The future of television remotes

May-27-06, 12:33 pm by Hanford
File under: Wii, DVR, User Interface, design, consoles, Video games

Nintendo Wii Remote

As a video game designer and a television user interface designer, I've been paying close attention to the Nintendo -Revolution- Wii with baited breath. And now that Nintendo has shown what they've got, I am confident that within the next five to 10 years Nintendo's controller concept will spill out of the video game arena and become the desired input style for TV-based UIs like televisions and set top boxes.

Nintendo has been claiming the unit's control will feature motion and position sensing technology that will allow the gamer to use it to move a mouse pointer, aim it like a gun, swing it like a sword, and turn it like a steering wheel.

Very cool stuff, but I've been holding back my excitement until I actually saw it in action. I've used motion sensing remotes for video projectors before, and I've never been too impressed. They didn't seem accurate enough to use for video games or for pinpointing buttons in a UI.

However, Nintendo finally revealed the Wii and it's controller at E3, and the videos of it look amazing. It appears as though it's accurate enough to use it like a sword, or more importantly, a mouse pointer.

I have designed more than a few UIs that are interfaced via remote controls, and I know all of the UI pitfalls that are unique to them, most all of them stemming from two truths common to remote controls:

Most people are comfortable using up/down/left/right and Select keys but are reluctant to experiment with other buttons on their remote.
People's satisfaction level with a UI drops as the number of buttonpresses needed to perform an operation increases, including clicks for navigation.

Of course, these two issues are at odds with each other: Theoretically it's easy to reduce the number of buttonpresses for an operation to one if we add buttons that do specific functions to the remote. The problem is that users often won't ever discover and use those extra buttons, because of the first truth: people don't want to move their fingers off of the navigation cluster. And the design problems that stem from these two truths are unending. The vast majority of my time on a settop box UI is spent on reducing button clicks and exposing every necessary function through only the up/down/left/right/select keys. Even a "right-click" type function can't be relied on because a lot of users won't ever discover the remote button for it.

I believe the Nintendo Wii controller solves most (if not all) of the big remote control issues, because it can be used like a mouse. To move the cursor from one side of a channel guide to another, it doesn't take seven button presses, it just takes a flick of the wrist. Things we don't normally see on set tops due to implementation problems like Scroll Bars and Tabs become straightforward and easy to use. We no longer have Scrolling Axis restrictions (Too much for me to explain here, but perhaps in another post).

I hear the remote is so sensitive that I think it might be a while before the, ahem, older generation can use one like a mouse without overshooting their targets (a common problem with novice mouse users), so it might take a while for it to be integrated into more conventional products, but over time I think we'll see remotes like this become more popular.

4 Comments | Retweet this

Feedback - 4 responses

Displayed newest to oldest. Leave a comment.

Bob Eason wrote: Jan-26-08, 6:50 pm

I have a Panasonic TV that I cannot find the code to enter into the universal remote that I bought. Codes came with the remote but they only work the lower channels and do not turn the TV on or off. If anyone knows the code, I would be most appreciative. Thanks, Bob

Denise Fleming wrote: Dec-14-07, 3:31 pm

john- i have the same problem looks like we have a problem that cannot be solved so please if u find the resolution please let me know i will be coming back to this site to check and see if it has been resolved. There's many universal remotes but none have Omnivison tv/vcr combination!!!

Laura Calleja wrote: Sep-11-07, 9:47 am

John - I read your post from last year "I need a remote that will re-program my Panasonic Omnivision tv/vcr combination. I lost my remote for model PV-M2021A tv/vcr and now I have limited chanels." I am in the exact same situation. What did you do to fix it? Please share.
Laura
calleja22@talkamerica.net

John without a remote wrote: Aug-13-06, 3:58 pm

I need a remote that will re-program my Panasonic Omnivision tv/vcr combination. I lost my remote for model PV-M2021A tv/vcr and now I have limited chanels.

Comments are displayed on posts and visible to all site visitors.