It's an ideal remote IMO. Guess that's not what you were looking for, but it's what I'm waiting for, before I step into the realm of touchscreens again. To sum up what it is I am eluding to: A wand form factor, with 2way feedback. (Before you comment Pronto Guys. The 9400 is not a wand) The touchscreen is just nice fluff. The T2c would be IMHO perfect if it had 2way capability, and was end user programmable, seeing as I'm not a pro.


[Link: smarthome.com]
I'm not 100% that it's current but my point was to illustrate how broad the form factor of touchscreen truly are. This Sony is no where near the other remotes that have been discussed, but is still considered a touchscreen remote.


Human Machine Interface... That's more of an industrial control term but it still applies. Crestron and AMX touchscreens are access points for control/automation equipment. That equipment does all the work, and the touchscreens allow you access to functions and feedback. Whereas a remote in it's basic form can be a stand alone controller of devices, without the need of additional equipment. Companys like URC or more so RTI do have small scale processors, but they aren't on the same level as Crestron, AMX, and so on...


Remotes are all about convenience. Not that I'm in product development or anything of the sort but IMO a remote that needs constant visually checks to ensure it will perform what you want, isn't convenient.


I bought it used via this sites MarketPlace, and sold it a little over a year later fro close to the same price. I knew being my first kick at the can for touchscreens that I didn't want to run the risk of taking that major loss on resale if purchased at msrp.


[Link: universalremote.com]
The entire screen can contain whatever graphics you choose, just like most touchscreens would be. The difference with something like the 980 is, that you use the buttons located on the sides of the remote to perform the functions. The positives are, tactile feedback, and a more robust design. The negatives would be, the limitation of 8 functions per page, (although considering the size of the screen I doubt you'd place more buttons if it were a touchscreen), and that you really should place the graphic icons close to the hard button that performs the function.


I do yes... Again, I believe a remote is about convenience. A remote that needs two hands to operate, or is difficult to operate with one hand isn't convenient. I own a 980, which is considered a wand remote, and I'd still prefer it to be slightly slimer. ...Not a fault, it's just my preference.

Because it is a PHONE, not a remote. I have every control application I can find on my iPhone. I can control my lights, my PC, my Tivo, my Uverse, etc, all from my iPhone, but only one at a time. From my remote, I can turn on the TV, goto the channel I want, and turn the lights down, all after pushing ONE button.

I play games on my iPhone, but it doesn't come close to a PSP or GameBoy. (No hard buttons).

I take pictures with my iPhone, but it's no where near as good as my digital camera.

I surf the net, send e-mails, etc on my iPhone, but not as easily as my laptop.

The iPhone is a wonderful gadget,(and I love mine) but it is no replacement for a good old universal remote.

Take your iphone in one hand and a remote of your choice in the other. Both are programmed to control your system. What steps do you take to start the system with either one?

not sure if they still make it, but [Link: remotecentral.com]


no, but you picked the most expensive one

most here, outside the Logitech forum, tend to see them more as toys, they are easy to set-up as newbs but they also lack more useful features such as learning and uploading graphics to individualize


mostly, experience with it, I have been a user/programmer since 1999 when I bought the first one for a job I was working on, eventually in 2000 I got one of those models for home but continued with all the newer models at work until the TSU-7000. I never had a bad experience with any of them, and except for one that got a broken screen many survived hard teatment such as having hot coffee falling on them. The Pronto usergroup here tends to be extremely rich, knowledgeable and helpful and even though my experience ends before all the “professional” line up (i.e. 9x00), that would indicate that past the NG line up (which ends with the 7500) anything has changed on quality and support from Philips (and the forum here would be a good indicator because of high traffic)

MRSP is manufactured recommended sales price, sometimes it might be real close to what something actually retails for, but other times/products it can end up being a bit far. For example when I got my TS-1000 I found it for nearly 1/2 the MRSP 9going price at the time), on the other hand some line of remotes are "protected " and so hard to find much below the MRSP.

|3. When the prices get into the tens/hundreds of thousands, are they justified or a big ripoff? What value is added at the level of high expense?

