Remote controls have buttons - channel up, up down, select, numbers, etc.
A remote control doesn't have a lot of room. It has to fit in your hand and can't be too tall otherwise it'll be unbalanced when you hold it.
Any screen or feedback competes in real-estate with buttons. And, smaller and fewer buttons are better.
But todays world of control and media consumption really demand feedback in a way cassette + cable box didn't need.
Which playlist am I playing? What XM channel am I on? Did I turn the patio audio off? What is Preset 1? I can't hear anything...is (put device name here) even on?
All of these items mean we need feedback - a device capable of showing us what is currently playing.
At one extreme we have the AppleTV remote.
It's really small.
all functions are managed through menu selections except for pause/play
All feedback is through a display, no feedfback on device.
At the other extreme we have the Crestron TPMC-8X:
It's fairly large.
No hard buttons.
Lots and lots of feedback - you can even stream video to it.
I believe a nice remote needs a mixture:
Hard buttons: up/down/left/right/select, volume up+ down, a few others.
Feedback: Enough room to control and iPod or Satellite Radio.
We've been using the Crestron TPMC-4X to fill this role for a while. It's a fine device and the entire package is better than we've had at that price point and form before.
The future is shown in the form of the Denon RF Remote:
Large Enough display to manage lights, iPod, other zones
Lots of hard buttons
Fits in hand
Runs on standard batteries.
Denon RC7000 by UEI
This unit only controls the Denon Recievers and can't be integrated into Crestron. Crestron has announced a Zigbee remote based on the same hardware to ship in Q1 or Q2 2008. Now only if they could get rid of the rubbery buttons.....