Comments on: The new TV remote: Your bare hand?

At least one major TV manufacturer has been actively looking at how to bring a TV into the mainstream that is controlled by motion sensor.

[aMUSICsite]

"Mommy he hit me"...
"No I didn't I was just trying to change the channel"

Apart from a good excuse for kids to argue and the frustration it will cause as the quality of it degenerates over time. I don't think these things will ever take off until we get to the 'creepy' stage where technology tracks our every move and can work out what we are doing/saying.

You don't want the TV changing channel as you wave good by to someone or reach for something on the table. I guess a combination of voice recognition and had gestures might work better as it would provide less false positive results if you had to say "Volume up" while making a gesture.

[ihackmore]

It sure will bring peace to the household when everyone has the remote!

[blusky08]

Worst. Idea. Ever.

[jlt0x]

But with this new system, won't you have to "walk up" to the screen and make the gesture....as in Minority Report. The future tech shown in that movie was most useful for a computer monitor as it allowed the user to perform various tasks like moving windows from one screen to another, selecting objects, moving files, etc.

The purpose of the remote control device was to eliminate the need to "get up" every time we wanted to change stations or start a movie. Seems like they're taking a few steps back.

[paulsecic]

It'll never take off because people are used to thier remotes. Plus fingers will smuge the scren. I'm sticking to my Dish remote.

[odessit3]

This is not touch screen, you don't need to get up. all you do is sit on your couch and wave at the TV. Read the story before commenting!

[nn8l]

That's great, but my surround sound controls the volume, so I still need a remote for that. One for the dvr's, one for the PS3, etc, etc. I'll stick with my Harmony.

[ikramerica--2008]

I can control my lamp now just by clapping my hands! What will they think of next?

[Grant_D]

call me lazy, but this all sounds like a lot more work than just comfortably holding onto a remote and flexing the thumb muscle(s). It seems a whole lot less reliable too.

"The variety of information and programming on television is certainly stretching the limits of the four-way control pad, so manufacturers are...seeing a lot of complexity start to creep in," and they're going to solve this by waving your hands around?

[ikramerica--2008]

Will make watching a football game infuriating! Keep your arms still, or you'll miss the next play and be watching Figure Skating on ABC before you can sneeze!

[amithambati]

One good thing about this is that I no longer have to search for my remote!

[spsuaiken]

When I read the title. I immediately thought to myself: "Wow this technology existed when TVs first came out." It just included your legs and arms as accessories: to get out of the chair, walk to the TV, and press or rotate the channel and volume controls ^_^

[Captain Bebops]

Anything to sell electronics and make money I guess.

[Mergatroid Mania]

lol
Read the comments. Nobody wants a gesture remotless TV.
My Harmony remote controls all my devices, and all I have to do is tell it what I want. It sets everything up for me. I'm not interested is gesturing. What a lame idea.
Now, if they wanted to really do something useful, they'd work more on the accuracy of voice recognition so you could just tell your TV what to do "Television Volume Up". or "Television channel scan", or some such verbal commands would kick a$$ over a gesture system.
When Logitech comes out with a new Harmony that will use voice recognition, that's definately something I will check into.
In either case, I don\t think these manufacturers should completely abandon the IR remote on their gesture TVs. They might find very few people purchasing them, and a lot of returns from people who discover just how lame gesturing is for a remote system.

[ikramerica--2008]

Actually, they should stop using IR and move to something better. IR stinks. Most LCD TVs cause IR interference while running, and like 100x the interference while warming up, plasmas do the same, and sunlight cuts down on range considerably.

Some form of RF should be the new standard.

[deepen05]

wow, some people are just dumb in their comments. they never said you have to get up and press the tv screen! pay attention people!

they said a camera senses your movements and gestures from far.

[Aeriscelo]

Personally I haven't really felt frustrated at my remote control. And the only reason i lose it is because we're required to have several. Now if all the electronics makers could agree on some sort of open standard for TV commands and allow for better "universal" remotes that'd be an improvement. And yes I realize that there are several good remotes out right now that do this, but most are very expensive ($150+)

The other thing that would be great is ditching IR. Please use something that doesn't require line-of-sight. RF seems like the best compromise.

Then I wouldn't lose a remote 'cause there'd only be one to keep track of.

[popa pineapple]

In "Minority Report" Tom was using gestures in a specific application, not as a general purpose TV remote for the home. That may be where this technology could be useful. I suspect an advanced TV remote might use voice recognition with some sort of command that says "I want to use my voice for control." For example:

human: "Voice command on."
TV: "Voice command activated"
human: "Channel 202 on"
TV: "Channel 202 now selected"

This is well within current technology.

[croachcrocket78]

Be honest...do we really want to speak to our TVs? It seems the trend is going away from forms of verbal communications to modes of finger tapping. (Email, texts) I think the current remotes do just fine!

[croachcrocket78]

Sounds like too much work to me. Instead of this impractical use of human limb, how about making all remotes with RF capabilities. Also, I had an idea of some sort of speed dial remote. Kind of like radio presets. IDK if there is anything out there like it, but I know my current DVR does not support it. Maybe remotes should allow users to store at least 9 presets. Would be extremely helpful during my football watching.

[MrMurder]

It's like every year more and more companies come up with incredibly stupid ideas. And Hitachi has cu came up with this one. TVs already have buttons integrated into them so you don't need a remote to adjust picture settings, change the channel or volume, or even turn the damn thing on or off. Besides it seems complicated to use hand gestures to tweak the picture. And if you two or more remoteless sets from different manufacturers, it becomes harder to remember what gesture to use for which TV. I'd rather use an infrared remote control that has the name of the TV manufacturer with the buttons labeled. If you had a bad memory and bought a TV with a integrated camera, you'd have to literaly write down the gestures to use for it somewhere on your body in permanent marker.

[hslakaal]

i thought that us-humans- couldn't get any more lazier...i was wrong...

[DaytonXD9]

So the volume goes up when the dog's tail starts wagging? Every time you jump at a touchdown during football season, the power shuts of?

[brianab70]

The new TV remote should be Bluetooth. This idea of manipulating a screen with your hand is more inconvenient than what we've been using for years (line-of-sight infrared remotes) where you have to aim the remote at the right spot on the TV.
http://www.bluetomorrow.com/content/section/230/342/

[imacpwr]

Doomed to failure..!!

It's Superbowl Sunday, the ball's on the 1 yard line, hut 1, hut 2, hut 3.. THERE'S A FUMBLE...!!! Everyone in the room throw their arms up in excitement....!!!!! At which point we now find ourselves watching Bible study.. Everyone now is up on their feet screaming and waving their arms in anger as the television now starts flying through more channels as the sound goes up and down, contrast ever changing and menus flashing before our eyes...!!!

Like I said.... doomed to failure

[mahurshi]

With so many buttons on the remotes today, I wonder how many gestures or menu items we would have to go through to operate the TV with our hands.

This idea is great for presentations. I am not sure about the TV.. yet..

Now, if I can go to channel 53 by showing five fingers on my left hand and 3 on the right... that's another story :-)

[jog4444]

This is a really great idea.. but what if you have more then one person in the same room.. that could b a problem.. They should make it so it recongizes a certain color and the person who controls it would have that color on him/or her somehow or someway