(Thanks to Bryan Pope of Kaleidescape's PR team who got me a test unit on incredibly short notice!)
As we all know, Kaleidescape released it's second remote control yesterday, the Kaleidescape Child's Remote. I've been playing with one today for a few hours here at home and thought I'd share my reactions.
Overall, this is a really brilliant idea: a remote control that triggers a modified User Interface as soon as any button is pressed. It's a simple idea, but a powerful one. You don't switch modes, you simply grab the remote you want and the user interface reacts accordingly. I brought it to a guest room where we also happen to have the larger Kaleidescape remote control for guests, and I was able to use them side-by-side along with a customized Home Theater Master remote.
DESIGN:
USAGE:
NOTE that your system must have KEAOS version 4.0+ for the Kids remote functionality to work. This should be on everyone's machines by early October. Kaleidescape pushed it to my machines earlier today so I could test the remote.
As you may have read, Kaleidescape has done something pretty clever with this remote. Simply pressing any button on the Kids Remote cases the onscreen UI to switch immediately into "Children's" mode. While this looks a lot like the regular Cover view, it's simplified by not having pop-up panels to show the movie description.
Aim this remote at your I.R. receiver (or your Kplayer) and hit any button and the system will tell you that Children's mode has been entered. You'll immediately see it switch to the cover view showing a subset of your movies that you have deemed OK for showing to kids. Note that this is NOT done by MPAA ratings, it's completely up to you to pick movies you want to show up in Children's mode.
The first time you use the Kids remote, pressing a button will tell you that the system doesn't have any movies designated to kids, and will then instruct you to go add movies to the new "Children's" collection. (Which of course you can via a regular "adult" remote, or via the web interface.)
If you didn't previously have this collection ("Children"), then one is now created for you, and is empty. You use your web interface or another remote control to add movies to the new Children collection.
Of course, pressing a remote on ANY of your other remotes will cause the player to switch back to normal adult mode.
MORE ON CHILDREN'S MODE:
As stated previously, Children's mode looks like your "Covers" view of movies, but without the blue overlay box to show a movie's description. The remote has typical up/down/left/right buttons to navigate around the Kids mode to select a movie by looking at its cover art. There is NO way to get to a list view, nor to see the description of the movie while in kids mode, but of course if an adult is in the room, you can press the button on one of your "adult" remotes to quickly get to those other views. There's a tiny delay when switching from kids mode to adult mode and back, but it's not annoying at all.
As you (or the kid) navigates around the covers, you have only one choice when you find a movie... and of course that's "play", which does a "Play Movie" command. You don't pull up the metadata view, you can't choose "play disc", etc. But of course it's remarkably easy for a kid... navigate to a cover you want, hit play, that's it. Movie starts right away, in typical Kaleidescape fashion.
While in a movie, you have only "stop" and "pause". That's it. There's no trickplay modes, no "info" overlay... just play or stop. Kids mode, like "regular mode" will remember where you left off in a movie and play from there, though it does let you hit "play" again if you WANT to restart from the beginning.
And that's pretty much it... it just works. There are very few buttons on the remote, and that's the way it should be for a remote for this purpose.
At ANY time, even during movie playback, an adult remote can issue a command like "info" or "disc menu", and the player responds appropriately, but of course you've now exited Kids mode. But it's seamless... no long delays or screen changes. If the Kids remote is used for anything, even just a "play" or "pause" command, then the UI is switched back to kids mode. If you're watching a movie, you won't notice the mode change at all, it's all happening "backstage" beneath the playing movie.
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
As we all know, Kaleidescape released it's second remote control yesterday, the Kaleidescape Child's Remote. I've been playing with one today for a few hours here at home and thought I'd share my reactions.
Overall, this is a really brilliant idea: a remote control that triggers a modified User Interface as soon as any button is pressed. It's a simple idea, but a powerful one. You don't switch modes, you simply grab the remote you want and the user interface reacts accordingly. I brought it to a guest room where we also happen to have the larger Kaleidescape remote control for guests, and I was able to use them side-by-side along with a customized Home Theater Master remote.
DESIGN:
OK, so at first, it's somewhat jarring to see a Kaleidescape-branded remote that looks very "Fisher Price" in its design. The materials are rubbery and, as you've seen, it has bold primary colors and squishy rubbery buttons. But of course, it's meant to be used by kids and it looks the part. It doesn't feel cheap, just a bit... well, squishy. the sides of the remote have a rubbery feel, as do the buttons. But I think kids will enjoy it.
The remote is actually much larger than it looked to me in the pictures.
It's also surprisingly thick. As you can see in the picture above, it fit pretty comfortably in my adult hand. The buttons are soft and rubbery, no click or feedback. There's no backlighting (unlike the nice blue backlighting on the "grown up" remote.)
It's got a large (and BRIGHT) LED indicator on the front to show that a button has been pressed.
Putting batteries in requires a screwdriver, which I personally HATE. It comes with 2 AAA batteries and a small screwdriver, a nice touch since it requires that to open it up.
The remote is actually much larger than it looked to me in the pictures.
