lcd, remoteWe're looking into buying two large (46") flatscreen LCDs for a conference room... one will be used to connect to a laptop to show the speaker's slides, and the other will be used for video conferencing.
I've always hated infrared remote controls. They're slow, annoying, unreliable, and if you have two TVs next to each other, they interfere with one another.
Is anyone making LCD panels that can be used with bluetooth or RF or something better than infrared yet?
The Vizio VF552XVT (review | manufacturer) seems to have a bluetooth remote:
includes unique Bluetooth remote with slide-out QWERTY keyboard
At 55" it may be too large for your needs, but maybe something in the same series?
Edit: the same manufacturer has a range of other screens around the 47" size; some of which (xvt473sv, sv472xvt) seem to include the bluetooth remote. I don't have one of these, so this is not a direct recommendation. But in answer to the question: yes, there are manufacturers who are moving away from infrared.
Take a look at this RF base station and this example of one of the RF/IR remotes that work with it from the imaginatively named Universal Remote Control. It's still IR to the monitor, but you install the emitter close to the receiver which will solve the interference problem. The base has 15 channels so you can have one remote control devices in multiple rooms. Plus one base can control up to six identical devices, so if they can be reached by the 10 foot emitter cable one base is all you need. I haven't used their products so I can't give you any review. The only RF remotes I've used were proprietary so my experience is not very broad.
By the way, the slowness you've experienced is just as likely the device's (TV, DVD, etc.) fault as it is the IR communication. IR remotes all function similarly, but I've seen devices that respond snappily and others that respond sluggishly.
My new Samsung Galaxy Android mobile phone comes with an app called "TV QWERTY Remote Control" for controlling Samsung TVs via WiFi (it's not in the Android app store, seems to be Samsung only, so I can't give a link).
It only works with the higher end "Internet@TV" Samsung models that have an ethernet connection, but it does at least show that manufacturers are looking at better ways to do this.
The Philips IR RC-5 code was designed to distinguish between two TVs, and indeed my parents owned a set that could be set up to act as TV1 or TV2. That's still IR, but no interferences as remote A would then only work with screen A, and B only with B.
As for directional issues: I love the idea of NextGen's battery transmitter, which enhances IR with RF by just replacing the normal remote's batteries. :-) I've never used it though, and it would still require you to put the IR emitter onto the IR receiver of the TV set. To control multiple TVs of the same brand you'd even need two sets†, but the technique is just too nice not to mention it:
It turns out that each IR command issued by your remote also produces a small amount of RF leakage that "looks" just like the IR command. So the transceiver handles the task of sniffing out this wimpy RF signal and forwarding it to the base station, effectively making your IR remote into an RF remote.
† According to the FAQ: The reason for the two frequencies is to allow you to be able to have the RF extender on two of the exact same brand devices without having interference.
I still remember the sonic powered remote, with only two buttons, from ages ago, that I discovered worked via sound when I was playing with some pennies, and the clink of penny on penny started changing channels on me.
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