It uses radio and not infrared to control the PS3 and therefore doesn't require line of sight. However, its specific to the PS3 and therefore won't control any other device. Maybe this is personal preference, but I find the layout a bit odd in that the STOP button is immediately below the PLAY button. I thought that placing the PAUSE button below the PLAY button was more intuitive, but maybe that's just my preference. Also, I think that it could have benefited from two more shortcut function buttons, a volume control and a GOTO function, which both need to be accessed via the triangle button as per the Sixaxis controller. Backlighting would have been nice, too. The good thing about the DVD controller is that it provides a completely functional alternative to the Sixaxis control many non-gaming functions such as playing music, looking at photos, watching video files and surfing the web.