Imagine the following. It's 8:00pm, and you've just finished watching Jeopardy. When you change channels so you can take in The Office, suddenly the screen fills with snow and the speakers fill with static. You try other buttons, other channels, but there's nothing but snow and static. Oh well, might as well watch a DVD. You put a disc in the player, but there's still just snow and static.

If you're a technological type, you know what to do next. If not, it's time for desperate measures. You pick up the phone and call a technological friend.

The problem is simple, and so is the solution. You used the TV remote to change channels, instead of the remote for your cable or satellite set-top box. That caused the TV to change inputs to its built-in tuner from the one to which the set-top box is connected. But there's no signal coming into the tuner, hence all the snow and static, no matter what channel you tune in. The solution: use the TV remote to switch back to the input for the set-top box - maybe something like "HDMI 1." Now the TV is getting a signal from the box, and all is right in the world. But for many people, this solution wouldn't be at all obvious.

Keep it simple: Yamaha's new neoHD media controllers are a brand-new class of product, groundbreaking in many respects, intended for people who find home theatre complicated. The neoHd takes control of whole entertainment system. It replaces a coffee table full of complicated remote controls with one tiny, super-simple zapper, and guides you to the activities you want through well-designed onscreen menus.

The neoHD is a handsome component with an attractively minimalist design. Inside are amplifiers for powering the speakers, the surround-sound decoder, and circuitry for controlling the entire entertainment system. On the front is a large volume control, and on the top are a few buttons that duplicate those on the remote, so that you can use the neoHD even if the remote has slipped between the couch cushions.

There are two versions: the standard YMC-500 at CDN$600, and the YMC-700, which I tested (shown at top of story). For CDN$900, the YMC-700 adds built-in Wi-Fi networking so it can receive Internet radio and stream content from a PC over a home network. Otherwise, it's the same as the standard model, which Yamaha expects will be more popular. Speakers and cables are extra.

The neoHD comes with infrared (IR) "wands": long wires with a plug at one end that connects to jacks on the back of the neoHD, and IR emitters on the other that fit over the remote-control sensors on as many as four A/V components. The neoHD receives commands from the supplied simplified remote, then "translates" them and relays them to the component it needs to control. It can operate TVs; game consoles; Blu-ray, DVD and CD players. There's also an optional iPod dock and Bluetooth receiver, the latter for wirelessly receiving music from a Bluetooth device such as an iPad or smartphone.

Does the neoHD take all complexity out of home theatre? Not completely. This first-generation product has a couple of mild design flaws that affect some functions - though not necessarily the core ones. More fundamentally, any technology has inherent complexities that just can't be eliminated. Also, making something simpler often increases the number of steps needed to do something; and that's the case here.

Setup

Yamaha made a valiant effort to make it possible for anyone to install the neoHD. The first thing you see when you unpack the box is a Quick Start poster, with well-written and well-illustrated instructions for hooking everything up. This includes a Connection Planning chart that helps you figure out what jacks to use for your TV, cable box, DVD player, game console and other components. Every area of the Quick Start poster has page references to the excellent manual, for situations where more information is necessary.

Get wired: The poster may make connection easier, but it doesn't make it easy. For one thing, the user has to cut speaker wires to the appropriate length and strip the ends so that the copper conductor can be inserted into the speaker terminals on the back of the neoHD and on the speakers themselves. If you want full-blown surround sound, you need five speakers plus a subwoofer; but you can also use the neoHD for two-channel stereo (and simulated surround) with two speakers and a sub.

Trickier still is the requirement to stick the infrared emitters onto all your components. They need to be placed directly in front of the little IR sensors that receive remote-control commands. You can't tell where to stick the things by looking at the components; because in almost all cases, the sensor location isn't marked. You'll have to consult the manual for each component.

Go configure: After you've put the speakers where they belong, the last thing to connect is a supplied calibration microphone. Place the mic at the primary listening position and plug it into the jack on the side of the neoHD. When you turn on the neoHD, it asks if you want to configure the speakers. Choose Yes, and it emits a series of beeps and squawks, then analyzes the test tones and enters the right settings for your room and speaker.

