color touch devices strewn throughout the house.
(Btw: for $109, you get a color touchscreen ARM Linux box. Or $149, if you want a nice 7" 800x480 screen. Doesn't have WiFi, nor a CompactPCI slot to put one in, though.)
http://www.mini-box.com/mini2440v2
http://www.mini-box.com/mini-2440-Samsung-S3C2240-ARM9-Board-7-TFT
Comments
Time to Bust out some Wireless USB
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arduino
You could get an arduino and quickly have it receiving IR commands from your remote, then you can save those commands and play them back to an IR led and hook it up to whatever interface you want. It's uber DIY but it would get you there.
I already have an URC 950,
I already have an URC 950, which does narrowband 47 MHz radio, and IR with repeaters, and can learn/program any IR codes. That's not the problem here. I'm thinking about what remote control *should be*.
Yep, yep, yep
I realize I'm late to the party on this entry, but I just had to respond...
I've thought about this several times, and every time I get so excited about the idea of actually having the home media space actually usable. I see several types of people using these systems:
1. The enthusiast. They love their equipment, they love to mess with every setting, not necessarily because it makes everything about their media experience better, but because they're simply excited about all the features they have at their finger tips. The more acronyms the better. This reminds me of when I was trying to get all of my devices to use the same surround sound format - it was a nightmare, and it's the reason that I'm decidedly NOT in this category.
2. The technology tolerant consumer. They love what their equipment can do for them, but not necessarily how it does it. This would be someone like my dad, who loves his surround sound, and hates the fact that he has to use 3 different remotes just to get the system ready to play a DVD, and 2 more remotes to switch back to his Dish Network.
3. The task-based consumer. They are task oriented. My wife falls into this category. She doesn't care whether or not there is super nice surround sound, or anything like that. She wants to watch a movie, or listen to the radio, etc. A simple system would be great for her, but these basically don't exist any longer. I think generally users in this category will settle for setting up their complex set of media equipment to serve a single simple function (my tv plays DVDs, or I can watch cable TV) if left to set up their system themselves. However, they are often paired up with someone in category 1 or 2 - so they often find themselves asking "how do I get my movie to turn on?"
What's interesting is that I think folks in category #2 really want to be in #3, but they just like their big TVs, fancy sound, etc. What's interesting border-line depressing is that probably upwards of 95% (this number has been scientifically researched and thus is very accurate) of people fall naturally into category 2 or 3.
What I would love to be able to do is hand one of these people a remote that has a couple of simple touchscreen buttons like "watch a DVD," "Play Xbox," "Watch TV" etc. and have it take care of everything for them. You refer to the logitech crap remotes - I think these things are designed with that task based approach in mind, but they're unfortunately severely hindered by the IR common communication medium. I set one of these up for a family member, and it basically never works. After pressing the "Watch a DVD" button, they inevitably point the remote at their neighbor while continuing their conversation, and only half of the equipment gets set up properly for the task. The remote has this all figured out though, presenting the user the opportunity to hit the "something didn't work" button, at which point it addresses the user with a litany of ridiculous questions like "Is the Sony Bravia X3824y7345 on?" In response to the answers, the remote will then instruct the user "Point the remote at the Sony Bravia X3824y7345" Utter fail :(
I've thought a lot about an RF or WiFi based system based on a cheap hardware platform tucked away behind all the A/V hardware along with a small touchscreen remote. I always run into a couple of problems though, the biggest of which are listed below:
1) Equipment Cost - The box itself, while simple, is going to cost a fair amount of money. I'd say you'd be lucky to get the actual cost to produce below $50, since there will be some hardware design and custom engineering here I assume. Then there's the IR dongles/cables, and finally the touchscreen computer. Those fancy Logitech remotes push beyond $150 though, so I think this could be overcome.
2) Complexity to set up. It would be great if you could rely on a WiFi network to make all this stuff stick together. But I think at the moment you require WiFi, the addressable market for your product shrinks by 50%. People probably either have no idea what the settings of their network are, or would have trouble with some form of firewall / filtering in their router, or they don't even know what their WiFi password is. Worse yet, they have no password, and their nerdy downstairs neighbor catches on and starts messing with their AV equipment just enough to drive them crazy thinking that the equipment is faulty, so they take it all back :) After dropping the WiFi requirement, then you still have to get your user to hook up the hardware and IR dongles to all their equipment, and build some sort of wizard / setup guide on the touch-screen remote control.
3) Complex stateful hardware/software. We're getting to the point now that I don't think it would be possible to set up some of your equipment deterministically using IR. TVs are so complicated, I'm not sure there is a way to set the A/V input to "3" on all of them. There's probably a solution here, since it didn't seem to stop the Logitech folks, but I think about an Xbox too - if you ever wanted to try to get smart about having your Xbox automatically set up to play the Netflix app, I think you're fighting a losing battle. You could even train the system to navigate to the app and start, but with any update to the Xbox dashboard / UI, this would be busted.
I think any one of these could be overcome individually, but when you put them all together, it just gets to the point where it doesn't seem like you could make the solution simple enough to set up to be attractive to a broad enough audience.
on the touch-screen remote control
settings of their network are, or would have trouble with some form of firewall / filtering in their router, or they don't even know what their WiFi password is. Worse yet, they have no password, and their nerdy downstairs neighbor catches on and starts messing with their AV equipment just enough to drive them crazy thinking that the equipment is faulty, so they take it all back :) After dropping the WiFi requirement, then you still have to get your user to hook up the hardware and IR dongles to all their equipment, and build some sort of wizard / setup guide on the touch-screen remote control.
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