From the October 1994 issue of HOME THEATER TECHNOLOGY 
If You Like What You See Here, Don't Miss The Real Thing!
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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Human factors determine whether a remote control will be a joy or a drag to use. Heres ten points to look for the next time you go shopping.

by Dr. Jill Strawbridge

Remote controls have come a long way from their early origins as optional luxury gadgets for people who were too lazy to get up and walk across the room to change channels. For most modern audio/video components, the remote serves as the primary user interface; it is the only part of the component that the user actually touches. This is especially true in custom installations in which the component may be hidden from view entirely, leaving the remote as the only physical evidence that the product exists.
In day-to-day operation, it is the remote that determines if a component is a joy or a pain to use. Despite this fact, many people consider the remote as an afterthoughtif at allwhen making an audio/video purchase. That can be a real mistake. For me, a poorly designed remote is a deal breaker, and a particularly well-designed remote leads me to look at a piece of equipment more favorably.
As a quick trip to your local electronics superstore will illustrate, remotes vary tremendously in design. So much so, in fact, that you might forget they are all supposedly designed to be operated by the same well-understood physical entity: the human hand.
Human beings share certain physical, behavioral, and cognitive aspects, or human factors, that should bebut are often nottaken into account when designing any product. Recognizing the importance of good design, more and more manufacturers are empowering their engineers with the considerable time and money necessary to design a great remote. Others continue to add their logo to generic units or design uninspired remotes that pay little attention to the real needs of you, the user.
So how can you recognize which manufacturers are going the extra mile? The following ten points provide a good starting point.

PHYSICAL FACTORS
1. A remote should fit comfortably in your hand. 
Many remotes are too bulky for adults with small hands to hold comfortably. For example, the remotes included with mini systems from Kenwood (model RC-B5) and AIWA (model NSX-D707) are
 particularly large and difficult to grasp. 
Narrower and lighter models such as the 
Mitsubishi PRM-1 and Proscan CRK-60A Pen remotes are much easier to hold and 
manipulate.

2. There should be plenty of space 
between the keys.
Closely packed buttons, especially if they are small, virtually guarantee that youll inadvertently activate buttons adjacent to the one youre trying to push. The Kenwood RC-B5 has tiny, densely packed buttons with Record located in the center, making it all too easy to push another button while trying to activate it. By contrast, the Hitachi Genius remotes (models CLU-6926R and CLU-850GR) have wide, wedge-shaped buttons that are liberally spaced. These can be activated with the side of a thumb or the pad of a finger. In addition to making it easier to hit the right button, this design facilitates one-handed operation

3. Look for button layouts that are angled to accommodate the shape of the human hand.
In recognition of the fact that our thumbs extend out from our hands at an angle, JVC has designed an effective button configuration that slopes upward at a complementary angle from left to right (JVC mini-system remote model MXC-77). While this design is optimized for right-handers, the button configuration still makes it easy for lefties to differentiate between keys and use the remote successfully. 

4. Test drive any remote before you buy it 
to see if its weight distribution negatively 
effects performance.
Combined with shape, weight distribution profoundly impacts ease of operation. Consider the Magnavox VR9362AT and JVC HRVP700 VCR remotes. Each has a jog-shuttle wheel, and each is basically rectangular in shape with bowed sides where the jog-shuttle wheel protrudes.
The Magnavox wheel is located just below the midpoint of the remote. As a result, the rectangular base fits nicely in the palm of your hand, with the wheel positioned perfectly for your thumb to operate in a one-handed fashion. It is comfortable to hold, and quite easy to operate using the indentation provided for thumb activation. 
In contrast, the JVC remote puts the wheel at its base. This is the heaviest part of the remote; if you attempt to use it with one hand, you must hold the base (and therefore the wheel) in the palm of your hand. This leaves your thumb dangling far above the wheel and incapable of manipulating it. Even with two hands, this design is awkward to use.


BEHAVIORAL FACTORS
The behavioral aspects of remote-control designs are more subtle, and less likely to be detected on the showroom floor. However, once youve gotten your new system home 
and used it for a while, they will become 
more apparent.

5. Check to see how well you can operate the remote in your intended environment of use.
Environments of use are often overlooked in the design of remotes. For example, many home theater owners use their systems in the dark to more closely approximate theater conditions. Buttons of different shapes might work under these conditions, but there are few good examples of this. Mitsubishi actually considered environmental usage and solved the problem with a nice illumination feature on the beautifully designed learning remote included with many of their 35-inch and rear-projection TVs.

