stevem2k

I've got a Phillips Pronto ru940. Identical to the marantz one, and the prices have recently come down - as they have launched a colour version.

It takes a good while to get it all set up, but once it is running it's dead easy to use. Most hardware control files have already been done by others at http://www.remotecentral.com , all you have to do is splice your kit together with the editing s/w and upload.

Cheapest place I have found is richer sounds online. Around 200 notes for the unit, if you want the rechargeable batteries and cradle unit I think that is another 40 quid.

SteveM

[Edited by stevem2k - 12/5/2001 10:42:28 AM]

dsmith

I have a sony amp (STRDB940) and started with the remote that came with and used it to programme the other devices but quickly found it very limiting. So now I have a pronto (from letsautomate.com) (RU890 - 1Mb) you only really need the 2mb if you have *lots* of devices and bitmaps eg an autochanger with every album cover thumbnailed in. I have Seven devices (each with at least 3 screens) and all the sky digital channel logos fine on the 1mb version.

http://www.letsautomate.com/prontouk...&CFTOKEN=16436

Setting it up isn't too bad. I would recommend using the PC - you can do it on the remote itself buts its not nice) There are plenty of examples on Remote Central. You can have a working config within an hour by culling bits of different configs. With some time you can tailor it to a good consisent look and feel and so the controls *you* use most are easiest to get too. IMHO its much much easier than using the Sony remote

I dont have too many macros. In fact the only real use I make of macros is for Sky Digital channels. Have Pages with the logos on sorted by type (General, Music. New etc). Each logo then keys the right channel number E.g. Sky Sports 1 - sends 6,0,1. I've done something similair for Radio Channels on the Tuner.

You can get all the basics from files on RemotCentral - It may just need a little tweaking or updating for new channels. In fact you may find you have access to features not availabale with the original remote e.g. on my Sony TV the original remote lets you cyle through TV,AV1,AV2,AV3 - but there are commands to go direct wichi is much more useful. Also you can label the button for AV1, 'Sat' which makes it easier for the wife

I found that apart from screens replicating the original remote I have some for specific activities. E.g. watching a DVD has TV Source and Wide Screen Mode, Amp Sound Volume,Mode and Source and DVD Stop Start etc.

I love mine - even the wife likes and uses it. The original remotes stay in a drawer and have virtually never come out. We keep the original Sky remote so the wife can play behive bedlam

A macros is just a list of linked presses of buttons already on the remote so if you can do it with other buttons it is childsplay to get one button to do it in sequence. On your list

"switch to video channel on tv, set amp to video channel, adjust the volume, and turn on the video."

The only problem would be "adjust volume". Because the remote doesn't know where the volume starts its hard to programme it to adjust it to where you want. Also if your TV and AMP are a long way apart (opposite ends of the room) you may have to remember to change where it points half way through....

If you download the Pronto Editing Software from remote central you can actually run the emulator with no pronto. This should give you an idea whether the style of interface available suits you. You can also programme macros to get a feel for it. ( I was sad enough to have most of my kit programmed and ready to go before the pronto even arrived because I knew it was coming for a birthday )

Enough rambling now....(If you are a *true* gadget freak you will be hooked )

Deano

[Edited by dsmith - 12/5/2001 11:50:44 AM]

dsmith

Pete

What sort of problems are you having - Could we help ?

I laso have mine setup as per Martin all the actual functions are recorded in the background on "hidden" screens. Any visible screen points back to the orignal. Should a device change then it wouldn't be too much hassle to reprogramme the hidden screen once - all the others would then also be effectivley reprogrammed.

The marantxzis a re-badged Pronto with a few minor firmware differences. ProntoEdit in the past has has newer features quicker than the Marantz version. not sure if that will continue (or makes any practical difference).

http://www.remotecentral.com/files/prontoedit.htm

Is the download page for ProntoEdit. (2.00 is for the new colour version £700 - 1.05 for B & W one)


[Edited by dsmith - 12/5/2001 12:03:23 PM]

Markus

wow! thanks guys, have just ordered a pronto, as it looks nice.

not got pc at home so will have to set it up through the device, but hey, it'll e worth it.

anyone know if there is a macintosh version of the software?

[Edited by Markus - 12/5/2001 12:00:29 PM]

ptholt

doh double post.

