... Wifi and Bluetooth are more expensive technologies and not standardized, so you're limited in what you can use to control them.....
(sarcasm) Yeah, I really wish those governing bodies that are overseeing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth would hurry up and approve some standards for them....
Not sure what you mean here. I'd agree if you meant that the inconsistency of apps used over your home wi-fi network makes usefulness and usabililty haphazard. Samsung rather quickly (two years) dropped support of my 2012 TV from their Android app, leading me to vow to avoid buying from them again unless their TV was the best in class. (I had a Samsung BD player once upon a time, and a firmware update literally bricked the player, it wouldn't turn on. God bless Costco for taking it back 19 months after purchase.)
How can anyone, esp in this forum, recommend crappy smartphone apps? They have their place - that place is when you need to use a streaming app or configure some complicated nonsense.
But if I'm watching a movie and need to change the volume or inputs or see what source is playing etc, which of these is simpler?
...
This isn't even a debate. The only reason remotes haven't improved is because they know there's nothing consumers can do about it.
Cute. Here's another story.
1. I'm watching a movie with guests. I want to change the tone control, Adaptive DRC, and dialog trim of a movie. Using the remote, this can only be done with a huge on-screen menus, meaning I have to pause the movie and block the image with teh on-screen menus, or....
2. I reach for the nearest iPad, iPad Mini, Nexus 7, or my Nexus 5 phone (or the older iPod Touch that I have kicking around somewhere).
3. I run the Yamaha AV Controller app, set all the options with the app, and no one even knows that I changed anything. (BTW, I don't have to "find it," if I've used it within the last 4 hours it doesn't require unlocking, and the app is in my "recent apps" screen so it's easy to relaunch.)
Here's another story for ya:
1. I'm playing some music on my system, let's say I'm using teh DLNA streaming option on my avr.
2. I can pick up the remote, stand up in the dining area, and aim the remote at the AVR, and hope that more than every other button press is responded to. Oh, wait, the remote isn't near me, I have to go find it. Sofa? No. Coffee table? No. Hmm. By the TV? Ah, there it is where my daughter left it.
3. I can touch my iPad Mini, which is open next to me at the dining table, browse the folders on my NAS music share, and start playing one.
4. The phone rings. I need to pause the music. Instead of trying to find the remote somewhere in the living room, I just tap pause, stop, or mute on my iPad Mini sitting next to me and take the call.
One more
1. I'm upstairs, done with showering, getting dressed. I'd like some music playing.
2. I open the app on my phone, turn the AVR on, select Pandora, select the channel I want playing.
3. The music is already playing before I put my phone down.
I'll admit that some manufacturers are better than others. My Panasonic BD player apps still work, and the player is ancient (BDT-215). The Yamaha app is superb, very well designed and programmed, and still supports my RXV-775. I already mentioned the runt of the litter, Samsung.
I couldn't agree more with this statement, but would add that when watching a movie in the dark, want to up or lower the volume a little bit, up pops the bright screen to distract myself and anyone watching with me from the movie.
Have you actually done this? All my devices have automatic brightness control, so the "bright screen" isn't really so bright. But I'll admit, if I only want to tweak the volume, the IR remote is easy and unobtrusive (if I have on-screen feedback messages turned off, which I do).
\\ Sent from my mobile device //