Philips SRM7500 SideShow Remote: ‘Soooo Close,’ But Not Quite There

It seems that the Windows SideShow remote is not dead after all, even after Ricavision ceased development of such a product.

Our resident Media Center geek Derek Flickinger stumbled across a SideShow remote on Amazon.com – the Philips SRM7500 Windows Media Center remote.

He paid $68 (free shipping) for the device, which was originally supposed to sell for $199.

SideShow technology allows little bits of data from a Windows Vista PC to be accessed from a lightweight display, even while the computer is hibernating. Many gadgets have been written for Sideshow, allowing users to access RSS feeds, weather reports, home automation, playlists and the like.

The Philips SRM7500 is a SideShow-enabled bi-directional IR/RF remote (it comes with a USB receiver). It's universal, with support for up to six devices, and has IR learning capabilities.

And, it's a Windows Media Center remote with "some promising extra capabilities," Flickinger reports.

A small screen at the top of the remote displays music that is loaded on a (nearby) Vista PC.

Flickinger, who has written a white paper on SideShow technology, was surprised to learn from the user manual (really?!) that the metadata technology in the Philips remote is in fact SideShow.

"I loaded up the Windows SideShow Gadgets for Windows Media Center and Voila!" Flickinger says.

Here's Flickinger's take on the product:

They do have a GAME device available in their codes and Microsoft is listed as one of them.

It does turn off the Xbox via IR when you add the device using their "auto code find" process.

However, several of the buttons are not functioning correctly, especially the BACK button, which is crucial.

The color buttons at the bottom do not work either, but I think they can be learned individually and I will try doing that from the 360 remote.

Unfortunately, it does not look like you can save the configuration out to the PC, so one would need to go through the whole process for each new remote.

The [Media Center] Green Button does not load the Windows Media Center experience when in the GAME mode. It drops you back into the PC mode (and it cannot be changed).

There also is not a MENU button available for the SideShow implementation, which limits some of the navigation a little bit.

Flickinger, the perennial SideShow maven, laments, "Oh sooooo close…."



So is SideShow dead? Crestron, Interlink, Lagotek and others have touted the technology over the past couple of years.

Ikanos even created technology to turn an iPhone into a SideShow-enabled device.

But none of those solutions has gained traction.

The Future of SideShow

So is SideShow dead?

"Actually, quite the opposite," says Flickinger. "The strategy seems unclear to me, but their message is pretty strong."

He points to the recent Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in November, where SideShow had a session of its own (Windows SideShow: Building Better Devices and PCs; 1.2 MB). It appears that Microsoft is gearing up for SideShow to be incorporated into settop boxes. Also, SideShow is getting support for touchscreens and IP (versus just Bluetooth).

"With the inclusion of touch and IP now, I think we are going to see the proliferation start to happen," Flickinger says.

In the WinHEC presentation, Microsoft's Dan Polivy noted that there currently are 146 gadgets written for SideShow, including Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and eBay auction watcher.

Microsoft now offers white papers on building SideShow devices for televisions/settop boxes, PC gaming displays, cordless phones and home automation devices.

According to Microsoft, the top "usage scenarios" for SideShow are viewing email, receiving calendar reminders and viewing contacts (see below).


Chart courtesy of Microsoft