Today I’m pleased to present a full review of the Proton iRemote iR800 universal remote control. Although this may be the first remote we’ve seen from Proton, some things are bound to be familiar as Proton has contracted with the Taiwanese company Sunwave, who makes the Crisp Solutions UCommand brand of remotes along with several others.

The unique iR800 is a 16 device universal remote that features an iconic LCD touchscreen display and 24 hard buttons, with blue LED backlighting for each. You’ll also find full infrared code learning, loads of useful macros, built-in timers, easy menu-based programming and a whole lot more. To learn more about what this remote control can do and just how it does it, read our in-depth review which, as usual, is packed with photographs.

Read all about the iR800!

Philips releases new iProntoEdit software.
Users of the Philips iPronto TSi6400 will want to take note that Philips has released new software and firmware for this remote control. iProntoEdit v2.1 fixes several bugs as well as adding support for the new NetX device – a WiFi-based expander that adds RF capabilities to the iPronto – as well as supporting the merging of two separate ICF files together.

In addition, new firmware can also now be downloaded to the iPronto device. Version 1.4.5 adds support for NetX, improves overall performance and stability, and solves several issues regarding network connectivity, power management and memory management. This is a highly recommended upgrade.

You can download the new version of iProntoEdit here, while the firmware upgrade must be done from the iPronto remote.

[ Talk with others about the iPronto! ]

Harmony offers Mac support.
At the Mac World show, which begins tomorrow and runs through the 18th, Intrigue Technologies will be demonstrating their new software support for the Harmony and the Mac platform. This will make the Harmony SST-768 and SST-748 the only computer programmable remote controls to ever offer official Mac support. In order to ensure that they obtain the correct firmware version, Mac users will need to purchase remotes directly from Intrigue until the end of September.

In other Harmony news, Canadians will soon be able to find the Harmony remote in one of over 100 Future Shop stores, a chain now owned by US-based Best Buy. Additionally, newly manufactured SST-768 remotes are now combing with a glow-in-the-dark keypad, just like the SST-748.

Want more info on the Harmony? Be sure to check out our reviews of the SST-768 and SST-745!

[ Talk with others about the Harmony! ]