I’ve been playing with Pronto programming for a few days, and thought I’d post my thoughts on WHERE TO START for others.

One of the first things I realized what that the Pronto takes planning. But planning takes experience. Hopefully I can pass on some of my limited experience to help you PLAN FIRST. However you probably want to play with the Pronto before you really start “going live” with it.

PLANNING.

Hmm, this is the question where you really want to figure out what you want your Pronto to do for you.
The best thing to grasp here is that your Pronto will do a lot more than simply replacing your current remotes. If that is all that you wanted to do, you should have bought a cheap learning remote (and please stop bothering me!)

Here is how I explain my Pronto planning:
WHAT vs HOW?

By this I mean; do you want to plan your Pronto around WHAT you want to do, or HOW you want to do it.
With my old multi-remote system was based around a HOW technique: To watch a DVD I had to use the TV remote to turn on the TV, switch to the RECEIVER Video input. I then had to pick up the Receiver remote to turn on the Receiver and switch to DVD source input. I then had to pick up the DVD remote, select a disk and hit PLAY. My old system sucked!
My new philosophy is based around WHAT technique: To watch a movie I press MOVIE. (I don’t care how it does it.)

Okay, so you can see that I like the WHAT technique to Pronto. I just want to tell my Pronto WHAT I want to do, I want it to go off and do it.

Once you grasp the concept of how you are programming your Pronto, you can do a little planning around that.

I decided that there are TWO main things I do with my entertainment system.
1. Watch TV.
2. Watch MOVIES.
Okay, so I’m a pretty basic guy.
My system is designed around these TWO functions, and they represent more than 90% of my time in front of my system.

WATCHING TV really involves my TIVO unit, but I really don’t care about that. Remember that I’m concerned about WHAT I want to do, not HOW I want to do it.
So, when I want to WATCH TV, I’m really watching my TiVo, but the Pronto takes care of that.
There is a question when watching TV, and that’s usually WHAT to watch. I (like most guys) like to SURF. That’s really simple to program. Channel Up. Channel Down. Duh!
However, I may at some point like to put in some Channel selections on my Pronto.
My girlfriend likes to watch specific channels, so this would make it easy for her.
Again, this is a WHAT question – what do you want to watch. Press the MTV button and let the Pronto do the rest.


WATCHING MOVIES is a little more complicated. I could watch movies on either a VCR or a DVD player. I happen to have a DVD-only movie collection, and a DVD Jukebox. This makes things very simple for me.
When watching a MOVIE, there are only really a couple of decisions that I have to make. The first is WHAT MOVIE do I want to watch. I want to just select this from the list of movies.
After I have selected the movie, I just want access to the regular PLAY controls of the movie.
Sure, I might want to select a specific audio/language track, but that’s about the only HOW question that I need to answer.
So, watching a movie is really just deciding what movie to watch, and hitting play.

Sure, the Pronto is really selecting the correct disk, turning on the surround sound, and all of that fun stuff, but again, I don’t care. I just want to watch a movie.


What about when I want to do something different?

Sure, I’m the first to admit that I’m not a total creature of habit. Every now and then I want to kick it up a notch. (I do more that just watch Emeril.)

As well as watching TV or MOVIES, I may want to switch to a specific device.
I therefore designed a menu for each device:
TV
DVD
VCR
RECEIVER.
Simple menus that allow me to do 90% of what I would want to do with that device.

One of the simple decisions to remember is that if it takes me 20 hours to program how to setup surround sound using the Pronto, or 30 seconds to go and get the Receiver remote out of the drawer, then the drawer will win every time.

DO NOT THINK THAT YOUR PRONTO HAS TO DO EVERYTHING.


Okay, so you now know how my Pronto works.
On the MAIN menu, I have TV & MOVIES as my main two selections.
I also have TV, DVD, VCR and RECEIVER as menus on the system.

The last thing I do when doing anything is TURNING EVERYTHING OFF.

I very purposefully put the EVERYTHING OFF button the MAIN menu.
Now, when I turn everything off, I leave the Pronto on the MAIN menu.
When I come to use the system later, the Pronto is on the MAIN menu, ready to start all over again.
How nice.


I’m certainly not saying that my thought process is the ONLY thought process, that it is the BEST or that it is ORIGINAL.

I do, however, hope that by explaining some of my thoughts that those people who are still thinking, HELP, will have a starting point.

I agree with most everything you say here, Nicholas.

But I think that this one point you make is a very important one:

DO NOT THINK THAT YOUR PRONTO HAS TO DO EVERYTHING

I use my Pronto very much like it appeares you do. But when the lights are low and I don't want to keep looking at the Pronto to BACK-SEARCH or PAUSE or SLOW/FRAME, I need the tactile feedback provided by the Original Remote's hard buttons. Sometimes, not always, but sometimes . . . you just CAN'T replace the OEM Remote.

And THIS is probably just as important, if not more-so:

One of the first things I realized what that the Pronto takes planning. But planning takes experience. Hopefully I can pass on some of my limited experience to help you PLAN FIRST. However you probably want to play with the Pronto before you really start “going live” with it.


Good Work!! I don't think you should consider yourself a Newbie, by any means ! ! ! !


(I think I'll probably make a space for this link in my box)!  VVVV AS PROMISED !!! VVVV


MIKE

CLICK ON THESE LINKS
[ FAQ | Files | Play with the Puppy | Create an ALIAS.CCF | Bruce's Battery Help ] [ Joel's Phases | Nicholas' Planning Help | Copying Help | Reviews ]

This message was edited by MrKlaatu on 12/10/01 14:40.01.

What do you mean you cant make it do everything.....

Mine can drive my remote car and get me a beer!!! ; )

You use an RC car to get your beer? I thought that was what the Furby module was for... .

And as for other uses, what about mounting it to the headboard and using it as a reading light / nightlight. No more of those Tap-Lights for me.

Mike: I disagree. In my book , big icons and some free space between them make for very reliable no look usage. You hear the beep so you know you pushed the button. You see the station change (for example) so you know if it was the correct one or not. And I think I get better accuracy (push the correct button) then I used to with my original remote (much less to remember.

I guess the question that comes up next, is why bother buying an LCD remote if you will not be looking at it? The answer is two fold
1) easy for anyone to use, if you need the visual help it is there and it is correct (the main reason I dislike PB remotes)
2) limited number of buttons (let's face it, there are very few times you need 50 buttons to do something, but with a PB remote you need those extra buttons there for when you will need them)


P.S. Nicholas nice work

This message was edited by Anthony on 12/04/01 10:22.55.

Thanks Nicholas for the informative post. I'm a newbie, about to begin programming my Pronto. This certainly helps in forcing me to step back and further evaluate my approach.

BTW, hi everyone! This is my first post, but I hope to contribute to this board as well as receive valuable information.

welcome thebeaud

We certainly seem enlightened by the presence of two new people on this site. Nicholas, great post, especially geared to the shaky newbie. And we look forward to your input, thebeaud (as well as an explanation of your handle.)

Thanks for the welcome! Unfortunately, the explanation for the handle isn't too exciting. My name is actually Craig Beaudry, and my friends have always shortened the last name and called me "The Beaud" - it's become my default user name on the Internet.

I just picked up a ProntoPro from Bruce, so I look forward to configuring it and having some fun. It looks there's a lot of helpful folks on this board, although I think it's important to contribute as well as ask for help.

Thanks again...