The Lost Remote - ruminations on redundant controls...

"I can't tell you how many times I lose my remote and then can't navigate through the initial screen of a DVD because there are no buttons on the console."

My old buddy, Tony Springer, has a good point - most DVD players and home theaters don't have those pesky directional-navigation controls needed to get from here (disc insertion) to there (movie playing). Sure, most people are going to use remote controls most of the time - but those few other times, it's a pain to not even have the choice!

So what's the design logic here? Is there any?? Let's consider some evidence:

-The TV set can pretty much be completely controlled from the unit itself, if needed. Power, channels, volume, inputs, menu... even, in many cases, that elusive directional navigator!

-The DVD player does have some controls (power, volume, play, stop, forward/back, source), but not enough to get by.

-Tivo, the category-defining and famously-delightful-to-use DVR, has no buttons at all on the unit! And yet, no complaints about it...

The conclusion I'm coming to is that the suggestion of on-unit control guides the expectation of control. The buttons on the TV and DVD player suggest to user that they can be controlled without the remote; the TV lives up to the suggestion, so there are no complaints. The Tivo, with no buttons, offers no suggestion of on-unit control, so there's no expectation, and no disappointment. Only the DVD player makes a promise that it doesn't keep!