Grand Prize Winner! (Part 1 of 3)
What makes my design unique? Well as a Crestron GUI developer, I pride myself on ‘ease-of-use’ being the foremost factor in creating a new design with ‘fun’ being a close second. I believe this entry reflects that. You will notice that all macros (TV, DVD, VCR, and OFF) are available on every page and in the same place, so there is little ‘hunting around’ when ready to turn the system on. Since all devices used have discrete or ‘anchored’ codes to turn them on or off, there is no need for an ‘ON’ button anywhere, just press the option you’d like to enjoy and the remote does the rest. This lends itself well to the already easy to use MX3000 which always has volume, channel, and other such buttons conveniently always in the same place.

After you select a macro you will notice the two dancing fellows telling you to please stand by. This helps the customer understand that the remote is ‘busy’ and the option will soon be displayed. This page also serves people who might be using ‘line of sight’ IR directly from the MX3000…this page essentially tells you how long to hold the remote pointed at the equipment.

Please... (more)

Grand Prize Winner! (Part 2 of 3)
This is a cool design which emulates a popular TV program (I’ll let you guess which one, here’s a hint, ‘Something’ Trek). The transitions on this panel are fun, with transporter effects fading between device and main menu, and buttons which slide across the screen to open and close additional pages. The sounds and look and feel conjure up feelings that only a true trekkie could comprehend…you even get to shoot down Klingons if that is to your liking.

This entry is more ‘form’ over ‘function’. I could just as well have titled it ‘Fun with Animated Gifs’. Though designed with ease-of-use in mind (oversimplified button choices, large colorful graphics) it represents more of a fun approach to controlling audio and video components. Under the advanced setup page, the code needed to enter is 911.

Grand Prize Winner! (Part 3 of 3)
This entry started out as a way to amuse my 2 year old daughter. I wanted something with plenty of colors and movement, and what do I end up with but a remote full of bubbles and fish? The transitions between pages on this one are also fun, the theme of course being 'bubbles'. There are also plenty of animated fish and underwater life. The best feature I think is the animation tied to the OFF macro (please check it out) … this is the soft of thing I just can’t do with Crestron :) It’s a simple remote, but still pretty cool (sometimes the simpler the better).

This entry is also more ‘fun’ than ‘functional’ but does offer the same simplified level of control that I generally give to my customers. It offers fun bubble-filled transitions from page to page (again to the liking of my toddler who isn’t even allowed to play with the remote anyway). The pages are colorful with no shortage of fish, bubbles, and seaweed to grab your attention. Under the advanced setup page, the code needed to enter is 911.

Here's my latest design inspired by the best show ever. It is very graphic intensive and is a good mix of form and function. The screenshots and sounds that play when a device is selected changes each time (variable dependent). There are lots of fun .wav files imbedded on different buttons and actions. The best feature is the full qwerty keyboard (under the Audio Request device) which can be modified and used with any device requiring an infrared keyboard.

Here is my Pink Floyd themed home remote. It took forever and is very customized to my home system (and to my wife's liking). Please note the use of variables to modify the MAIN button's functionality... pressing MAIN while on the main menu will return you to the device you were last using without issuing the macro (useful for accidental presses of MAIN). What you might find useful is the full AudioRequest QWERTY keyboard, including capitals.