Why are so many remote controls designed by cretins?

[Zetec-S]

Minor rant, but why do so many companies struggle to design a remote control which is actually practical and relevant to (most) peoples usage? Take our Samsung TV remote as an example, the main buttons we use are the on/off, the volume/mute, and the teeny tiny miniscule pathetic play/pause/fwd/rwd buttons I don't exactly have sausage fingers but can spend ages stabbing away at them in a vague attempt to start or stop a program on Netflix.



Why the fk is half the remote taken up with a massive numerical pad which surely no-one ever uses? Or at the very least, surely someone would think to make the main buttons you need to use for all streaming services just a little bit bigger???

It's not just our TV, so many other things as well. I don't think I ever owned a DVD player which had a remote control with sensibly sized play/pause/fwd buttons either.

Sky might be guilt of a lot of crap, but at least their remote is sensibly designed.

/rant over

[Zetec-S]

Oh, and I appreciate the irony, of all the random pictures online of a Samsung TV remote control I seem to have found the biggest...

[zedx19]

Our Samsung TV came with the one OP is moaning about and the one below. The one below is the only remote we use now, its much easier, has the buttons you use and nothing else.

[Zetec-S]

Yes, we have one similar to that as well. We tried it but stopped using it, I can't remember exactly why but I vaguely recall there was a function we needed which it couldn't do.

[s1962a]

The Apple TV remote is a masterpiece as well

[Riff Raff]

s1962a said:

The Apple TV remote is a masterpiece as well

The Deutsche Telecom version of the Apple remote works really well too. It's useful if you have a channel based TV provider. EE use it for their Apple TV Offering. Useful because you get a dedicated channel 'guide' button, which the standard Apple remote doesn't have, plus a channel selector where you can input channel numbers.

You can pair these with any Apple TV Box.

[Donbot]

Weird as I have the same remote and I think it is fine. I don't even need to look at it to press the buttons I want. It would be annoying to learn a new remote

[I am alright Jack]

Why wouldn't people use the numerical pad? I don't stream anything so would be lost without it.

But I agree remotes and TV interfaces are pretty awful.

I replaced my Samsung remote with a cheap aftermarket one which doesn't make the process any nicer but does mean I'm not going to hit the wrong button. On the Samsung remote I kept hitting the Netflix button by mistake which drove me nuts. On the new one there's no Netflix, Amazon, etc buttons so that solved that problem.

[MB140]

We have the Lg magic wand ??? Remote. Point it at the tv and it moves a cursor around the screen. A fairly big home button which takes you to all the menus.

Pretty big power/volume/channel/source buttons. It’s pretty good.

Our Sony up in the bedroom. Absolute crap remote. All buttons feel the same. And tiny. I would never buy another Sony tv just on this principal alone.

Also why are none of the remotes backlit so you can use them in the dark.

[megaphone]

Sky HD remote is probably one of the best ever. As is their epg interface.

[AC43]

I am alright Jack said:

Why wouldn't people use the numerical pad? I don't stream anything so would be lost without it.

I haven't watched anything on terrestrial TV for many many years.

I've settled on Roku for all my TVs. Really easy to hop around the various services and through the menus within them. The Roku remote is very simple and intuitive.

[dontlookdown]

Our old Amazon Firestick remote was pretty good to use. Only problem is that, being quite slender and with rounded edges, it always slipped down the crack in the sofa.

Now we have LG magic remote, which is a bit of a car crash by comparison. Especially as not all the streaming apps support the pointy curse thing so you have to use the buttons half the time.

[bitchstewie]

s1962a said:

The Apple TV remote is a masterpiece as well

Oh god yes.

The thing I never understood is a lot of people watch TV with the lights low of off.

I know where every single button on my Apple TV regardless of light.

My LG TV I always find myself peering at the remote trying to work out if I've got the right ones as they'e almost all small and tightly packed together.

[Silver Smudger]

megaphone said:

Sky HD remote is probably one of the best ever. As is their epg interface.

And they have ruined both the interface and the remote with the new Sky Q - Especially if you 'upgrade' to Q and expect the familiar buttons on the remote to do what they did before

[henrycrun]

Roberts DAB radio

40 presets - but just 5 available using the remote !
(and the double digit click is not a feature)

Edited by henrycrun on Friday 10th May 16:37

[megaphone]

Silver Smudger said:

megaphone said:

Sky HD remote is probably one of the best ever. As is their epg interface.

And they have ruined both the interface and the remote with the new Sky Q - Especially if you 'upgrade' to Q and expect the familiar buttons on the remote to do what they did before

Agreed. However you can still get an old style HD remote that will work with Q, it's in their accessibility options, tell them you can't see and they may send you one.

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/accessibility-re...

[Zarco]

Zetec-S said:

Minor rant, but why do so many companies struggle to design a remote control which is actually practical and relevant to (most) peoples usage? Take our Samsung TV remote as an example, the main buttons we use are the on/off, the volume/mute, and the teeny tiny miniscule pathetic play/pause/fwd/rwd buttons I don't exactly have sausage fingers but can spend ages stabbing away at them in a vague attempt to start or stop a program on Netflix.



Why the fk is half the remote taken up with a massive numerical pad which surely no-one ever uses? Or at the very least, surely someone would think to make the main buttons you need to use for all streaming services just a little bit bigger???

It's not just our TV, so many other things as well. I don't think I ever owned a DVD player which had a remote control with sensibly sized play/pause/fwd buttons either.

Sky might be guilt of a lot of crap, but at least their remote is sensibly designed.

/rant over

Didn't your Samsung come with one of these as well as that remote? Mine both did.

[aproctor1]

megaphone said:

Sky HD remote is probably one of the best ever. As is their epg interface.

It's not Sky's interface, they pay massive royalties to use it, hence not on Now TV.

[megaphone]

aproctor1 said:

megaphone said:

Sky HD remote is probably one of the best ever. As is their epg interface.

It's not Sky's interface, they pay massive royalties to use it, hence not on Now TV.

Ok, go on, who's interface is it then?

[I am alright Jack]

AC43 said:

I am alright Jack said:

Why wouldn't people use the numerical pad? I don't stream anything so would be lost without it.

I haven't watched anything on terrestrial TV for many many years.

I've settled on Roku for all my TVs. Really easy to hop around the various services and through the menus within them. The Roku remote is very simple and intuitive.

I read somewhere recently that 75% of viewers watch terrestrial TV even if just occasionally so I guess number pads are not going anywhere yet.

For me streaming is just too slow, nothing seems to load that quickly then it's menu this - scroll that and I really can't be arsed. I just wanna change the channel.