We’ve been touting our “LG CINEMA 3D” concept for a few years now, and one of the details that makes our user experience genuinely unique has been the Magic Remote. Dismiss that moniker as a hyperbole if you will, but when used correctly, this remote control really does start to feel like a magic wand, and it remains one of the only remotes currently on the market to incorporate a microphone, which opens up a world of possibilities. Speaking to your TV to ask for what you want? Yep.
A completely redesigned Magic Remote will accompany our CINEMA 3D Smart TV lineup for 2013, and we’re talking it up out at CES 2013 this week. It’s now enhanced with new Natural Language Recognition software, intended to make voice commands easier, more familiar and best of all, more accurate. The Magic Remote will continue to give users four different but complementary control options: Voice, Gesture, Point and Wheel.
The Point feature essentially turns the LG Magic Remote into an extension of the user’s hand, a lot like a motion-sensitive videogame controller, with an onscreen cursor. Wheel control is perfect for scrolling up and down through web pages or for zooming in/out within apps. With predetermined remote Gestures, viewers can quickly pull up frequently-used menus or perform common functions. We can even switch to a favorite TV channel just by drawing the number in the air, for example. How cool is that?
Granted, not every CE device out there is compatible with this magical interface right out of the box, but we still found a way to use our über-control as a universal remote. With HDMI-CEC, a host of HDMI-connected gear (set-top boxes, sound bars, Blu-ray players) can now be operated with just the LG Magic Remote, via the Smart TV onscreen interface, after a fairly quick setup process.
The redesigned Magic Remote comes in two models. A premium Magic Remote, included with our high-end Cinema 3D Smart TVs, boasts easy-to-read LED-backlit buttons–always welcome in a darkened home theater–and a slimmer, more comfortable overall form factor. The most commonly used buttons on both the premium and the more basic model Magic Remote (included with our standard Cinema 3D Smart TVs) have been regrouped for more intuitive control.
So that’s one less distraction to come between you and your TV watching.
