NEEO Remote Control

[EnterNoEscape]

I just bought one of these and will receive it tomorrow. It looks like it's only been sold for about a year. The devs appear to be very actively adding features and it supports some forms of two-way communication via the SDK. I plan to implement a driver for IP control of SageTV for this device if it behaves the way I expect. Fortunately it has a 30 days money back policy, so if it turns out to be a complete pain, I can get all that money back. Anyone here ever use this remote? If so, any comments or tips?

I designed something very similar to this 5 years ago (2-way communication between a sender unit and remote control, IP control, IR control, RF control), but never got beyond the prototype phase because I didn't have a cost effective means to create a quality remote casing. You can imagine how excited I am to finally see something like this in a high quality casing.

[Carlton Bale]

I met their founder at CEDIA last year. I was impressed by him and his plans for the remote going forward. I think Neeo is the first real replacement for the Philips Pronto line of remotes (which I’m still using 8 years after it being discontinued.) I’ll likely upgrade to a Neeo at some point in the near future. It would be great to have IP control of SageTV.

[wayner]

It looks pretty but I prefer more physical buttons, especially for transport control.

On a related note - I have a Control4 Home Automation system. I have written a driver (actually adapted and improved someone else's driver) so that I can use my Control4 system to have IP control over SageTV. Control4 drivers are written in Lua. The main part of the driver is the key mapping from the Control4 remote to SageTV's web UI commands. I also use Telnet scripting to turn extenders on or off, which is a bit trickier since you don't seem to be able to do power control of extenders from the web UI. Would you find it useful if I post the code?

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by wayner

It looks pretty but I prefer more physical buttons, especially for transport control.

On a related note - I have a Control4 Home Automation system. I have written a driver (actually adapted and improved someone else's driver) so that I can use my Control4 system to have IP control over SageTV. Control4 drivers are written in Lua. The main part of the driver is the key mapping from the Control4 remote to SageTV's web UI commands. I also use Telnet scripting to turn extenders on or off, which is a bit trickier since you don't seem to be able to do power control of extenders from the web UI. Would you find it useful if I post the code?

Thanks for the offer. Their SDK uses node.js and I'm already familiar with how to use the standard web interface or Sagex to execute remote commands. I was actually thinking I would port what I needed from their provided SDK to Java and run the driver as a SageTV plugin which would give me direct access to controls and better responsiveness for more advanced things this remote can deal with like playlists. I've also played around with the telnet tricks to get the extenders to turn on and off.

It is a little odd that they don't let you write your own drivers and run them on their "brain" unit, but I can deal with this quirk (which doesn't sound like a permanent problem based on some feedback in their forums) since I've never seen anything like this at this price.

I just unboxed the remote. This thing is really something special. I understand the uneasiness some people might have about the lack of timeshifting buttons (I still kind of have this mindset), but I see what they are trying to do. I hate not having buttons that match what I see on the screen or worse buttons that are not labeled even close to what you would think it does. If it really does become a pain to use for timeshifting, maybe I'll contemplate returning it.

[Carlton Bale]

I specifically complained about the lack of transport control buttons and was told that was addressed through press-and-hold or screen-specific button functionality. I'm not sure that I'd be happy with that vs. dedicated transport control buttons, but at least they'd thought about it. The remote did look incredible and felt great in hand as well.

The new Neeo Pro version has a third-party driver for Control4 integration, offering a lot fo the functionality of the Control4 SR260. Need is an interesting alternative, but I think C4 has to be working on a replacement remote with voice control, which may trump the Neeo.

Wayner: I'm interested in the C4 driver for SageTV. I'll send you a PM.

[EnterNoEscape]

Now that I've had some time to play with it and get used to it, I'm leaning towards keeping it despite my somewhat harsh criticisms of the device.

The lack of physical transport buttons did not bother me as much as how much back and forth you need to do with their staff to have a device driver added. If I had the control to do the driver myself, it would have been done last week. Instead I need to provide feedback and wait for someone to change it for me. Being a DIY person, this is far from ideal, but it doesn't sound like this will be the norm for a lot longer. Anyhow, anyone that wants to use this remote with an HD100, HD200 or HD300 can thank me to getting the drivers in a recognizable state. I'm still not 100% happy with their cookie cutter layout, but it's probably as good as can get with the current state of their software and a lot cleaner looking than any of my URC remotes.

