Previously published in the SA Magazine Issue 4.
Now that we have everything set up to enjoy our media, its time to look at remote controls. There are two iPhone remotes, Boxee Remote and Rowmote plus the Apple Remote that used to come with new Macs. You can also use a bluetooth keyboard, or share your keyboard from another computer via Teleport.
Boxee Remote
If you are using the media center software, Boxee, you may want to take a look at Boxee Remote for your iPhone. It is a free app.
Boxee works just fine using your mouse and keyboard, or even your Apple remote, but Boxee Remote is the Boxee ideal remote. The remote gives you full controls over Boxee, even has a volume slider, and when needed, a keyboard for text input.
The remote has two modes. Buttons and gesture. Buttons are just buttons, but gesture is kind of neat. For play/pause you tap the boxee icon. For anything else, you drag the icon. If you want to scroll down through your media, drag the icon down and hold. The further down you drag it, the faster it will scroll. It also works the same way when you are watching something and you want to fast forward or rewind.
When you need to search Hulu or Netflix for a specific show, it’s easy with the Boxee Remote. Whenever a text box appears in Boxee, a keyboard appears on your iPhone, allowing you to type in your desired show.
There is also a Now Playing button that will show you a screen shot of what is currently playing in Boxee. The screenshot is usually the thumbnail of the currently playing item. This view also has a show timeline at the top, allowing you to scrub through whatever you are watching.
Rowmote
Since Boxee Remote only works with Boxee, we need something else for those of us that use Plex. Rowmote behaves exactly like the Apple Remote does. Before it will work properly, you need to download and install a free Rowmote Helper app. Once installed, you can load up Rowmote on your iPhone, and you’ll be greeted with what looks somewhat like the Apple Remote on your iPhone.
One of the nice things about Rowmote is that isn’t just for Plex and Boxee, it can also control several other apps on your computer. Switching between apps is fairly easy, just hit the Applications button and you can immediately switch to those apps and control them. If they aren’t running, taping the Menu buttons will open that app.
The Rowmote buttons placement is well done, with the play button resting right below your thumb. You can also enable some clickety-feedback to know when you’ve pressed a button. While Rowmote comes in at a cheap $0.99, it doesn’t feature any keyboard support which is helpful while navigating Plex. That’s where newly released Rowmote Pro ($4.99) comes in. It’s for keyboard support as well as a landscape mode. I haven’t tested Rowmote Pro yet, so take the dev’s word for it.
Apple Remote
Chances are that if you bought a new Mac between winter 2005 and March 2009, you have one of these. If you don’t have an iPod Touch or iPhone and don’t plan on getting one, this is probably your best choice. It’s simple and gets the job done. There’s no ‘wake-up’ time, no battery issues, you can throw it around, it has only one single purpose, and the hardware button accents allow you to control everything without looking down at what you’re tapping on.
What the Apple Remote cannot do however, is operate without line of sight. It also doesn’t have any keyboard for searching media, and cannot be used to bring up apps like Plex or Boxee without additional hacks.
My choice
If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, I’d highly recommend Evan Schoenberg’s Rowmote. It’s only $0.99, so it is very affordable. If you’re a regular Plex user, and know that you need the keyboard support, Rowmote Pro will surely be a better choice. While the Boxee Remote is very nice, it only works with Boxee (while it does it very well but I don’t use Boxee). I on the other hand have two Apple Remotes, one paired to my iMac and one paired to the Mini, and have found myself using the Apple Remote the most. With the hardware remote, I don’t have to worry about where my iPhone is, or if I’m using my iPhone, I don’t need to stop what I’m doing to control Plex. However, a combination of Rowmote and Apple Remote is what drives my media center experience.
[img via Flickr]
