One important area for addressing your media within the home will be the ability to operate computer that is holding your hundreds of films, thousands of music tracks and endless media sources will be the remote control. Clearly you will not want to be forced to use a keyboard and mouse.
Many companies are starting to bring out products that address this market and SnapStream Media have released a product this week that they originally announced at the start 2004.
The ‘Firefly’ remote integrates with more than 80 popular digital media applications like Microsoft Windows Media Player, online music download service Musicmatch, DivX, WinDVD and SnapStream’s own Beyond TV.
The remote has many buttons on it including five programmable media buttons provide instant access to music, TV, video, photos or DVD applications. For programs that it cannot directly control it has a ‘Mouse Mode’
By using Radio Frequencies (RF) the remote can transmit signals through walls and up to 30 feet away. It comes with its own media center software, SnapStream Media’s Beyond Media that has been designed with a ’10-foot user interface’, meaning that it has been designed to be used for easy viewing and across-the-room control.
Currently it is only available through the snapstream online store for $49.
Remotes are going to be a hot market and we understand from one of the market leaders that there are some special things in the pipeline for later in the year.