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I keep wondering why TV control is still mostly IR based. How have we not graduated to Z-Wave/ZigBee style control yet? Especially on the high end with all the

I keep wondering why TV control is still mostly IR based. How have we not graduated to Z-Wave/ZigBee style control yet? Especially on the high end with all the hubs around the house.

rtkwe 11y ago
An IR LED is super cheap compared to even the cheapest radio chips. Also you need to have some sort of bonding between the remote and TV or you risk messing up customers with multiple copies of one device in range and that's an extra annoying step.
- IgorPartola 11y ago
  Logitech seems to have no problem with doing radio and their little radio receivers.
  - rtkwe 11y ago
    I'm not saying it's a difficult or particularly hard problem it just costs more and I have a personal dislike for adding more things that require pairing to my life.
    - Eridrus 11y ago
      That sounds more like an issue with pairing tech being terrible. On a fundamental level, there's no reason you couldn't pair the device, by pointing your phone at the tv and having some sensor figure out what you want. Maybe it could fall back to sending a code to your TV via infrared, maybe it could show a QR code when it first boots, maybe it has some signal-strength based proximity sensor so that you can tap your phone to the TV to pair it. Maybe these sorts of device pairings can be backed up in the cloud so that if you replace your phone, they can be transferred to your new one. Personally, I wish I could control the TV volume with my phone because the TV remote always goes missing, but I always have my phone. In particular having a fingerprint-sensor phone has made using it as a remote less painful since I don't need to enter my PIN, but maybe we will get remotes that work from the lock screen and turn on when you pick them up. At this point where we always have a communications device in our pocket, I don't see why remotes need to exist at all.
      - rtkwe 11y ago
        Yeah pairing things can be a pretty annoying process especially if it ever loses pairing. I've used Xbox Smartglass before which works pretty well as a controller replacement. I haven't tried using my phone as a remote. Do you find yourself having to look at your phone to control stuff?
        Eridrus 11y ago
        > Do you find yourself having to look at your phone to control stuff? Yes, but unlike a regular remote I don't find myself pressing the same button 100 times. I no longer watch broadcast television, so there is no need to flip through channels to see what is on, I just select what I want to watch on my phone, and then tell my phone to play it on my roku/TV. The interface could still use a lot of work, but remotes are very clearly stuck in the last century and we've just gotten very used to them.
- supergeek133 11y ago
  I understand, but were talking dollars on to an already likely expensive TV. Especially with the market that these remotes live in. Also, all those Z-wave/zigbee type devices are unique ID correct? Shouldn't be an issue with multiple copies. I'm just thinking we could be so much better at controlling our TVs from a 'connected home' perspective.
  - rtkwe 11y ago
    It's also dollars with every replacement remote too and means basically every existing fancy remote would need to be replaced. Also if you tie TV to remote what happens when someone inevitably loses their remote? There's definitely a lot that could be done to integrate TVs etc with connected home but moving everything to radio controlled has it's own small heartaches.
    - supergeek133 11y ago
      Technology changes over, you can't use the fear of replacing old remotes as the reason not to do it. If that was the case we'd all still be using CRT monitors and VGA only. Choice is just as good as stability. There is also no reason you can't do both.

I keep wondering why TV control is still mostly IR based. How have we not graduated to Z-Wave/ZigBee style control yet? Especially on the high end with all the hubs around the house.

rtkwe 11y ago

An IR LED is super cheap compared to even the cheapest radio chips. Also you need to have some sort of bonding between the remote and TV or you risk messing up customers with multiple copies of one device in range and that's an extra annoying step.

IgorPartola 11y ago
Logitech seems to have no problem with doing radio and their little radio receivers.
- rtkwe 11y ago
  I'm not saying it's a difficult or particularly hard problem it just costs more and I have a personal dislike for adding more things that require pairing to my life.
  - Eridrus 11y ago
    That sounds more like an issue with pairing tech being terrible. On a fundamental level, there's no reason you couldn't pair the device, by pointing your phone at the tv and having some sensor figure out what you want. Maybe it could fall back to sending a code to your TV via infrared, maybe it could show a QR code when it first boots, maybe it has some signal-strength based proximity sensor so that you can tap your phone to the TV to pair it. Maybe these sorts of device pairings can be backed up in the cloud so that if you replace your phone, they can be transferred to your new one. Personally, I wish I could control the TV volume with my phone because the TV remote always goes missing, but I always have my phone. In particular having a fingerprint-sensor phone has made using it as a remote less painful since I don't need to enter my PIN, but maybe we will get remotes that work from the lock screen and turn on when you pick them up. At this point where we always have a communications device in our pocket, I don't see why remotes need to exist at all.
    - rtkwe 11y ago
      Yeah pairing things can be a pretty annoying process especially if it ever loses pairing. I've used Xbox Smartglass before which works pretty well as a controller replacement. I haven't tried using my phone as a remote. Do you find yourself having to look at your phone to control stuff?
      - Eridrus 11y ago
        > Do you find yourself having to look at your phone to control stuff? Yes, but unlike a regular remote I don't find myself pressing the same button 100 times. I no longer watch broadcast television, so there is no need to flip through channels to see what is on, I just select what I want to watch on my phone, and then tell my phone to play it on my roku/TV. The interface could still use a lot of work, but remotes are very clearly stuck in the last century and we've just gotten very used to them.
supergeek133 11y ago
I understand, but were talking dollars on to an already likely expensive TV. Especially with the market that these remotes live in. Also, all those Z-wave/zigbee type devices are unique ID correct? Shouldn't be an issue with multiple copies. I'm just thinking we could be so much better at controlling our TVs from a 'connected home' perspective.
- rtkwe 11y ago
  It's also dollars with every replacement remote too and means basically every existing fancy remote would need to be replaced. Also if you tie TV to remote what happens when someone inevitably loses their remote? There's definitely a lot that could be done to integrate TVs etc with connected home but moving everything to radio controlled has it's own small heartaches.
  - supergeek133 11y ago
    Technology changes over, you can't use the fear of replacing old remotes as the reason not to do it. If that was the case we'd all still be using CRT monitors and VGA only. Choice is just as good as stability. There is also no reason you can't do both.