Amulet Remote Opinions?

[Crispy]

I'm interested in the Amulet Remote does anyone use one and what are your opinion of the device.

I was always put off by Amulet's design of their Music, Video and Movies Hubs but the new MyMovies integration sounds very interesting.

[holidayboy]

Hopefully Stuart (cw-kid) will pop in at some point, I know he uses one.

[Crispy]

Yeah I was fishing for Stuart's reply...

BTW Rob which remote do you use?

[holidayboy]

I'm using a gyration media center remote for my main HTPC

Yes, I know, it doesn't have 'volume punch through' when in PC mode!

For my uses though, it works brilliantly.

In the bedroom I just use the old MS remote - perfection as far as I'm concerned

Edit:

I also get a lot of use out of my wp7 by using both Meteor and the Media Center Remote app.

[Crispy]

Yeah my MS Remote is getting moved to the kitchen. I agree it's simple and superb.
I'm hoping Mango and a new app update will make Meteor more useful to me.

[cw-kid]

I'm interested in the Amulet Remote does anyone use one and what are your opinion of the device.

I was always put off by Amulet's design of their Music, Video and Movies Hubs but the new MyMovies integration sounds very interesting.

You don't have to use the custom Amulet Media Center add-in user interface. You can use the Amulet voice remote to play music for example from the native Media Center Music Library.

Voice recognition is never 100% but overall its not too bad. The new My Movies integration is much better now, but still not completed and I know they are hoping to make it better and tweak it more.

I don't have allot of time right now I have to go out, but I will try to answer any of your questions about the Amulet remote, so just leave your questions below.

[cw-kid]

With Amulet if you say "go to music" it takes you to Amulet's custom Media Center add-in and their Music UI. But if you say "go to my music" it opens the native Media Center Music library instead, you can then say things like play artist "artist name" or play album "album name" or play some "genre name" and it will start playing.

Biggest problem I have is remembering all the voice commands as there are allot of them especially if you want to use Amulet with live TV and the guide. As I don't use my Amulet everyday some times I forget some voice commands and have to look them up again.

You can also add custom voice commands in to Amulet so I have added custom commands to launch all my 3rd party Media Center add-ins such as TunerFree MCE, My Movies, Radio Time etc. So now if I say "go to my movies" it launches the My Movies add-in.

The remote control itself is just IR and the button clicks can be quiet loud on the directional arrows and OK button, its well constructed and of good quality. To charge it up you need to connect a usb cable a charging cradle would have been nice. You can use the remote to control other devices like turn your TV on and off but it is not a full on proper universal remote control like a Harmony.

If you want voice control of Media Center I would recommend Amulet and they now have software for the XBOX Kinect as well which for me personally would be better than having the Amulet remote handset as I mainly use my Harmony remote.

You can train the Amulet remote with your voice and there are profiles for each person who is using the remote, each one should go through the training process. So you can say "who is this?" and it says my name but if you press the profile button you can switch to the wifes profile for example. You can also say things like "what time is it?" and Amulet will tell you the time which is handy as I have no clocks in my room. Best thing I have done with it is to integrate Amulet in to my Z-Wave lighting so I can say things like "Lights on" and the lights in the room come on.

Amulet is great for showing off to your mates when they are round but it is a bit of a gimmick although for the most part it works well but can be frustrating when you say one thing and it bring up something completely different this happens some times.

Eddy Carroll at Amulet is my contact there, he is very quick to answer any questions, fix bugs and even offer advice on integration with other stuff like my lights for example. If you are beta testing your suggestions and comments are taken seriously and can be implemented in to the product, overall Amulet are a good company and listen to their users wants and requests.

I hope that has given you some insight and that you decide to purchase an Amulet MCE remote.

[Crispy]

Thanks Stuart for your informative and level opinion. I've managed to get a Harmony One cheap although my better half finds it daunting.

I did see the Amulet's Kinect video demonstration and it looked really good and I'd like to support the developer.

I'll keep an eye on Amulet's development and if they decide to ship to the UK I may well be tempted.