Touchscreens are a big step back in terms of usability. I disagree with this as a blanket statement. This often comes up in the context of cars, which, sure, I

Touchscreens are a big step back in terms of usability. I disagree with this as a blanket statement. This often comes up in the context of cars, which, sure, I agree. It's imperative to have physical feedback and have the controls in a familiar place. I also think device makers are investing less in interface design. Just like you have have an intuitive interface with physical buttons or not, you can also have an intuitive interface with a touch screen. In this context, where the stakes are lower than driving a car and you don't need to identify each control by touch to use the thing safely, if you can get more screen real estate by eschewing some physical controls for touch screen controls, I think that would make the device more usable as a TV viewing device.