[Edited by ptholt - 12/5/2001 12:25:15 PM]

ptholt

Markus, i would urge you to borrow a laptop from work so you can do the editing on a pc, as i didnt enjoy doing it through the device itself. Hence why i went pc route. I found through the device very restrictive. Plus as mentioned above theres a demo mode in the pronto edit software that allows you to see how your config would work (and if it does!) on the device without having to download it to it and hope for the best.

What several of you have mentioned above is what im trying to do.
I basically went through remote central and grabbed the files for my hardware (usually stripping them out of some persons config), then went through looking for the nice gui front end i want (including the sky buttons as mentioned above which is a wicked touch).

But i seem to be having probs hiding the actual device menus, then calling to them from the gui buttons. (that make sense?)

Also it would be cool if someone could program me a button that allows me to get to tetris at the touch of a button hehehe.

I saw one config file remote central that has all the takeaway emporiums menus in his pront so he can just check the screen and call them!! how cool is that!

Also i notice above someone said that they could allocate buttons to go straight to av2 etc. How did you do that? (just press the required button twice?)

as you can see im still in complete newbie ville with mine.

[Edited by ptholt - 12/5/2001 12:26:27 PM]

Markus

Morning all.
I'm probably in the same position as most of you as I'm a bit of a techno junky and have many different types of remote controls for the various bits of AV equipment, therefore I have more remotes than I really need/want. I have progammed my sony amp remote with some commands from various devices, but it's still not an ideal situation.

What I'm after is a funky all in one remote. but I don't want a "all in one" one if you see what I mean

I seem to recall you can get some rather nice touchscreen ones (marantz seems to spring to mind for some reason, dunno why?)

So, what's the best to get? what does it cost? what can it control? got any websites on them? where's the cheapest place (preferably online) to get one? how many batteries does it take, what type (AAA or AA?) can you use rechargeable batteries in it? if so then which ones (nicad or nimh?)

thanks for any info.

chuckster

Hiya Mark,
All I know is you can spend literally hundreds on a good one. Way to rich for my liking
C

Markus

where did you get yours from? richer sounds?

GavinP

Marcus,

I would go along with what Steve said....

Pronto/RC5000 and Remote Central.

I got mine from a Hi Fi shop a couple of years ago (Sevenoaks I think) - be aware that the charging base is normally at extra cost.
It will take AA batteries as well I think but a charger is a much neater solution.

Thanks

Gavin

Markus

Ok, just read some stuff on the pronto, sounds like a nice little machine.

The review I read did mention that setting up macros was a little problematic, what's your take on this? this true?

can someone give an example of, how, for instance, I'd setup a macro on the pronto to:

switch to video channel on tv, set amp to video channel, adjust the volume, and turn on the video.

guessing that this is the main function of macros but I want to see how involved it is.

ptholt

Richer sounds is £150 for the phillips pronto (basically the same as the marantz unit bar a few small details) plus another £50 for he charging unit.

I've had mine for about two months now.

Its very good, very nice.
BUT i decided after visiting http://www.remotecentral.com that i wanted to customise my menus.

what a bloody nightmare thats turned into!

I'm having real probs linking buttons with specfic ones for a device etc

guess its just practise.

M_D_B

Markus,
you don't have to use Macros to do this, you can do it with any button. It's probably worth downloading RC5000 Setup software from Remote Central, then having a play.
I've got hidden screens on mine which duplicate the commands on the remotes that it replaces. The buttons I have on the screens I can see point to these hidden buttons, this means I can have the same command on different screens, all working by pointing to the same hidden button(or Aliasing as Marantz call it). This also means I can change these hidden buttons when I change equipment without having to alter the buttons that I use daily.
What I'm coming to is, to get any button to perform a Macro is just a case of editing the button to perform as many Aliases as neaded to turn everything on/off and select the right source. This probably makes more sense when you've spent a day or 2 playing with RC5000 setup or ProntoEdit. It's also very worthwhile downloading config files from Remote Central and seeing how other people have worked theirs.
Martin.

Markus

Well I have Virtual PC for mac, so could do it through that, or just mess about on one of our Win2000 servers

M_D_B

Pete,
to get the code to jump straight to a required AV, have a look in the Discrete codes section on Remote Central. Most devices have codes to jump straight to something, but it's impractical to put everything on the standard remote.
Feel free to mail me a copy of your config with details of what your problem is, I can't guarantee I'll be able to help but I'll try.
Martin.

ptholt

cheers martin,

I havent touched it in a few weeks as i got p*ss*d off and frustrated with it after spending a whole saturday trying to get it all to work - and failing miserably.

I'll tidy it and mail it across to you at the weekend and you can have a good laugh at my feeble attempts.

