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When ccf's started showing up full of great ideas, I knew I was in trouble
and would have to struggle to find time to satisfy my newest addiction, trying
to incorporate those ideas into my ccf.
My original goal when I purchased my Pronto was to consolidate my remotes and have each button clearly labeled so I would be able to remember what it did. My goals have changed over time, especially when I started to realize what can be accomplished with the Pronto. I had given up on the concept that any of my friends could control my overly complicated home theater setup, not to imply they are not bright enough. The complicated nest of inputs makes it difficult to do anything if you don't know what needs to go where. Ivan Luk's ccf convinced me that it was possible with his EZ-DVD controls. I decided that I wanted to have controls setup in such a way that anyone can pick up my remote and operate my equipment. I eventually decided that I want to keep the simple controls so simple that they do the "basic" stuff and nothing more. For example on my EZ-DVD control I don't even have fast forward or rewind. I look at the EZ controls as a way for a total stranger to try and operate my system, if they are going to spend any time with it they can branch out to the controls when they feel comfortable. So far I only have EZ controls for my DVD player, I still plan on adding support for watching cable soon. 
I decided to focus on the devices and controls that I will use every day before the EZ controls. I discovered that I don't really like scrolling between panels that much. I have slowly been discovering which button's I use all the time and re-arranging them so I can minimize my scrolling. This is a continuing effort that normally involves small changes. For example the only thing that really changed between my oldest DVD main panel and my newest is the addition of the Audio button, Headphones macro, and a button that selects the DVD Menu and jumps to my menu navigation panel. That is not including the new graphics that I snagged from Daniel Tonk's ccf of course. 
One of the things that makes watching TV on my system confusing is the way I use inputs. I can watch TV using either of my VCR's, or I can watch using the TV directly. I do quite a bit of time shifting because there are a few days a week where I want to watch two shows that come on at the same time. When it comes time to watch those shows, I end up switching back and forth between my VCR's constantly, and then continue to watch TV on whichever VCR I ended with. That eventually convinced me that I wanted to have one panel that would let me control all my inputs and both my VCR's. This concept grew even more useful when people started coming out with the tabbed interface. I made a couple of Surf devices that had tabs for controlling both vcr's and for surfing by channel icon's. I eventually streamlined it even more with some custom graphics and stealing the idea that the current tab's tab can be used to jump somewhere else. You can see how this has grown over time in the screenshots, and I don't expect that growth to slow down anytime soon. 
There are many areas that I still want to add functionality too. You may notice in my ccf that I don't have a surf device for watching TV using the actual TV or my Panasonic VCR. I would like to add that support. I have been collecting discrete inputs and power button's for a while now and I think I have everything I need to start making some advanced macro's. I can see some neat macro's for helping me control my VCR's for time shifting. I also want to expand my help systems and finish off the EZ menu's. The thing that would help me the most at this point is more screen real estate so I can do more on each screen without things getting crowded. Go back to the Pronto Chronicles main page. |