A professional integrator had a great post on their forums about the good and the bad. One of the things he pointed out was the lack of physical transport buttons and what I found most interesting was the response from the Neeo staff. Basically, they gave an example of an AppleTV and stated that the OK button become play/pause, so there isn't a need for physical buttons. The integrator then replied that there are still a lot of very good devices out there that don't do that. The Neeo staff stopped talking about the elephant in the room for the rest of the thread and gave me the impression that they don't want to admit they might have made a mistake or aren't allowed to say anything that sounds like they are taking your suggestion under consideration.

My own interactions with them have been very helpful, but cold and often times not actually acknowledging any points you made; just "I changed something, try it out." Would it kill you to tell me what you changed so I at least know what I should be focused on testing???

There are a lot of people on the Neeo staff and I'm sure many of them are really talented people, but I get the feeling that most of them use Android/AppleTV/Roku boxes and may be out of touch with the non-app driven box crowd. Those remotes are already spartan and this remote didn't draw inspiration from them so much as copy them and put a screen above them to fill in the gaps. I guess a long press on OK to play/pause would be acceptable, but it's not obvious to anyone picking up the remote that they can do that. Much like pressing menu selects Guide and a long press on menu selects Options. I don't know about you, but I don't use the guide enough to care if it's a physical button, much less a first class one.

Next I'm adding an IP driver for my thermostat (Proliphix), then some IP controlled outlets (Ubiquiti mPower Pro) and finally a SageTV IP driver as a plugin for SageTV.

[KryptoNyte]

When I consider hardware like this, I find it difficult to move away from my "phone" in regard to the control of virtually every device around me - and we do have a phone remote for SageTV. I always have my phone with me and it continues to become more capable. As they continue to remove more and more buttons from remotes, the phone remote seems to become more applicable.

The next phone screen challenge is to figure out how to provide a tactile interface, or at least fooling the brain into believing it's there, one way or another. There has to be something better than the voice interface that is being developed now.

[samgreco]

Personally I really dislike having to look down at whatever device I'm using to control my system. I like being able to just know where the button I want is by feel. That and enough dedicated buttons to do the important stuff. I do not like the little Android remotes at all.

[KryptoNyte]

I have to admit, I still use the HD300 remotes faithfully. The button layout is ... a bit interesting, but my brain has a good handle on it after some time, and it works like you said - without looking at it.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

I have to admit, I still use the HD300 remotes faithfully. The button layout is ... a bit interesting, but my brain has a good handle on it after some time, and it works like you said - without looking at it.

That's actually why I love the Shield Remote With 8 buttons (9 if you include the volume slider), I never have to look at the remote, and I can control all aspects of my media interaction.

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by stuckless

That's actually why I love the Shield Remote With 8 buttons (9 if you include the volume slider), I never have to look at the remote, and I can control all aspects of my media interaction.

Hmmmm. May have to look into this. Thanks for the reminder!

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

When I consider hardware like this, I find it difficult to move away from my "phone" in regard to the control of virtually every device around me - and we do have a phone remote for SageTV. I always have my phone with me and it continues to become more capable. As they continue to remove more and more buttons from remotes, the phone remote seems to become more applicable.

The next phone screen challenge is to figure out how to provide a tactile interface, or at least fooling the brain into believing it's there, one way or another. There has to be something better than the voice interface that is being developed now.

It's funny you mention this since I had this conversation with a few coworkers. Admittedly, the remote is a lot like a smart phone and the "brain" can even be controlled using their iPhone or Android app with nearly the same interface you get with the remote.

While at first it seems convenient to control your TV with your phone, there are a lot of trade-offs in ease of use. First, the remote control isn't the only purpose your phone has, so there's a good chance you'll need to keep re-opening the remote control app to continue to do things with the TV while you use your phone for other tasks. Second, as you mentioned, you have the most obvious problem of no tactile feedback for even the most basic functions. Third, if you have a visitor, do you set up their phone or do you give them yours? Do you insist they remove control for your TV before they leave? Fourth, some trivial things become a little more chaotic like answering the phone and pausing the TV. While we have come a long way, I still insist on having a dedicated remote at a minimum and other control methods are just additional options.

Originally Posted by stuckless

That's actually why I love the Shield Remote With 8 buttons (9 if you include the volume slider), I never have to look at the remote, and I can control all aspects of my media interaction.

That works out well if that's the only device you use with your TV. I went back to using different remotes to an extent because of these one purpose RF remotes. I bought this remote to get back to only needing one remote for all activities and the ability to add new ones that I wouldn't normally use a remote for.

[EnterNoEscape]

Control4 bought Neeo, so I can no longer recommend this remote for anyone. They stopped selling them the instant they announced this. They will keep their servers running for 24 months, but that's little consolation for a closed device that was sold before all of the promised features from their Kickstarter were implemented.