Having seperate cursor/select and transport controls is a must, and the design of the MX-500 looks workable. However, as a person who spends a bit of time navigating menus, I'd prefer a joystick instead of cursors. There's a big difference between holding down a thumb joystick and having to press the down arrow nine times. I've read on Remote Central that the MX-1000 joystick is a bit picky about the direction; improve this, stick it on the MX-500, and we're in business!

Since we're asking for the moon here, I'd suggest leaving the cursor keys AND including the joystick. The cursors could then be used as PageUp/PageDown/PreviousDay/NextDay controls for navigating programming on cable, satelite, etc.

Scott