This paper describes a real-time hand gesture recognition system and its application to VCR remote control. Cascaded classifiers are used to detect a number of different hand poses. In order to detect a hand in real time, the detection algorithm is optimized for multi-core processors by distributing the operations to multiple cores and minimizing the data transmission between them. We have implemented a detection system on a processor with eight cores. Further we have integrated the system into a prototype video recorder simulator to evaluate a gesture interface for consumer electronics. The operating speed increases by a factor of up to 13.5 compared to a standard PC with single-core processor.