Remote-ly crazy!

Everyone who knows me personally know that I'm a geek with a capital G. I am very passionate about tech, and do own more than my fair share of state-of-the-art gadgets. However, besides a few posts on my beloved iPhone, I've never really talked about my other toys. Until now. I'll start with my Home Entertainment System, and I think there's no better way to do it than to look at the remotes!

1. Astro MAX

When I was studying for my Masters in London a few years back, we subscribed to Sky+, which was basically the UK version of TiVo. With Sky+, YOU were in control of your own time. You can rewind live TV at any time in case you missed that goal or didn't hear what the film dialogue the first time round. But better still, you need only tell Sky+ that you wish it to record a certain TV programme, and it would continue to record and save each subsequent episode of the same programme until you tell it to stop. But what I loved most about it is that I always watch TV programmes 10-15 minutes after it has started. Then, whenever there's an advert break, I can just speed through the adverts!

So what about Astro MAX then? Well, it's supposed to do the same things as Sky+, only difference is that Astro MAX is CRAP. They should rename it Astro MIN instead. It is EXTREMELY buggy. Hangs all the time, and not a day goes by without my needing to hard reboot the system by pulling out the power cord. And when it doesn't hang, it suffers from serious lag, having to wait a couple of seconds for a button press to register. Lately a new problem has cropped up - at random times it just goes haywire altogether. Press "5" on the remote, and the decoder would recognise it as "4". Nothing to do with the remote, as this happens on more than one remote! It is telling though that on the astro homepage, there is no mention of Astro MAX, and under the "Packages & Decoders" section, it is stated that "... the Astro MAX decoder is no longer available".

2. JVC TH-V70 Home Theatre System

Got this by winning a slogan competition organised by The Star a number of years back. It's a 5.1 system and the DVD player has glowing lights and can be mounted either normally or vertically. The front panel slides down a bit everytime you need to insert or eject a DVD. And the sub-woofer is quite heavy and powerful. Everything in the room literally shakes whenever I watch a film on it. The TV is also connected to the JVC, so turning it up when I'm shooting down enemy soldiers in Call Of Duty on the PS3 is just AWESOME!

3. Sony Trinitron DRC-MF 29" Flatscreen CRT TV

Another one I won through a slogan competition - yup, I am just that good at slogans! A real massive TV which needs at least 3 people to carry around. It's a CRT, but unlike most CRTs it has multiple component/RGB inputs and progressive scan. The picture quality is just perfect, and there's no trace of the many horizontal lines that you can see across normal CRTs. Don't use it as my main TV ever since I got the LCD, but I put the footie on it on weekend nights while I watch TV or play games on the LCD.

4. Pioneer DV-585K DVD Player

An inexpensive model that I received as a wedding gift. Nothing much to shout about, except for one thing - it plays DivX files! No more watching downloaded TV series on the computer screen. Just burn the DivX files onto a DVD-RW, insert disc into DVD player and voila! So it's a dedicated DivX player until recently when I encountered less troublesome ways to enjoy my downloads.

5. PlayStation 3

Now, to the uninitiated (me too at first), the PS3 is nothing more than a games console, albeit a pricey one. Only difference between this and the older PS2 was just that the PS3 had better graphics. Oh how wrong that is. The PlayStation 3 is a full-blooded home entertainment system. With its 1080p HDMI output, you can watch high-def Blu-Rays and normal DVDs. It has built-in wifi, which means that apart from being able to play games online with fellow gamers around the world, you can also surf the net from the comfort of your living room sofa! This can be done by connecting ANY normal PC keyboard and mouse into the 2 USB ports. Or, if you prefer, just connect the peripherals wirelessly via the PS3's built-in Bluetooth!

The thing I like most about the PS3 though is its ability to play numerous media formats, which includes DivX movie files. And, via wifi, you can wireless stream files directly from your PC or Mac! So no more having to transfer files! You can literally browse the folders on your PC or Mac directly using the PS3! However, the PS3 does not recognise certain DivX codecs, and won't even attempt to read high-def MKV files! Which is where the next device comes in...

6. Western Digital WDTV HD Media Player

The WDTV is a small device, but connect a portable HDD via one of its two USB ports, and it will play virtually ANYTHING you throw at it! And this in HD too as it has a HDMI port that supports up to 1080p!

7. Nintendo Wii

Everyone knows about the Wii's unique "physical" game controls, and is a sure hit at parties. When I'm playing it alone though, I favourites are Guitar Hero (with wireless guitar "controller"!) and Resident Evil 4 (superb game controls where you hold the Wii controller like a gun and aim at the screen to shoot!).

8. Sharp Aquos LC-32A33M 32" HD-Ready LCD TV

LCD TV prices are dropping faster than Liverpool are dropping points in the EPL, and this model from Sharp is a real good deal. You can get it as low as RM1,600 in certain shops, and with its natural, not-over-saturated colour, 3 HDMI inputs and ambient light sensor, it doesn't compromise on features. It's not 1080p, but at 32" it doesn't really make much difference.

9. Logitech Harmony 525 Universal Remote Control

With as many gadgets as myself, you can probably guess the problems I face just by looking at the main photo. Each device comes with its own remote, and it's a nightmare just trying to organise them as neatly as possible, let alone avoiding confusion each time you need to change a channel or turn up the volume! This is where the Harmony 525 plays its part. With it, I can keep away ALL of the remotes in the photo above (apart from the PS3 and Wii). Setting up the remote is done using the included software which connects to the Logitech servers. This is good as it can then tap into the database of virtually all products that have infrared remotes. And I mean ALL. It has the settings for the Astro MAX settop box, the WDTV media player, and even other non-entertainment devices such as air-cond units! The downside of this though is that with no internet connection, you simply CAN'T configure the remote, and the process tends to be a bit slow and buggy.

So once you've added each device to the remote, next step is to set up your "activities", such as "Watching ASTRO", or "PS3 time". The software would ask you a series of questions - What device do you use for sound? Which device would display the video? On which input channel should the TV be on?. This process, though seemingly straightforward, may take a few attempts to get right through a trial and error process. But when it's done, it's just PERFECT. For example, if I want to watch normal TV I just need to press ONE button on the remote. The remote would then switch on the TV, Astro set-top box, and home theatre system, and set both the TV and home theatre system to the correct input. Say I then want to watch a DVD. Again, with another press of a button, the remote would switch off Astro, switch on the DVD player, and change the input on the TV. When I need to do something else I just press the power button on the remote and it turns off EVERYTHING. Again I stress, all these things are done by just pressing ONE BUTTON! And it's also smart enough to map the right controls to the remote. So when I'm watching TV, the volume buttons would control the home theatre system, but the number buttons would control the Astro decoder. No more fiddling around with multiple remotes. You are happy as everything's a breeze to control, and the missus is happy as half the coffee table is not taken up by numerous remotes!

So there you go, a "brief" introduction to my gadgets. I'll write more in detail about one of the above gadgets, or even write about the other gadgets that I own, in a future post.