Snapstream's $50 Firefly remote control lets you access music, photos, and movies on your living-room PC without leaving your couch. However, while it has some interesting features, too few current PC applications lend themselves to remote control.
Firefly comes with the Beyond Media Basic software package, which includes rudimentary apps for controlling video, music, and photos (oddly, you need your own software DVD player). With an interface that you can read from 10 feet away, the software supports approximately 80 third-party multimedia programs, plus SnapStream's excellent BeyondTV 3 personal video recorder software.
Beyond Media also includes SnapStream Spotlight, a feature that lets you browse online partner sites for movies, music, and news. Spotlight worked decently, although I found moving between the free and fee-based services a tad unintuitive.
But the big problem with Firefly (and other PC remotes) is that PC apps have too many features to control with a remote. Programs with relatively simple interfaces, such as Blaze Video's BlazeDVD, worked well; but with more complicated apps, such as Musicmatch, I often had to use Firefly's Mouse mode to click buttons awkwardly.
For now, I think I'll stick to a wireless mouse and keyboard when accessing my media from afar.
Tom Mainelli
