The DSI Blog

Siri or Kinect? - What the Future of TV and Home Automation Might Be

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I just read an interesting article by Mark Wilson on Fast Company's site (The Clicker's Moment: After 60 Years, TV Remotes Get Zapped With Makeovers) which discusses the way TV remotes might be changing in the next few years. Since making things easy to control is one of the big things we're known for (home automation / smart home controls), I want to put my "2 cents" in on this subject. I'd love to hear your feedback, too (please share your opinion in the 'Comment' section below).

In a nutshell, the article says the TV remote control will change more in the next 3 years than it has in the last 60 years, and that we will in effect be the guinea pigs to determine which one or ones of these technologies will win out in the end. Will it be:

1. Siri-like voice control ?
2. Microsoft Kinect-like gesture control ?
3. Touch (touchpads or touch screens) ?
   

Maybe customer preference will allow all 3 to survive and thrive, but I can tell you with sixteen years of experience behind me that a touchscreen with some buttons on it can be very easy to use, and this solution works great and is available now. I italicized the word "can", as a remote control still needs to offer you an intuitive interface on the touchscreen portion to be truly usable. And, the remote control cannot have too many buttons on it or we are back to where we started...a remote control that looks scary to use.

Right now it takes some digging to find the right remote control you like and the right audio video installation firm that knows how to customize it for your components. With TV manufacturers suddenly turning their attention to the remote control, who knows what innovation we will see in the good ol' remote control...maybe there will be some truly simple to use intuitive remotes that don't require the expertise of an audio/video installer (to a limited extent, this does exist now with Logitech Harmony remotes, but you don't have full flexibility in what it controls, it is still beyond the patience level of many to get it to work right, and it doesn't do home automation).

I am approaching voice and gesture control with an open mind, but it just seems funny to me that you'd speak commands to a TV. Who knows, maybe it will work and work well. Same idea with gestures. You can navigate your XBox and Netflix menus now with gestures, so let's see where this can go.

What I personally like about the hybrid touchscreen / button-style remote control, such as the model shown at the right, is quick access to buttons you use frequently. Buttons like volume up/down, mute, channel up/down, and fast forward / reverse are things I can control by feel in a darkened room with a physical button. I don't want to gesture or speak these frequent commands. Eric alluded to this in this (very popular) blog post "Five Reasons I Love my iPad but Hate it as a TV Remote Control". See his points #2 and #4.

As technology marches on, we'll sure to be reporting on it "from the trenches", sharing our personal insights and also the feedback and opinions we hear from our clients. To keep up to date, be sure to enter your email in the box to the right to subscribe to the blog. Don't worry, we will keep your email absolutely private. And, be sure to voice your opinion about this subject in the 'Comment' section below.