It's also surprisingly thick. As you can see in the picture above, it fit pretty comfortably in my adult hand. The buttons are soft and rubbery, no click or feedback. There's no backlighting (unlike the nice blue backlighting on the "grown up" remote.)
It's got a large (and BRIGHT) LED indicator on the front to show that a button has been pressed.
Putting batteries in requires a screwdriver, which I personally HATE. It comes with 2 AAA batteries and a small screwdriver, a nice touch since it requires that to open it up.
USAGE:
NOTE that your system must have KEAOS version 4.0+ for the Kids remote functionality to work. This should be on everyone's machines by early October. Kaleidescape pushed it to my machines earlier today so I could test the remote.
As you may have read, Kaleidescape has done something pretty clever with this remote. Simply pressing any button on the Kids Remote cases the onscreen UI to switch immediately into "Children's" mode. While this looks a lot like the regular Cover view, it's simplified by not having pop-up panels to show the movie description.
Aim this remote at your I.R. receiver (or your Kplayer) and hit any button and the system will tell you that Children's mode has been entered. You'll immediately see it switch to the cover view showing a subset of your movies that you have deemed OK for showing to kids. Note that this is NOT done by MPAA ratings, it's completely up to you to pick movies you want to show up in Children's mode.
The first time you use the Kids remote, pressing a button will tell you that the system doesn't have any movies designated to kids, and will then instruct you to go add movies to the new "Children's" collection. (Which of course you can via a regular "adult" remote, or via the web interface.)
If you didn't previously have this collection ("Children"), then one is now created for you, and is empty. You use your web interface or another remote control to add movies to the new Children collection.
Of course, pressing a remote on ANY of your other remotes will cause the player to switch back to normal adult mode.
MORE ON CHILDREN'S MODE:
As stated previously, Children's mode looks like your "Covers" view of movies, but without the blue overlay box to show a movie's description. The remote has typical up/down/left/right buttons to navigate around the Kids mode to select a movie by looking at its cover art. There is NO way to get to a list view, nor to see the description of the movie while in kids mode, but of course if an adult is in the room, you can press the button on one of your "adult" remotes to quickly get to those other views. There's a tiny delay when switching from kids mode to adult mode and back, but it's not annoying at all.
As you (or the kid) navigates around the covers, you have only one choice when you find a movie... and of course that's "play", which does a "Play Movie" command. You don't pull up the metadata view, you can't choose "play disc", etc. But of course it's remarkably easy for a kid... navigate to a cover you want, hit play, that's it. Movie starts right away, in typical Kaleidescape fashion.
While in a movie, you have only "stop" and "pause". That's it. There's no trickplay modes, no "info" overlay... just play or stop. Kids mode, like "regular mode" will remember where you left off in a movie and play from there, though it does let you hit "play" again if you WANT to restart from the beginning.
And that's pretty much it... it just works. There are very few buttons on the remote, and that's the way it should be for a remote for this purpose.
At ANY time, even during movie playback, an adult remote can issue a command like "info" or "disc menu", and the player responds appropriately, but of course you've now exited Kids mode. But it's seamless... no long delays or screen changes. If the Kids remote is used for anything, even just a "play" or "pause" command, then the UI is switched back to kids mode. If you're watching a movie, you won't notice the mode change at all, it's all happening "backstage" beneath the playing movie.
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
Creating this remote, and the new UI tweak that goes with it, was very clever of Kaleidescape. You can now hand a kid their own remote, knowing that even if you HAVEN'T enabled the excellent parental control features, you still will get a "safe" experience for the kids, in a format that even toddlers will be able to quickly operate.
That said, there are some complaints I'd have about the remote (or maybe more accurately these are just suggestions):
First, the remote may be just a tiny bit TOO simple. There's no volume control or TV Power control. (The larger Kaleidescape Remote at least has volume and mute buttons that can be programmed to your display). That means that this remote can't be used solo... someone else must power on the system, set up inputs, and set volume levels before giving a child this remote. Not a big deal, as most customers will have an installer that can program a button somewhere else in the room, or on another control, to power on the system.
That's manageable, but the bigger problem is that Kids Mode and Kids Remote do not have any FF/REW capabilities, nor Chapter+ and Chapter- buttons, nor does it permit any way to interact with the disc or get to tje disc menus.
The big problem with this comes up if your kids like TV shows on DVD. The disc will be played from start to finish, linearly. That it, you can't get to any other area of the disc except by playing the movie straight through in 1x realtime (normal viewing). If it's an episodic disc, you have no choice but to always start at episode 1. (or pick up where you left off). If your kids like a certain Bob the Builder episode, you can't get to it other than starting the disc over and playing the disc until you get to that spot. Remember, there's no FF/REW on this remote either, just "play", "stop" and "pause". Kids who like TV series may find it frustrating that they can't call up the disc menu, nor can they FF or REW, skip chapters, etc. (of course there IS another answer, which is to just pick up your "adult" remote control and get to the right chapter for your kid.)
