I have been using/fine tuning remote buddy a lot lately and got some ideas about changes that would make the experience even better. Hope you like the suggestions :)

I think it would be useful if all the key mappings should be available in the item library such as “record” in EyeTV, and all menu items should be available as key mappings, such as the “music browser“ in iTunes etc.

You should be able to rename all menu elements, including “TV stations” and “Recordings”.

“Hide menu” should not be the first item in context menus. I never use it, so it would be nice not to have to skip it every time I need to select another item. It’s just an extra unnecessary press on the remote. Maybe it should be optional to have it in the context menu.

“Force quit” should not be the last item in the context menu. I use quit a lot more than force quit, so “quit” should be easier to acces (fewer presses) than force quit.

The remote buddy preferences window should be resizable. When using a lower res display (720p) the “use” and “close” buttons in the preferences>mappings>custom actions pane is behind the Dock and not accessible.

When creating a custom action including an applescript, a new window should appear for entering and editing the Applescript. Right now you can only see a small part of the applescript at a time due to the very narrow sourcecode text field.

The native sleep command/menu item in remote buddy should check to see if EyeTV is recording and then show a dialog with an option to “Sleep anyway” or “Cancel”. This way you can safely put the mac to sleep without having to close Plex and check to see if EyeTV is recording.

Right now I’m using a custom action that runs this applescript as a workaround.

___ 
tell application "EyeTV" 
if is_recording then 
display dialog "EyeTV still recording" with icon caution giving up after 5 
else 
delay 1 
tell application "System Events" to sleep 
end if 
end tell 
____

I hope you like the ideas. I really enjoy using RemoteBuddy and wouldn’t recommend anyone building a mac based media center without it. Keep up the good work. 

I really think I gave you some constructive criticism and good ideas and I still can't help but to be interested in your thoughts on these ideas? 
I wouldn't mind paying for an upgrade to RemoteBuddy 2.0. if some of these improvements were incorporated. I know you can't promise what will be in future realeases, but even big companies such as Spotify sometimes answer in their forums that they're considering something, or planning to implement something at some point, or say why they're not. And you have the benefit of having direct contact with your users and being the engineer and CEO at the same time.

many thanks 
Open Mind 

I do read and think about all the feedback I get - and am extremely thankful for it. Remote Buddy today wouldn't be what it is without it.

What I can't do any longer, however - and I regret this myself - is to give direct feedback in the form of "that's already in the making" or "I'll add this to a future version and put it on the todo list for now". In the past I've never done so if it wasn't actually the fact or - respectively - it was my honest intention at the time to implement that feature in the future.

Yet, there was a number of problems with providing such feedback:

1) Today's world isn't static. It's dynamic and changes every day - at an increasing pace. To respond to changes, development goals and priorities need to be flexible - and what might have looked like a promising idea for a new feature yesterday may already have become irrelevant tomorrow. I need the flexibility to shift priorities and goals quickly if necessary to still be in business tomorrow.

2) It raises expectations. Even if I just say that I put an idea on the todo list, most people will expect it to arrive in a release coming soon (or very, very soon). Some people (even those who haven't asked the question themselves and just read about it) can become very brisk and insulting if "their" feature takes too long to implement in their eyes - or if it had to be removed from the todo list because of recent developments (=> see 1). This has taken the form of personal insults, slander and bad reviews with the intention to hurt the product and my reputation in the past.

That's why I usually no longer share any information in advance or provide any direct feedback related to future features or products unless a release with a completed implementation of a certain feature is imminent. Over the past years, this has worked far better than my previous, more open approach.

That said, again, thanks for your feedback. I'm just sorry I can't return the favor and give you mine.

Best regards, 
Felix Schwarz 

I'm sorry you have had such a bad experience with being open about your intentions in the past. It's a shame really, cause if I knew why you didn't like an idea or didn't see the use for a certain feature, then I would be able to explain better, modify the implementation or come up with a better alternative. But as long as you read the feedback/ideas and consider if it would improve the user experience and make users happy, then it's ok - I guess it's understandable. Also feel free tro answer in a PM if you don't want to make any promises in the forum. It is still way nicer to get a comment, than no comment, even when it's not actually feedback.

Keep up the good work - and congrats on being available on the Mac App Store.

Thanks