Markus

just downloaded prontoedit and it looks rather cool, I especially like the emulator, very funky, but don't have a config file so can't play

ptholt

download the standard one from renmote central dear boy

or a custom one so you can see what they look like.

dsmith

http://www.remotecentral.com/files/main-sys.htm

Just drill down and try a few...

Quite Emphatically the only thing that makes the whole Marantz/Pronto route viable is the existence of RemoteCentral. I realy hope the gut that runs it (a Daniel Tonks) gets some recognition from Philips etc. because I dont think I would have bought one without that site and from the comments on there I know many others feel the same.

GavinP

Markus,

Take a look at my CCF (which includes the Sony STR-DB940)...

http://www.remotecentral.com/files/sysccf-g1.htm

When I first got mine, I just downloaded a load of different files with the correct TV, video etc and just "cut and pasted" them into an existing one I liked the look of..

I would be the first to admit that my setup could be tidier behind the scenes!

Thanks

Gavin

Tiggs

i was just about to order a new NTL cable tv remote and it seems this might be a better bet..... but what if the old remote is bust? how do i "give" the new remote the signal?

Tiggs

ps- very un-techy so nice and simple!

dsmith

Easy - download one off Remote Central or Post on remotecentral and I'm sure someone will have done it - there are lots of UK people on there. There are some models of UK cable box which use IRDA instead of the normal remote style IR. Pronto Cant do these - There has been a couple of long runnig threads on remotecentral detailing which can and which cant be done.

Deano

stevem2k

Ahh good .. another convert :-)

there are many ways to set them up. I generally use the most of the functionality for my ondigital box and amp , so really it's only that one that's been customised.

Make a list of all your kit, go to remote central and download a couple of ccf's with that bit listed, check them out in the editor and make a note of which one is for which bit of kit. When you have done the lot just open them individually, delete everything apart from the app you want, then merge them together & upload to the remote

In reality it will take about a weekend to get it all perfect, then make sure you back up your new working config somewhere safe ( like on a floppy ) so you don't lose it when a) the cleaner breaks the LCD screen , and b) you lose your HDD 4 days later.

Thus speaks the man of experience . grrrrrr.

Enjoy........

Steve

Markus

right, need more help!

I've orded one, just waiting for delivery. went home last night and like a good techy wrote down the model numbers for my equimpent. Had a look on remotecentral but could not find any of my equipment listed

so, what do I do? just use the learn facility and get the commands that way? I assume that I can then upload those into prontoedit if I want to create my own interface?

If any kind soul has commands for any of the below then do you fancy sending them to me?

here's my kit, it's all Sony by the way:

TV = KV25F2U

Video = SLV-E810UX

AV Reciever/Amp = STR-D615

GavinP

Marcus,

Manufacturers don't create unique codes for each model they produce - my Panasonic TV codes I got from a download of a slightly different model.

Look for similar codes and then a bit of a trial and error is required but the devices are almost certainly there....

Thanks

Gavin

dsmith

Sony have used the same TV remote code for at least 12 years - I know 'cos My parents old Sony remote had some functions on that my KV32FX60 didn't. I was sad () enough to take my pronto over - programme some of the missing ones which then all worked on mine. In particular theirs had individual buttons for AV1 and AV2 and a few sound bits and pieces.

I then found that there are a couple of CCFs (the pronto files) on remote central that have every sony TV code known - many happy hours of working out which ones work

I should imagine they are the same for the video but if you find an interface you like reprogramming the codes shouldn't take very long at all. If you have the Sony remote that does two way IR with the Amp then make sure the remote cant see the Amp or the pronto will get confused by the signals coming from the amp (well shielded or different room).

The amp may need some experimenting with similair model codes - but again shouldn't be too bad. They change models fairly often but the codes and functions are essentially the same.

If you want my CCF (Sony TV, DVD and Amp, Sky digital, Mitsubishi Video) I can mail it ....

Deano

Markus

deano, oooh, can you mail it to me please!

GavinP

It's worth making sure that you have the latest version of the ProntoEdit software as they normally include a system software update included in them for the Pronto/RC5000 itself....

The last two versions have worked perfectly.

Thanks

Gavin

dsmith

Markus

Was out Karting last night so didn't get a chance to E-Mail. Will do it over the weekend - to the Mail Address in your profile I presume.

Deano

Markus

Deano, yup email addy in my profile is fine. cheers for this, hopefully the pronto will turn up this weekend.