The next step is to tell the neoHD what source components you have connected, and where you've connected them; for example that you're using a cable box connected to HDMI 1 for live TV and a DVD player connected to HDMI 2 for movies and music.

Next, you set up remote-control commands for all your components, including the TV - which you must have connected and turned on whenever you're using the neoHD. You start by indicating your TV brand. The neoHD seems to have every electronics brand under the sun in its remote-control database - even household names like Hello Kitty! For many brands, including Panasonic (the TV I used for this test), there are multiple choices. You test each in turn until you find a selection that successfully turns the TV (or other component) off and back on. When that happens, you can confirm the selection, and move onto the source components. The process is much the same.

For the most part it worked well, except for one wrinkle. I was able to quickly find a control setting that successfully turned my Scientific Atlanta HDTV cable PVR off and on. However, with that setting, the neoHD could control most but not all of the cable box's functions. I had to use the setup menu to choose one of the alternate settings.

Digital media: Setup functions are accessible from the neoHD's main opening menu. With the WiFi-equipped YMC-700, this is where you can find the menu to get the neoHD connected to your home network. The procedure is fairly standard; you have to enter the network name and security key. A technophobic user will find this forbidding, but anyone who's set up a home network will find it pretty familiar.

Besides the customary input and output jacks, there's also a USB port on the back of the neoHD. You can connect a thumb drive containing digital photos and music, which you can then play through the neoHD. At first, I thought that this should have been put on the front or side, so users could easily swap thumb drives. But then, I reconsidered, reasoning that the unit will probably be set up by a technically capable person, but used by someone less capable. That being the case, it makes sense to leave a drive full of the primary user's favourite pictures and music in a place where it can't be mistakenly removed and lost.

In the end, I think it's going to take technically proficient person to set up the neoHD. Hopefully, the end result will be a system that a technophobe can cope with in day-to-day use.

Day to Day

The neoHD remote is a simple, unintimidating affair with relatively few buttons. There are dedicated buttons for the most important functions, including Channel and Volume Up/Down, Mute, and Guide (calls up the electronic program guide on your set-top box. The other key buttons are Control, Back and a four-way cursor pad for navigating onscreen menus.

On the menu: When you turn on the neoHD, it should automatically power up your TV through its infrared flasher. On the screen, you'll see a simple menu covering the system's main functions: Watch (TV/Movies), Listen (Music/Radio) and Play (Games/Photos). Choose the activity you want, and the neoHD will offer more choices based on your individual setup. For instance, if you choose Watch, choices may include watching live TV or watching a movie. If you choose Listen, options may include listening to a CD, playing music from your iPod, listening to radio, and listening to Internet radio (if you have the Wi-Fi model). If you choose Play, a choice may be viewing photos from a networked PC (only on the WiFi-equipped YMC-700) or USB drive.

When you've made your choice, the neoHD turns on the required components and switches to the appropriate input. So if you want to use your DVD player to listen to music, it will turn the player on. Pop in a disc, push Play, and you're in business. Similarly, if you select Live TV, the neoHD will turn on your set-top box and switch to the correct input. There's no guesswork as to what input to select.

If you're playing music, a small menu at the bottom of the screen will show command functions for your CD or DVD player: track forward and reverse, pause, play, track number etc. If you're watching digital TV, the onscreen menu will show options for your set-top box: a list of shows you've recorded on the PVR, channel numbers etc. If you're viewing photos, it will show options for navigating through your folder library: selecting folders, watching slideshows etc. The last option makes it easy to have a family photo slideshow at your fingertips.

Hot buttons: For watching TV, you can push the Guide button to see the program guide, and the Channel Up/Down buttons to change channels. Unlike TV and set-top box remotes, the neoHD's remote does not have numeric keys, so you can't key in the channel you want directly. But you can enter numbers using the neoHD's onscreen menus.