6. Look for remotes that are angled so that you dont have to bend your wrist to point the infrared beam at the receiver.
Almost everyone activates their remote by extending their arm and pointing the remote at the receiver. This action requires that you bend your wrist (in a physical motion referred to as ulnar deviation). This action also has the added consequence of removing the face of the remote from your line of sight, so that you are operating it blindly.
Rather than requiring the users wrist to bend, the remote itself should be angled to correctly aim the beam, much like the Proton and Proscan (model CRK-83) TV remotes. Human-factors research indicates that an angle of 195 works most effectively to maintain proper wrist alignment. This design solution allows the operators wrist to remain straight while maintaining visual contact 
with all the buttons.

7. If a feature on a remote operates 
in a way you find to be non-intuitive, select a 
different product.
Controls on the remote should correspond to standard expectations. For example, a clockwise turn of a jog/shuttle wheel should cause a value to increase (advance), and a counterclockwise turn should decrease the value (reverse). Arrows keys that point right and left for channel scrolling or volume control (relationships normally conceptualized as up/down, not right/left) can be confusing. Similarly, Record 
buttons that are a color other than red (the common expectation with audio/video equipment) are difficult to find at a glance. 
 
8. Beware of remotes that require that you hunt for what should be clearly identified buttons. 
There are no standardized locations for controls on remotes, but users have a right to expect important features such as power, record, volume, etc., in easily recognizable and salient locations. As an example of what not to do, the Denon stereo receiver remote (model DRA-835R) has a grid-like button layout of four columns and 16 rows (64 buttons total). As if this werent daunting enough, the Power button is embedded in the third row up from the bottom. Good luck finding it in the dark!

COGNITIVE FACTORS 
Some remotes seem to require a degree in rocket science to operate. Many remotes look too intimidating to pick up. For example, one Sony CD-changer remote (model CDP-C910) looks like my Texas Instruments scientific calculator from high school!

9. The organization and description of the controls on a remote should make sense to you.
The way in which controls are grouped and labelled can be quite effective in answering questions such as What does this mean? and How does this work? Optimally, buttons are grouped by function, frequency of use, and overall importance. Color and shape can be used to effectively identify and differentiate button functionality.
In the interest of limited space, abbreviations are often used to identify buttons. While these abbreviations must make sense to somebody somewhere, they spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E to the vast majority of users. Labels are ineffective if you cant read them (the result of infinitesimal print), or dont understand what they mean (the result of non-standard abbreviations). The Denon mini-system remote (model DF10) represents an elegant design by virtue of its simple button organization and clear labelling. 

10. Be cautious when purchasing a remote that has multifunctional buttons.
A lot of confusion can be attributed to the use of multifunctional buttons on remotes. This means the function of the button changes depending on what mode of operation has been selected. Unfortunately, multifunctional buttons tend to confuse more often than they empower.
Hitachi actually came up with a hybrid implementation of multifunctional buttons that works better than most. The mode-selection switch on the side of the Hitachi TV Genius remote (model CLU-850GR) changes the descriptive labels that appear beneath a common set of transparent buttons. With this implementation, you see a more complete description of what each button currently represents.
The lure of multifunctional controls is easy to understand: They pack more functions into the same space. The unintended (although wholly foreseeable) result is user confusion and failure to recognize that the additional functions are even available. The underlying assumption is that more functionality is better than less. I dont necessarily share this view, and the market has recently started to produce products that support my conclusion.
Many manufacturers are now providing two remotes with their higher-end audio and video products. One is a full-blown model with all the whiz-bang features you think you should have for all the money youre spending. The other is a stripped-down mini remote to use on a daily basis.
This separation of feature sets makes perfect sense. Why burden users with functionality theyll rarely (if ever) use, when all they really need to do is turn the power on and off, adjust the volume, and change channels? The added functionality is separate and ready when you have the occasion to use it. I suppose its only fitting that weve finally come full circle to realize that less really is more.

TRY IT BEFORE YOU BUY IT
Remotes are sadly neglected by most people when it comes time to make that purchasing decision. I encourage you to pick up and try out the remote before you purchase any electronic gadget. Youll be spending a lot of time with it in the future, so choose carefully.
The worst thing is that you cant even rely on brand names when shopping for remotes. As Ive illustrated, the same manufacturer might design a wonderful remote for one product and an extremely poor one for another product. 
Remotes should not be an afterthought. They are the main user interface to many devices, and as such, should be carefully designed to complement the physical characteristics and behavioral patterns of human beings. Become an advocate for effective designdrop us a note and tell us which remotes youve found to be particularly effective or frustrating. Better yet, reward manufacturers that take human factors into account by voting with your pocketbook. Believe me, the touch of a finger on the cash-register keys is one human factor no manufacturer dare ignore for long.

 1994 Home Theater Technology Magazine

From the October 1994 issue of HOME THEATER TECHNOLOGY 
If You Like What You See Here, Don't Miss The Real Thing!
Subscribe Today To HOME THEATER TECHNOLOGY Magazine
On Newstands everywhere or 
Call (800) 264-9872 To Subscribe - $23.95 For A Full Year

