System and method to remotely control and test media player devices

A computer-based method for controlling and testing at least one remote media player device using a corresponding remote testing device and at least one user device not collocated with the remote testing (RT) device, comprising:

• displaying on the user device selectable available remote testing devices and corresponding media player devices;
• receiving from a user a selection of at least one of the available remote testing devices as a selected remote testing device;
• displaying on the user device at least one of a selectable remote-control image and a selectable list of automated tests, corresponding to the selected remote testing device and its associated remote media player device;
• receiving from the user a selection of one of:
• a single remote-control command and an automated test command, as a selected remote command;
• sending the selected remote command to the selected remote testing device;
• receiving from the selected remote testing (RT) device, a video output signal indicative of a media player video output signal from the remote media player device in response to the selected remote command, wherein the video output signal is scraped from the media player video output signal by the RT device;
• when the selected remote command comprises a single remote-control command, displaying a video image of the received video output signal on the user device simultaneously with the displaying of the remote-control image, in separate portions of a display on the user device, while simultaneously performing the receiving and the sending of the selected remote commands;
• and
• when the selected remote command comprises an automated test command, displaying a video image of the received video output signal on the user device simultaneously with the displaying of a selectable list of test results from the automated test on the user device, in separate portions of a display on the user device, while simultaneously performing the receiving and the sending of the selected remote commands.

A computer-based method for controlling and testing at least one remote media player device using a corresponding remote testing (RT) device and at least one user device not collocated with the remote testing device, comprising:

• receiving from a user a selection of an available one of the remote testing devices;
• displaying on the user device a remote-control image or a list of automated tests;
• receiving from the user a selection of one of a remote-control command or an automated test as the selected remote command;
• sending the selected remote command to the selected remote testing device;
• receiving from the selected remote testing (RT) device a video output signal indicative of a media player video output signal from the remote media player device in response to the selected remote command, wherein the video output signal is scraped from the media player video output signal by the RT device;
• and
• displaying the received video output signal on the user device simultaneously with the displaying of the remote-control image while simultaneously performing the receiving and the sending of the selected remote commands.

A computer-based method for controlling and testing at least one remote media player device using a corresponding remote testing (RT) device, comprising:

• receiving a remote-control command from a user device;
• providing a command signal to the remote media player device, the command signal indicative of the remote-control command;
• receiving a media player video output signal from the remote media player device in response to the remote-control command;
• and
• scraping the media player video output signal as a scraped video signal;
• and
• providing the scraped video signal for use by the user device as the RT box video output signal, which is an unprotected video signal for transmission to the user device, not collocated with the RT device.