GRAND PRIZE WINNER! The idea behind Prototypes is: how might a hard-buttoned remote control look if it were designed specifically for watching TV, DVD or PVR?

Change stations from an elegant chrome sphere placed on your couch table, control your DVD player via a device that is quite similar to today’s business phones, or switch your PVR with a PDA-like gadget. Or wouldn’t a keychain remote control for your receiver be pretty cool?

Prototypes features elegant near-photorealistic graphics, dynamic transitions, help screens for every device and intuitive navigation. If you don’t own a TSU9600 to test this on, please don’t only watch the graphics on the simulator, but take a peek at the full resolution graphics.

I hope you like this design – any feedback would be gladly appreciated!

The basic concept for this configuration is to mimic drop-down menus. Any device can be accessed and controlled from any page on the remote. This method is very straight forward and universally understood by anyone who used a computer making it very easy for friends, family, or children to pick up and use with little instruction.

As the rules suggested, I focused on graphics and navigation rather than making sure it had working codes and macros everywhere. All graphics were done with Photoshop and with a couple of master PSDs, adding or changing graphical elements is very easy. I attempted to place the most commonly used commands on hard buttons to avoid using the screen as much as possible.

I had planned on using recorded voice-overs instead of text for “HELP” prompts, but ecided to skip this for now as the simulator will not play them back. I also no longer think it’s necessary, as this configuration is “Drop-Down Simple”!

FIFTH RUNNER UP! Most small systems consist of only a few devices like a receiver, cable/sat box, DVD player, CD Changer and a video game system. There are included pages for lighting control, audio, and video adjustments as well. You can quickly program this template for your own system or for one of your customers and is self explanatory using activity buttons that are highlighted on each source page so you will always know where you are.

By placing the activity buttons on every page, this design takes advantage of systems that may not include an RF base. If you choose an activity and the IR command didn't get to the device, you can simply choose the activity a second time without having to back to the home page and select the button again. This design is very customer friendly and was intentionally designed to have less buttons on the source control pages by using the only the most commonly used commands for each device. There are additional sized buttons to copy and paste in case you need to include more functions or change a device page.

SECOND PLACE WINNER! The following file is based on my SCUBA-themed configuration that I use for my Marantz RC9500. However, all of the graphics have been completely redone to accommodate the Pronto TSU9600 graphics capabilities (when importing the PCF file into the Pronto Professional program all the graphics became very tiny). Because the remote uses a widescreen display, I decided to base the page navigation within each device on the XBOX 360 dashboard. You navigate the tabs (or also known as ‘blades’ for those familiar with the XBOX 360) by using the page up and down buttons located to the left of the screen. The ‘blades’ themselves are currently not active (i.e., cannot be directly accessed by pressing on them), but will become so at a later date when I have more time to complete the file.

I am an avid SCUBA diver and so the background pictures are themed after this. However, with not too much difficulty, the pictures can be changed to whatever you wish.

The Home page will allow you to: 1) power the entire system down, 2) access power for all devices in the system, 2) access to lighting control and drapes, 4) the remote setup page – for... (more)

My user interface is called Simplicity, and it provides easy control over environment lighting through the Pronto’s hard buttons – which are also used to provide easy channel time shifting with only three keys, Pause, Play and Stop (the DVR is not directly accessible and is only used for time shifting). The Canal Satellite layout is full of favorite channels sorted by genre. Graphics are particularly easy to understand.

Advanced macros will turn on necessary devices (plasma TV, DVD, amplifier, etc.) and turn off unused ones (DVR, etc.) whenever a video source is selected, while selecting audio will turn off video devices (DVR, etc.) and power the amplifier.

THIRD PLACE WINNER! Aura is a very flexible design that can be used for personal projects as well as professional programmer’s clients. You can create any background you like to customize the template or choose one of ten different colored backgrounds I made especially for this design. There are extra pre-made pages for Blu-ray, HD-DVD, QWERTY keyboard, plus an alternative to the Lutron page for lighting control for those who like to use the IR codes.

Adding buttons or creating new devices is very easy, there are eight pages of different size, dual state buttons and extra device icons which are pre-arranged that you can simply copy and paste into the correct position for a newly created activity. This design uses as much of the page as possible while minimizing the negative space between buttons and the need for multiple pages.

I really love the sleek design of the new Pronto TSU9600 and wanted to come up with a configuration file that complements its clean, edgy look, but is straightforward and easy to navigate.

In the design, I have tried to simulate commonplace yet modern materials and textures and use them in an otherworldly context. A sense of space and motion add to the realism that I wanted to achieve in the file, but more importantly, I hope your imagination is fired by what I’ve come up with. My planned future addition of .wav files will hopefully heighten the sense of “unreal reality”.

Apart from the .wav files the file isn’t fully realized (focus on the Cinema and Audio options when you’re testing it out...). I’ll be working hard to get the configuration finished, but in the meantime, I hope you’ll give Black Magic a go on your simulator (or the real thing if you’re lucky enough to already have one...) and enjoy the direction I'm heading!

What makes my design unique:

• Designed for visual interest as well as visual simplicity and consistency.
  
  
• Designed for a minimal amount of screen changes when in use (e.g. network channels as punch throughs, cable channels and redirection to transport buttons all appear on the same screen; the page up and down button has been converted to cable channel up and down to facilitate these “multi-use screens”).
  
  
• Whilst the device is designed for US users in the first instance, baseplate masters (each with national flag and corresponding local networks) have been created for 25 other countries and can be used to change over the system page elements and network punch-throughs - Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Each element on the alternative masters is readily movable/removable.

This is the highly anticipated and much talked about “RGBCYM Everything” remote template that everyone has been waiting for. ;-) This template file is large because it is filled with over 1900 buttons! The buttons are set in six different colors, three different sizes, and two different shapes. These buttons have been created using “Crystal Button”. If anyone would like the “Crystal Button” templates for these buttons, download the file and get my Email address from the “INFO” page.

This remote template has been designed with speed of programming in mind. You do not need an image editor to change backgrounds or button images. While other remote layouts may look fancy, they may also take a long time to customize when your customer wants to add just one more piece of equipment. The buttons are organized so that you can either copy/paste or ctrl/drag the button to the page you are designing. Since there are three button sizes, you can scale the button to match the needs of the page. Color coding of the buttons is an essential element to a well designed touchscreen. With this template, a visually pleasing color schemes is easy to layout so that task groups within the page can be... (more)

The name is derived from one of my favorite beers, Three Floyds Alpha King Pale Ale. The design makes heavy use of Alpha channel transparency, allowing every button and panel to take on the color and texture of the main background image. This allows a user to completely change the look and feel simply by changing one background graphic – zero button modifications required. The idea is to have quick and simple modification without having to redesign every single graphic. Included are multiple button designs (flat and rounded) in a large array of sizes and shapes. Shadow effects make the buttons appear to float above the panel; the buttons appear to sink when depressed.

The Alpha King Brew design also shows “the art of the possible” for the Pronto Pro should Philips decide to expand the feature set. This design includes mock-ups for potential features, such as 2-way control of Windows Media Center (with Cover Art download) and Sonos (through uPnP) as well as the ability to read RSS News Feeds from any Internet source. Also included is a mock-up of a PC application that parses Internet Movie Database results and sends them to the Pronto Pro (assuming that Philips releases 2-way communication protocols to third party developers.)