I’ve looked around and tested the b-rad firmware. Indeed, the navigation to content is the same.
Is my question so unique? Or is it simply not possible (which I doubt, it can’t be that hard) ?
Is it possible to program a Harmony with all these steps??
You’re not the only one who has been thinking along these lines - the UI is *badly* in need of some polish in several areas, this being just one of them. And - at least with a Harmony 880 - you can’t make the remote jump through that many hoops. The best I’ve been able to do with mine is to get it to default to the Video menu at power-on, but you still have to do a lot of drill-down to get to where the media actually *is*.
Actually, I think you can program ANY Harmony with the right steps, you just have to know what you’re doing.
I’ve done it with the Harmony One but I’m pretty sure the interface for all the Harmony units is the same. If you have troubles, just ask at the Logitech site.
Designing UI is an art form and, unforutnately, most engineers don’t have those kinds of sensibilities. I worked in the industry for three decades and was mostly a UI specialist. I wish the Live/Plus was a lot better but trust me, it could be worse. Much worse.
Actually, I think you can program ANY Harmony with the right steps, you just have to know what you’re doing.
I’ve done it with the Harmony One but I’m pretty sure the interface for all the Harmony units is the same. If you have troubles, just ask at the Logitech site.
So what you’re saying is that rather than WD improving the UI, responsibility for improvement should be pushed off to a third-party remote control?
Here’s the thing: you can make the remote perform just about any sequence of keypresses after powering the unit up that you want. However, all of those keypresses are timing-dependent in the sense that one delay in the Live’s boot sequence will throw the whole sequence out of whack. The biggest variable in the chain of events: detecting network shares.
The UI needs help. Compared to Plex, XBMC, Popbox, or the Seagate media players, it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of usability.
They ALL have their eccentricities, and have their own devotees and detractors.
It’s a matter of finding the device YOU like (the UI is certainly no mystery if any of the reviews are read, YouTube demos are viewed, or the documentation read. Its function should not come as a surprise…)
A restructured UI would please some, and annoy others… Just the nature of anything “Subjective.”
I have both a WDTV Live and an Xtreamer. I already owned a TVix 6500A (which I sold and bought a WDTV Live as replacement).
Xtreamer has a Favorites menu, TVix 6500A allowed me to customize the default folder for music, video and photos.
WDTV Live GUI is nice (but ordinary) - its usability is TERRIBLE. Every time I use WDTV Live, I deeply miss a Favorites menu (as Xtreamer) or the possibility to set the default folder for Music/Video/Photos (as my old TVix6500A). I also miss the possibility to launch the settings menu without having to go back to home screen (all other media players I know allow the configurations GUI to be launched without the need to go back to the home screen).
Honestly I believe that WD could do much better with their line of WDTV products. Sometimes it seems that they are not taking the WDTV product line as seriously as their mass storage business…