This also means there's no way to get to bonus materials (which is probably fine for a kids remote), but sometimes there's more content that can only be accessed from a disc menu. This is non-linear content... you'll never find it if you watch a movie straight through, but it's there on the DVD in other chapters. The great 3-disc "Schoolhouse Rock" box set is a good example, there are about dozens of songs that you CAN'T get to without going through a disc menu.
The other way a user could navigate to a TV episode on the "big" remotes is that there's an overlay panel that has an Episodes screen. Again, the kids remote can't do this... there's no "info" overlay possible on this remote.
That said, I'm well aware that adding buttons for "Top Menu", and volume, mute, power, would complicate the remote a tiny bit more, and they clearly wanted to make it bare-bones and simple enough for any toddler.
Personally, I think there could be a simple solution for Kaleidescape, if i'm right and others find this very annoying. The remote has a big "*" button. As far as I can tell, it only does one thing... when in "kids covers" mode to select a movie, the * button causes a shuffle of the covers, just like the Shuffle function does on the big UI. When you're WATCHING a movie, that "*" button does nothing. It's a shame Kaleidescape didn't make the "*" button also do a "Disc Menu" function when you're in a movie, leaving it's normal "cover shuffle" function alone for when you're in movie-selection mode. Maybe they thought this would bother young kids who hit it accidentally and ended up at the DVD menu. But I think parents will find the lack of ANY way to move forward or back, or to get to disc menu slightly frustrating. Maybe a future software rev could fix this.
So overall, it does it's job well, is surprisingly well designed and with a good feel, but you won't be able to put away your "big" remote, even in a room just for kids... you'll constantly be using your other remote to help out your kids with power-on, volume, rewinding to a funny part they want to see again, and with selecting episodes from a TV-on-DVD disc. You WON'T be able to make this the only remote that sits in a guest room or kids rec-room for instance.
But, it's a very clever idea and works well in practice as long as you understand those limitations in what it's intended to do.
--josh
That said, there are some complaints I'd have about the remote (or maybe more accurately these are just suggestions):
First, the remote may be just a tiny bit TOO simple. There's no volume control or TV Power control. (The larger Kaleidescape Remote at least has volume and mute buttons that can be programmed to your display). That means that this remote can't be used solo... someone else must power on the system, set up inputs, and set volume levels before giving a child this remote. Not a big deal, as most customers will have an installer that can program a button somewhere else in the room, or on another control, to power on the system.
That's manageable, but the bigger problem is that Kids Mode and Kids Remote do not have any FF/REW capabilities, nor Chapter+ and Chapter- buttons, nor does it permit any way to interact with the disc or get to tje disc menus.
The big problem with this comes up if your kids like TV shows on DVD. The disc will be played from start to finish, linearly. That it, you can't get to any other area of the disc except by playing the movie straight through in 1x realtime (normal viewing). If it's an episodic disc, you have no choice but to always start at episode 1. (or pick up where you left off). If your kids like a certain Bob the Builder episode, you can't get to it other than starting the disc over and playing the disc until you get to that spot. Remember, there's no FF/REW on this remote either, just "play", "stop" and "pause". Kids who like TV series may find it frustrating that they can't call up the disc menu, nor can they FF or REW, skip chapters, etc. (of course there IS another answer, which is to just pick up your "adult" remote control and get to the right chapter for your kid.)
This also means there's no way to get to bonus materials (which is probably fine for a kids remote), but sometimes there's more content that can only be accessed from a disc menu. This is non-linear content... you'll never find it if you watch a movie straight through, but it's there on the DVD in other chapters. The great 3-disc "Schoolhouse Rock" box set is a good example, there are about dozens of songs that you CAN'T get to without going through a disc menu.
The other way a user could navigate to a TV episode on the "big" remotes is that there's an overlay panel that has an Episodes screen. Again, the kids remote can't do this... there's no "info" overlay possible on this remote.
That said, I'm well aware that adding buttons for "Top Menu", and volume, mute, power, would complicate the remote a tiny bit more, and they clearly wanted to make it bare-bones and simple enough for any toddler.
Personally, I think there could be a simple solution for Kaleidescape, if i'm right and others find this very annoying. The remote has a big "*" button. As far as I can tell, it only does one thing... when in "kids covers" mode to select a movie, the * button causes a shuffle of the covers, just like the Shuffle function does on the big UI. When you're WATCHING a movie, that "*" button does nothing. It's a shame Kaleidescape didn't make the "*" button also do a "Disc Menu" function when you're in a movie, leaving it's normal "cover shuffle" function alone for when you're in movie-selection mode. Maybe they thought this would bother young kids who hit it accidentally and ended up at the DVD menu. But I think parents will find the lack of ANY way to move forward or back, or to get to disc menu slightly frustrating. Maybe a future software rev could fix this.
So overall, it does it's job well, is surprisingly well designed and with a good feel, but you won't be able to put away your "big" remote, even in a room just for kids... you'll constantly be using your other remote to help out your kids with power-on, volume, rewinding to a funny part they want to see again, and with selecting episodes from a TV-on-DVD disc. You WON'T be able to make this the only remote that sits in a guest room or kids rec-room for instance.
But, it's a very clever idea and works well in practice as long as you understand those limitations in what it's intended to do.
--josh
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