Second Place Winner!
This is an activity based design that walks the user through each step of the home theater process. The welcome screen triggers a series of animations and IR commands which is intended to entertain the user as the system powers up. The power codes in this particular system are all discrete. Once the "choices" screen appears, the user simply follows the directions. I have included a short photo album as a choice to show off the resolution of this screen. Components include a TV, DVD, XM radio (complete with my original icon frames), Satellite TV and Music Choice (also original Icon frames), VCR, CD, and Lutron lighting control. Many of the buttons will become animated when pressed. All buttons and animations are original with the exception of Beavis rocking out on the amp control page. Thanks and... Enjoy!

Includes a "basic" version for older 32mb units.

This design has a very simple concept that centralizes around an animated 3D disc that serves many different purposes in this layout. All graphics and animations are completely original, however the channel icon buttons are alterations of existing available graphics. Thanks Much!

All new graphics 90% made by my amateur hands. Some graphics on the home window and the device swap buttons were modded from the TSU9600 software. Learning with variables. Working indicators on the Sky RF and Sky TAG pages.

The RC is based upon both action (Watch, Listen) and device principles (DVD, CD,…). It uses MX-3000 variables where discrete on & off codes are not available and can switch from the current device to any other device from any page.

What makes it unique? I don’t know… It appeals to me and actually manages to do the things I want it to do in a way which my family can understand and operate.

Second Place Winner!
This template was specifically designed to be easy to use while keeping an intuitive, easy to understand layout. The most common functions are on the main page and the template will walk you to the next step. The design can be easily reconfigured to suit just about anyone's equipment.

It also features a battery meter on every source page with charging confirmation and shortcuts to the most commonly used pages for each device. All device pages have a direct shortcut to the source select page, this keeps almost every page only two button pushes away.

If you have a first generation MX3000 with 32MB of memory, there should be plenty of memory space on the remote for Bracken's DMX3000 (DVD changer software) and over 400 DVD covers.

What I believe makes this program unique is the ability to combine:

The ability to combine animated gifs (both funny and serious)

Sounds from well known super-stars and sounds created for travels and family members: I have a wav file (voice of Will Smith from one of his movies). The "What would you like to do" sound on the welcome screen is the voice of a lady who was sitting next to me on the train as I was travelling into New York City one morning. I wanted to use a soft female voice to welcome guests to the MX-3000. The sounds behind the Music and Guess is the voice of a family member. I wanted to create something funny.

Ability to create unique designs using Photoshop, ImageReady and other graphic software. The To Do background was drawn free hand in Photoshop and ImageReady.

Using icons of well known Cable/Satellite programs to help direct access to those channels

Ability to separate buttons and sections (i.e. buttons under Main section and buttons under Devices section), helping to either prevent or allow access to the buttons

Ability to create hidden buttons and generate macros, animated gifs and sounds within those hidden buttons (there's one hidden... (more)

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.