HD-200 Feature Requests

[heatvent]

I am new to the HD-200 and have some suggested improvements. I was surprised I couldn't find a thread on this (unless I missed it). If this is the wrong place for this, please forgive me and point me in the right direction. here goes:

* Really need to get the remote to turn the TV on/off. I am either forced to use two remotes or a universal one that does not function nearly as well as the one that comes with the HD-200.
* Support for an IR extender would be awesome. I would like to hide mine behind the wall and having a remote IR receiver would be great.
* Lights are way too bright. I would suggest finding dimmer ones and/or providing people with some kind of tinted tape to put over them if they want them dimmer.
* Option to turn off the lights might also work if this is possible to do.
* The case is OK, but the HD100 looked much nicer. This is a piece of equipment that sits along side sleek looking multi-thousand dollar pieces of equipment. Even just a new plastic front cover would go a long way.
* It would be nice if there is a way to put in extender mode exclusively and not have the 5 second delay on the front end or at least be able to change the length of the delay.

That's it. It's otherwise a fantastic product. And functionally works better than a PC.

[lotusvball]

Originally Posted by heatvent

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* Option to turn off the lights might also work if this is possible to do.

Black electrical tape was my option.

[freedml]

If you use the 'home' button instead of the 'on' button it will come back faster without the 'delay' screen.

All your other suggestions had been mentioned already in other threads.

[Slack]

Originally Posted by heatvent

* Really need to get the remote to turn the TV on/off. I am either forced to use two remotes or a universal one that does not function nearly as well as the one that comes with the HD-200.

The HD-200 remote is garbage in my opinion. the layout is wonky. Two sit in a drawer. Get a harmony. Some have suggested that Sage not even bundle one.

* Support for an IR extender would be awesome. I would like to hide mine behind the wall and having a remote IR receiver would be great.

Yeah that would be nice. But blasters on third party repeaters aren't the end of the world. (I alreay had mine.)

* Lights are way too bright. I would suggest finding dimmer ones and/or providing people with some kind of tinted tape to put over them if they want them dimmer.

Blue masking tape - can still see them - but they are washed out by TV at night.

* The case is OK, but the HD100 looked much nicer. This is a piece of equipment that sits along side sleek looking multi-thousand dollar pieces of equipment. Even just a new plastic front cover would go a long way.

I though you were going to hide it away (repeater input above).

* It would be nice if there is a way to put in extender mode exclusively and not have the 5 second delay on the front end or at least be able to change the length of the delay.

Beta firmware has a pause adjustment.

[heatvent]

Originally Posted by Slack

I though you were going to hide it away (repeater input above).

Sorry, I actually have 2 HD-200, one I want to hide, one out in the open.

[heatvent]

Originally Posted by freedml

If you use the 'home' button instead of the 'on' button it will come back faster without the 'delay' screen.

All your other suggestions had been mentioned already in other threads.

I wasn't trying to start a thread to rehash shortcomings, just somewhere centralized where if you have an idea for improvement you could post in hopes it will make a future model better.

[valnar]

Originally Posted by heatvent

I am new to the HD-200 and have some suggested improvements. I was surprised I couldn't find a thread on this (unless I missed it). If this is the wrong place for this, please forgive me and point me in the right direction. here goes:

* Really need to get the remote to turn the TV on/off. I am either forced to use two remotes or a universal one that does not function nearly as well as the one that comes with the HD-200.

Adding a programmable remote would add cost to the unit. I would prefer they did not do this, because then you'd need to add volume and other things just to be compatible with most TV's. Buy a universal remote, as the layout of the original remote is crazy anyway.

* Support for an IR extender would be awesome. I would like to hide mine behind the wall and having a remote IR receiver would be great

That would be nice, but there is that cost thing again. I don't think the original Sigma reference design has it, so it would have to be engineered in.

* Lights are way too bright. I would suggest finding dimmer ones and/or providing people with some kind of tinted tape to put over them if they want them dimmer.

I agree with this. Actually, I don't like the activity light at all. 'tis quite annoying. I use black electrical tape to fix that.

* Option to turn off the lights might also work if this is possible to do.

Yep

* The case is OK, but the HD100 looked much nicer. This is a piece of equipment that sits along side sleek looking multi-thousand dollar pieces of equipment. Even just a new plastic front cover would go a long way.

Not everyone has their HD200 in an entertainment center or A/V rack. The smallness of it really helps when sitting next to a 19" TV in a bedroom. The HD100 was hard to place.

* It would be nice if there is a way to put in extender mode exclusively and not have the 5 second delay on the front end or at least be able to change the length of the delay.

Press Home, and the delay can be changed.

[heatvent]

Originally Posted by valnar

Not everyone has their HD200 in an entertainment center or A/V rack.

Not everyone has a place to hide theirs. The small case is fine, I was just thinking $2 worth of plastic for a nice front bezel might give it a more polished look.

[bigo93bronco]

I understand that in order to keep the cost down alot of these features were left out. Something that would help out and probably wouldn't cost much to implement (in a later model) would be to have an expansion slot so that the user could add some RAM ontheir own if they wanted to. Users who use it in standalone would really benefit but it would help everyone.

[willplaice]

firmware upgrade via telnet, or some other way that doesn't involve the remote
(i have my extender in a rack, and i don't use IR)

[whartsell]

ability to send WOL magic packet to wake server would be very convienent

[Whitey]

A party mode to sync all the extenders together to play the same videos/music in different locations

[thorforyou]

I would like to see more online content like Hulu and Boxee. Boxee in particular is really cool and I use it as much as sagetv.

[heatvent]

Originally Posted by Whitey

A party mode to sync all the extenders together to play the same videos/music in different locations

This is an AWESOME idea!