To enter a channel number, you use the cursor keys on the remote to move the selector to the number you want on the screen, and press Enter. Suppose your cable box is tuned into Channel 50 and you want Channel 500. Naturally, you don't want to press the Channel Up button 495 times. So you press the Control button to call up the onscreen menu, then move the cursor till it's over the 5, and press the Enter button on the remote. Repeat the process twice for the two zeroes. To send your command to the cable box, move the cursor to the Ent option on the onscreen menu and press the Enter key on the remote. It's a little fiddly, but easily learned and certainly not forbidding.

Many options are shown as symbols - a square for Stop, a circle for Record, a sideways triangle for Play etc. While the symbols are fairly standard, the phobic users for whom the system is designed may not know them; however a textual explanation is provided on the right for the highlighted symbol.

Some functions, such as programming a PVR recording can be difficult, because you have to move back and forth between the set-top box menu and the neoHD menu. The last step, confirming the recording, is awkward, because the neoHD menu lies directly on top of the portion of the set-top box menu illustrating the buttons you need to press to confirm the recording.

Friendly assistance: Programming PVR recordings was the only function that I thought the neoHD made more difficult, at least with Scientific Atlanta cable boxes, which are very common. The solution may be for a technically capable person to program recordings of the primary user's favourite TV shows using the set-top box remote. After that, the set-top box remote can be put away along with the TV remote. Then the primary can use the simple neoHD remote, not just for live TV but to play recorded shows. To do that, you just choose the List option on the neoHD's onscreen menu, then select the show you want to watch on the set-top box's PVR menu.

Most other functions are made simpler by the neoHD. While they may require more steps to perform, there's less to remember, and there are also onscreen menus to show you what to do. Many people who feel stymied by home theatre, digital media and the 1,000-channel universe may find that this little component helps tame those mysteries.

Performance

It would be unreasonable to expect audiophile sound quality from a product like the neoHD. This compact device doesn't have the heft or the price of a surround-sound powerhouse. Still, it's reasonable to wonder how good it sounds.

A matched set: I tested the neoHD with a highly regarded, budget priced, compact 5.1-channel speaker package: the Mini Theatre System from PSB. Priced at $800, the package includes four compact two-way shelf speakers, the Alpha LR1 Monitor, for the front left and right and the two surround channels; the Alpha CLR1 two-way three-speaker for the centre channel; and the SubSeries 1 subwoofer, with an eight-inch driver powered by a 110-watt amplifier.

So that I could assess the performance of the neoHD, I made a point of listening to the PSB system with an audiophile-class receiver, Pioneer's Elite SC-27. Predictably for a compact system, the compact PSB Alpha system wasn't as dynamic as my full-size reference speaker system, nor would it play as loud. But I was impressed by its accurate portrayal of instruments and voices when playing music, and the intelligibility of dialog on movie soundtracks. The small system didn't supply as much explosive power on movie sound effects, but at reasonable levels, it certainly didn't sound distressed.

Reasonable expectations: This exercise gave me a good yardstick against which to assess the neoHD's audio capabilities. Predictably, the sound didn't have as much depth, impact or sparkle when powered by the neoHD. Regular television always sounded fine, certainly better than the built-in sound from any TV I've heard. But demanding program material revealed some of the neoHD's limitations. Watching Apocalypse Now Redux on DVD, dialog was clear, but had a bit of a papery edge and nasal quality. The big helicopter attack scene sounded impressive, but less precise and effortless. Michael Bublé's voice singing "I'm Your Man" on a DVD concert from New York's Madison Square Garden also sounded a bit nasal, but the big band accompaniment sounded very good.

Let's keep this in perspective: the neoHD isn't aimed at audiophiles. Matched to a decent speaker system, the sound will be a revelation to anyone who's used to TV audio.

The point of the neoHD is to make digital home theatre accessible to non-technophiles. Most members of the target group will need help setting the system up. After that, despite some unavoidable lingering awkardness, they'll very likely find their interactions with the 1,000-channel universe much less forbidding. And they'll probably have to call for help a lot less often.

Article Tags:  Yamaha, neoHD, Media Controller, YMC-500, YMC-700, PSB, Mini Theater System, Mini Theatre System, Aplha LR1, Alpha CLR1, SubSeries 1