In short, the Alpha 2.1 template should solve this problem, unless there's some new issue I am not currently aware of. But here's the long explanation:
I designed the original Alpha template using an earlier version of MX-Editor. That version of the editor allowed for the fastest possible button response time, but it did so in a manner that made file sizes larger in the remote's memory than they were on disk. Needless to say, this complicated the lives of many installers.
The most recent MX-Editor corrects the file size issue and keeps most of the speed of the earlier implementation, but because of how it handles this change, files that were optimized for speed under the older scheme sometimes run very slowly in the new scheme. That's what happened with versions 1 and 2 of the Alpha template.
Alpha 2.1 solves this problem by splitting the transparent PNG layer into a group of very small buttons, instead of one large 320x240 button. As a result, the active buttons do not overlap each other, and they do not overlap the large 320x240 transparency that was used in earlier versions of the Alpha template. The visual effect is almost identical, but the hit on the processor is orders of magnitude lower.
So, if you use the Alpha 2.1 template or later, you shouldn't see these slow button speeds. I use it at home every day, and my remote is quite zippy. (By zippy, I mean that all buttons respond in fractions of a second.) I didn't use any special optimizations beyond the 2.1 Alpha itself. In fact, I greatly complicated the template by making every background have an "After" state, and then I have a button on my Main page that sets the variable to switch states of all the backgrounds. That allows me to have two entirely different visual themes in one remote, and I can switch any time I want. At the same time, I'm tracking a large number of variables in my template, which can also slow down button processing time. Even with these significant changes, my buttons are still speedy with Alpha 2.1.
Dale Crawford Instructional Media Designer Universal Remote Control, Inc.
I'm a member of the Remote Central community, just like you! My comments here are my own, and in no way express the opinions, policies, or plans of Universal Remote Control, Inc.
