Amulet_remote_plus_usb.jpg

Hands On: The Amulet Remote

By on November 21, 2010 in News, Remote Control Reviews, Reviews

Introduction

I’m a guy.  Being a guy, I have developed an addiction to those almighty devices called Remote Controls.  With a remote in my hand, I am the master of my destiny.  Or least of the current media device I am using.

Gosh, what the heck did I do before there were remotes?  Perhaps, as they say, ignorance was bliss.  That was then and this is now.  Which brings us to the Amulet Remote.

Amulet remote plus usb thumb Hands On: The Amulet Remote

What is so special about the Amulet Remote?  2 things.  Looking at the following picture, you may find one is obvious and one is perhaps not.

Amulet Chrome thumb Hands On: The Amulet Remote

The Amulet Remote is a

  • Voice-activated remote (not so obvious)
  • Windows Media Center remote (I assume you saw the WMC button?)

Little did the makers of this device know when they sent me one of these is that I am an excellent person to check out how well the voice recognition routines work, as I have a tendency to slur my words together a bit, as in I talk too fast!  If it recognizes my voice commands, it will recognize yours.  Assuming you speak English.

Unboxing the Amulet Remote

This device comes in a descriptive retail package, as seen below.

am1 thumb Hands On: The Amulet Remoteam2 thumb Hands On: The Amulet Remote

The remote comes nicely cushioned/protected inside.

am3 thumb Hands On: The Amulet Remote

Once removed, you find the hardware

am6 thumb Hands On: The Amulet Remote

which consists of a voice-recognition dongle and a *rechargeable* battery on the left, the remote, and a USB charging cable on the right.

Next, we have the documentation and installation CD,

am4 thumb Hands On: The Amulet Remote

and a closer look at the voice command summary sheets.

am5 thumb Hands On: The Amulet Remote

Finally, to get an idea of size and look, I lined up a few of the remotes I have lying around.  From left to right, we have a basic WMC remote, the Amulet remote, and a pair of Logitech remotes.

am7 thumb Hands On: The Amulet Remote

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About Jim Clark

Hello. I’m from the heartland of the U.S. Lots of corn and beans, although Iowa is a lot more than just farmland. It also has a few computer enthusiasts (no, not me!). I’ve been around PCs since I got my 1st PC XT aloooong time ago. WGS is one of the first sites I found centered around WHS. And the best. Every once in awhile, I do get away from the KB and enjoy time with and my wife and our 4 kids. And I do have a day job.
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  • http://www.amuletdevices.com/ EddyC

    Hi Jim,

    Thanks for a very thorough review. I'd like to comment on a few points that you mentioned:

    The Volume Mixer is opened any time Amulet speaks a voice response; we use it to lower the Media Center volume temporarily to allow Amulet's voice to be heard even when loud music or video is playing. If you're running Media Center fullscreen on a HTPC, the mixer should be invisible. This feature can be disabled, if you wish, by turning off the "Adjust Volume While Talking" option on the Amulet Settings page.

    You mentioned that more feedback for unrecognized commands would be helpful. This is trickier than it might seem. There is a fine line between random sounds heard through the microphone when it is active, and genuine commands which have not been understood for some reason.

  • Sirandar

    Sad that the devs didn't think a little bit more. The remote needs to be RF based for both the buttons and the voice. As it is my web cam, 5 year old ATI Remote Wonder ,and Vox Commando is far superiour to this

  • http://www.amuletdevices.com Steve

    there's just a week and a bit left to enter the free giveaway for a remote on the AmuletDevices web site. http://www.amuletdevices.com/index.php/General/45…

  • http://www.amuletdevices.com/ Eddy

    Hi Sirander, you can use the Amulet remote with VoxCommando also – James Richards has more info about this on the VoxCommando forum at http://voxcommando.com/forum/index.php?topic=324…. did consider using RF instead of IR for the buttons, but decided against it. We wanted to the Amulet remote to act as a general Media Center remote replacement without requiring any additional hardware or drivers (which it does). We also wanted to avoid reducing battery life unnecessarily.__

  • http://voxcommando.com james richards

    I have tried a number of microphones, wired, wireless, headset and open air with VoxCommando. So far the most practical solution that I have found is the Amulet.

    I must agree though that the IR remote leaves something to be desired (all ir remotes do) and I hope that for version 3 of the Amulet remote you will seriously consider going the RF route. If it is just a matter of using a slightly bigger battery, or my having to plug my remote in a little more often, I think it is worth it. I still find myself reaching for my ps3 bluetooth remote because it is so responsive and I don't have to worry about pointing it in the right direction.

    I also think that the keymap buttons (at the very bottom of the remote) would be a lot more useful if they would light up to indicate what mode you are in.