The features of the Pronto Pro didn't justify an update for me, but the joystick on the Marantz will. I have the hardest times with those cursor pad bitmaps. And it will also leave more screen space to simplify the rest of the device design! What was Philips thinking?

I'll be surprised if Philips doesn't sell them as well...

If Philips does sell them, how will they position the current Pronto Pros? It will be interesting to see the pricing.

What makes you think Philips would sell them? They didn't sell the RC5000i, even though there were slight differences in the OS.

Unless they are much more highly priced, I can't see Philips selling them. Even then, it would severely cut into their current Pronto sales.

IMHO.

... Greg

Greg: there were different features between the RC5000 and Pronto, but they were the same remote. The RC500i is similar to the TSU-2000 and RU-940. The rc5200 is very different (at least in the Hard buttons). All Prontos and clones had a three section design on the TS (Home, Device, Macro) from the picture the Home has become a hard button. Plus the color version is RC9200, does that mean there will be a RC9000 equivalent to the Pronto PRO and this one.

If this is based on the Pronto platform, then it is different, but I have learnt in the past (Denon Aktis, HTM MX-1000) that there is no use getting too exited before the whole story comes out.

Considering the ProntoPro's list price is $999 USD, what do you think the RC9200 color should be priced at?

Roger Kaufmann

Being Marantz -- and if they bother to even consider Philips price in their plans -- probably $1299. I don't think $1499 -- for that I would expect it to have the RF station. If they don't think about what Philips is pricing at, they may actully do $999 (but it's unlikely).

Daniel,
What would you guess the price of the 5200 would be?

I'd guess the same as the current RC5000i (remember that Marantz already raised the price of their 2mb model over the 1mb, while Philips did not).

The cursor quadrant is nice, but what were they thinking about the channel/volume/mute buttons? They look smaller and the mute at the bottom! Arrrgh!

Well, if the price is right, my current Pronto might get retired to the bedroom (just TV, DirecTV box, and VCR).

I agree that the volume and channel hard buttons look a bit small, though.

Frankly, I like the Mute button next to the Vol buttons, unlike my TSU2000, which has the Mute button above the Channel buttons.

But then I'm a volume tweaker more than a channel surfer.

How about the "Select" or "Enter" button. Would have been nice to combine this function with the thumbpad (like the MX-500) instead of being on a separate button.

OK, hate to be the voice of doom, but here's some flaws I see with the design already.

From the pictures and Daniel's text:

- It looks like the D-Pad is only 4-way instead of 5-way. Most devices use this instead of a separate OK button.
- They're still using the tiny, hard-to-press side buttons.
- Relocated the mute button.
- Screen area being larger means that you will use up the non-expandable 8MB of memory quicker.
- Still only 256 color.
- Looks like it still uses the passive matrix display. Those of you who have seen the iPAQ screen may be disappointed if this turns out to be true.
- They got rid of the four menu assignable buttons under the screen. This is a feature I actually liked in the ProntoPro.

Still on my wish list:
- use a faster processor
- use Compact Flash memory to allow 256MB
- increase color resolution to 16-bit
- active matrix screen
- allow the use of jpg and gif files
- improve docking connector
- larger side buttons with better feel
- thumb scroll/select wheel on side of case
- jog dial surrounding 5-way d-pad (like Sony 860 DVD)
- USB download/upload support
- better software than ProntoPro Edit
- keep the price under $1000US

If they do these things, I would upgrade my ProntoPro in a heartbeat.

I agree, I liked thge mute on top


Why do you say that,
1) it will not be that much larger
2) if youy keep the same buttons they should not take any more space


Bon't forget it is only a remote, I remember when PC's had less colors


You still have more assignable buttons, the pad plus 6 buttons at the bottom, two can be renamed, but you have four extras