I guess it depends what you consider a rip off, that will obviously be in big time home automation and not just changing channels on the TV, it could include sensors for temperature control, tied into lighting and alarm, I even saw (on TV) where there where light sensors and when it is too bright the drapes would close. Such systems would also include a lot of hours of programming since you would definitely need a professional to set it up for you.


yes, they tend to be easier to find without looking, as for multi-touch, why would you want to have to press three buttons at the same time to send one command :)


both :) are they necessary, I would say no 9but I know some would disagree), are they useful, I would say yes. For basic functions like volume +/-, ch+/-, it is nice not to need to look at them and could be useful for most devices, but you don't want too many of them because then they become an issue (i.e. no one knows what they do, which as issue with all PB remotes, if I put the aspect ratio under 1 for TV because I use the tuner on the satelite box.


the draw backs are the benefits of the other. PB remotes tend to have labels assigned to them which you might not need, for example the harmony one has # buttons useful for changing TV stations but useless for watching movies, on the other hand you might use slow often or your player might have 2x, 3x,5x and 10x and you might use tem often. With remotes with screens (like the harmony one) you can put the command on the screen, but for your movies you would be wasting many PB (if you don't use the #s) and could end up having more buttons then the screen fits.


tabs (if you want to call it that or make it look that way), also not adding useless commands (at least on the main screen)...


I have had two Harmony remotes over the years, the original one (which had no model number and the 768, so I am not the most knowledgeable on that model. But at least, if nothing has changed in the last few years, and I don't think it has, one big feature is that you can't upload "buttons" so for example if you have a rare speciality channel, you can't upload an icon for it, . that would affect other stuff as well a rare device most don't have (want your old colecovision, most likely no icon for it), a feature that is a bit out there on your device..... The Harmony's have a limited # of devices (16 if it is the same as the others) while for the Pronto it tends to be limited only by the file size (for all intense and purposes limitless). Also depending on the model of Pronto you could have other features such as RS-232 (9800,9600,9400,9300) (two way commands of equipment), sensors (to know if the TV is on or off or on the correct input), wi-fi and prontoscript(9800,9600,9400) (so you can write an ap to go get the weather on the internet and show the weather on the pronto, or have a DB on the PC of the movies you have and get it on the remote so you can search through the movies…..)
also the 9800 is the highest end of the Pronto line, it has a 6.4” screen while the Harmony 1100 has a 3.5”, that is almost 4x the area


you are welcome, but I am sure if I did not get the ball rolling someone else would have.

one more thing (for the iphone)discussion to add to what anyhomeneeds and 39 Cent Stamp said, is the "one device to rule them all" issue. o you live with others? what happens when you are at work, does it mean no one else can watch? you don't? but what if friends are over or a visitor from out of town and you need your phone? you don't even need anyone else, i phoine rings and you answer it, can you press mute or pause while on the iphone because you forgot to do it before answering? Any remote (built that way or not) needs to be a single use tool, try using it for other stuff and it will become an issue sooner or later.

Then, why not to buy iPod and make it a single use tool for remote functions using the same software. Anyway it will save a lot of headache and money compared to the panels.

An itouch will make a great universal remote for someone who has never owned a universal remote.

An itouch makes a terribly clunky science experiment for anyone who has owned a universal remote.

Nothing beats gold ole hard buttons for going through a show on a DVR.

you can, I was pointing to a pit fall of I have ipod (PDA, smartphone) and why not use it as a remote.

not at all, money maybe (and even then unlikely because chances are you will buy a real remote when you have enough with the experiment) but headaches, not at all. Let me put it this way. This is a site with forums dedicated to different remote solutions, There is one forum dedicated to PDAs and other devices (like the ipod) used as remotes, it has very little activity, on the other hand other remotes tend to have a lot of posts (the Prontos are split into 4forums and 3 sub forums based on features, the HTM/URC have 2, the Sony's have 2...). Now you could decide it is because of a conspiracy or that the PDA people are less helpful, but in the end the real reason is that in an emergency a butter knife can be used as a screw driver and a screw driver to spread butter, but you are better off having the right tool for the right task. An ipod, itouch, iphone or any other device was not designed to be a remote, it does not have the right features, the right button placement.... to be a remote.