Customizable remote buttons?
Posted on: Tue, 08/26/2008 - 22:35
chesterakl
Joined: 2008-06-28
Offline
Customizable remote buttons?
It would be nice to have the ability to do a little more customizing of the remote buttons for certain programs.
I do realize that due to the huge difference in the way this one works versus other "universal" remotes, and since this customization would not only be related to the remote but also all the multitude of possible programs this remote may have to control, that this may be a whole lot more difficult than it sounds. But I guess I'm most interested with the interaction between the remote and Windows Media Center, especially since I would assume that this is a program a majority of the users of a ZvBox would be using it to control (and quite possibly the main reason they'd be buying the ZvBox - wouldn't it?).
The area of WMC I use the most is Recorded TV, but getting there with the remote is a bit of a two-step dance (three-step, really). There is no way that I have found to go straight to the main WMC screen with just one button. The only way I figured out how to get there is pressing the "guide" button to start WMC and bring up the onscreen guide, hit the back button to get to the main menu - then I can get to the Recorded TV menu. It'd be nice, since I mostly use the remote in WMC, if I could program the "menu" button to start WMC and maybe even put it right into Recorded TV if I wanted to make it be that specific in what it starts up.
We designed the remote control to be *almost* completely WMC compatible. The almost is the lack of the WMC button. We thought that it would be better to go to a Start button (Zv), from which you could launch one of many applications. WMC would be one of those. We'll be enhancing that functionality significantly in Zviewer in upcoming releases.
It still won't be the one-button launch that you're looking for, but it will be a lot smoother. I do exactly what you do to get to WMC. I'm glad you found that trick.
We have discussed making the A B C D buttons programmable in the future. I would suggest putting a quick launch there. Menu is a standard Windows remote control key that can be interpreted differently by each application. Making that key also launch WMC would likely cause problems.
That would also be nice to use the applications in the Zviewer - I could probably get used to that, but the WMC application that's there now goes to a Windows promo screen (website?) for WMC - it doesn't launch Media Center itself. Why does it do that instead of launching WMC?
That would be fine if that actually did that, but it doesn't right now. I see it says "preview" when Zveiwer is launched - does this mean that the current version is more of a "beta" version than a more final one?
Chesteraki:
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Yes, Zviewer Preview is a "beta" version and is actually being renamed to Zviewer Beta in the next release to make that more clear. We will be constantly updating it with more capabilities over time.
As far as WMC not being launched directly via Zviewer, that is actually a bug that will be fixed soon. For now, you can launch WMC by hitting the "guide" button on your ZvRemote.
Brian from ZeeVee