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Topic:
Comparison Chart of Pronto vs Take Control
This thread has 5 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Tuesday December 1, 1998 at 23:22
George Mills
Historic Forum Post

I made an excel spread sheet (also viewable in html) comparison chart of the different features of these 2 remotes.

Check it out at: [Link: softronix.com]

I welcome any corrections and feature additions that should be considered.

OP | Post 2 made on Wednesday December 2, 1998 at 22:14
George Mills
Historic Forum Post
After reading Charles' excellent feed back on the Take Control over at hometheater I have added a few new categories to my comparison chart.

[Link: softronix.com]

Both these remotes look great and I have not seen any indication that one is a "Clear Winner" over the other yet.

Unanswered questions:

My lack of understanding Pronto Macro's.
What Pronto PC software can do (in my opinion Take Control 24bit maps assigned to any button is much more flexible than having Templates).
They all have limits and the thread on hometheater covered a few for the Take Control already. I wonder what some of the limits are on the Pronto.

Clearly the charger/stand is a big plus for the pronto. And the Wheel is a plus for take Control.
Hmmm, just though of another topic, battery or charge life.

I'm also very interested in Daniels review once he gets his hands on one. He must be going nuts given the effort he has put into this forum.

OP | Post 3 made on Wednesday December 2, 1998 at 23:08
Vic
Historic Forum Post
In my opinion it's difficult to really compare
the two because there is still a rather huge
unknown with the Pronto, and that is the
capabilities of the support software are
unknown. With the HK, much of it's capability
arises with the PC interface. The Pronto
strikes me as having an advantage already
in that it can be configured in hand.

Personally, I think in the end, the Pronto will
appeal to someone who has been hankering for
a true touchpad controller and quality/clarity
brightness and graphics flexibility will play
an important role. I think the HK will appeal
to those wanting something a bit closer to the
tradtional remote, where the touchscreen is
more of a display and hardbuttons are used more.
That clickable wheel would seem to sway action
away from the touchscreen already.

I read that the HK is quite dim in comparison to
the Philips and I don't know if I like that
stanadard 5 X 4 button grid it uses. Reminds
me too much of Sony av2000 or that Rotel one.

I just have a hunch that the Pronto software
will allow more screen setup/design freedom.

Just my $0.02.
OP | Post 4 made on Thursday December 3, 1998 at 14:55
George Mills
Historic Forum Post
I agree (or should I say I understand) many of your points but here is my 2 cents.

The 4x5 Grid with 24 icons is better than a fixed array of templates IMHO (calculate out how many templates that is 20 digits Base 24 !!!). Either remote may have similar capabilities. My guess (looking at it from a software engineers point of view) is that the 4x5 grid with 24 bitmaps was a very smart and simple way to achieve, basically, an infinite amount of templates with out having to create a huge array of templates (as Pronto did). It likely can be changed to allow a wider array of icons (double width buttons etc.) just as the pronto will likely allow custom templates. They each chose a reasonable solution but at the moment, although the Take Control might not look as slick without double size buttons it sounds much more customizable. They will probably both improve.

Can't argue on the back light but I'd like to see both with my own eyes before I say the Take Control has a poor light.

Everyone wants a few hard buttons. I don't want to hold my finger down on the screen for a long fast forward. They both chose wisely to add a couple general purpose buttons. Everyone who has commented on the Wheel has had positive comments about it.

You have to be careful with first impressions. For example Toshiba makes this magnesium super light weight laptop that looks and feels slicker than you you know what. They also have thick heavy clunky laptops. One has a CD-ROM the other doesn't. I'll take the clunky one with the CD-ROM thank you.

Lets make sure we understand what each remote can do regardless of how slick they may look to the eye or feel to the hand. If they are indeed pretty equal then go for the one you feel is slicker.
Slickness does count for something though.
OP | Post 5 made on Thursday December 3, 1998 at 15:29
Jan van Ee
Historic Forum Post
George,

Please read my reply in the "Pronto Configuration & Power Managment" thread where I try to clarify how Pronto's templates relate to Take Control's grid and bitmaps.

Regards,

Jan
OP | Post 6 made on Thursday December 3, 1998 at 16:06
Vic
Historic Forum Post
Agreed... you raise some very good points.

On the Pronto, I would say there are roughly
10-15 different key screen patterns in which
keys can be deleted accordingly. I think
each screen could average 10-12 buttons.
Any key can be taught any discrete IR code
(within learn freq.) And as far as icons go,
the Pronto has 48 available. So lets see here,
thats 120 digits base 48.... but hey that's not
including 96 upper/lower case chars....do I hear
120 base 144..... :)

I definitely like that wheel on the HK but i think
some of it's hard buttons cannot be reconfigured.
The Pronto allows reprogramming of all 7 hard
keys, but i think the HK may have a better
designed 'hard key interface'. This supports my
initial premise that the Pronto seems to lean
more towards true touchscreen and HK more towards
conventional remote, as far as using hard keys a little more.

I don't buy that the HK is more customizable
though.....regardless I think in the end, each
with full-blown software support and periodic
software upgrades will make either one a sound
choice. Deciding factor may come down to personal prefs in ergonomics more than anything.

My thoughts only.


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