A common complaint is that people don't want to look down at the screen every time they change a setting. From the looks of user activity at RemoteCentral, the Proton line has gathered a wide following of geeks who have become enthralled with designing custom button interfaces for the LCD screens. Users can store their configurations on their hard drives to make changes and tweaks to their interface. As more people have mastered the esoteric features of the Proton-Edit design program, they have begun uploading their completed button templates and code bases to Web sites for others to copy. Each of the multiple screens can be customized.
Artwork can be uploaded to the unit.
Logos can be stuck on the soft buttons of the LCD so that your children's favorite cable stations, for example, can be isolated for one-click access. But this was the first customizable remote on the market, and it continues to be the most popular. With so many options, confusion can displace convenience. Ken Askew of San Francisco, a frequent contributor to high-end stereo and entertainment center publications, recalls the introduction six years ago of a Sony prototype remote that was supposed to do it all. It was an egg-shaped orb containing a gyroscope, and users were supposed to handle it like a mouse, navigating through options by tilting it and pressing buttons.