WholeHome

Lots of new boxes out there including the Cisco PNG200 (which I’m afraid I slammed a bit a couple posts back) that are using the new XMP protocol – INCLUDING some of the new Motorola HD boxes that Comcast is handing out. In the wake of the “silent launch” a couple of things everyone really should be aware of.

1) XMP is SUPER tight on timing – Uh, but who cares?? – ANYONE who uses a universal remote because most off the shelf equipment is not capable of reading and reproducing those codes. Normal learning remotes reproduce within about 2-5% tolerance. It takes at least 1% to make XMP work. (again, in my humble opinion, stupid on the part of the manufacturer).

2) Two-Way protocols are a nice idea, with higher end remotes, you could get show or song info on your remote, you could get new IR codes loaded into your remote and other cool whiz-bang ideas but think about that for a second. You are sitting on the couch and want to change the channel – you pick up the remote and briefly point it at the TV, sometimes not even long enough for the TV to see the code thrown at it and you have to try again. Now consider that to get any kind of meaningful data you would have to consciously point the remote at your set top box for long periods of time to get data back 10, 20, 30 seconds or more.. Remeber the old “loading the program on your apple or TI home computer from casette tape?” Yeah I think you get my point.

3) Good news – Motorola figured out how bad this would all be and made their box “dual code capable” – at least the one I got will process both the new XMP protocol (the grey Comcast remotes) as well as the traditional learnable codes (Silver Comcast remotes). BIG thank-you to Mot.

Looking for thoughts and opinions on XMP and how it applies to how you use home entertainment. Anyone want to share?