Dale and all Forum members:

I have an extreme visual impairment and wish to find a solution to ease my frustration as well as my family’s in using all our components. I have twin girls 12 years old and a boy 7, who continue to wreak havoc anytime they attempt to start or stop any activity with our present setup, be it DVD, zone 2 CD or Tuner, etc….. and then my wife just wants to watch the news after the kids have left things in the previous mode - not a pretty picture. Therefore here are my questions.

1.In buying a color touch screen remote, it appears that the ProntoPro and 9200 are the contenders. Is the color display and contrast capabilities better in one over the other? Understand that I cannot function without difficulty with the Windows Standard appearance scheme. I have to change to High Contrast Black scheme to be able to see and function in Windows. Therefore my background is black with white text for optimum viewing (for me) in all windows based programs that allow me to use the high contrast scheme.

2.Assuming the display contrast of both are equal as it relates to my visual problems, would one be better than the other with regard to present or future functional capability – programming ease, reliability etc…? In other words, which would you buy if you were in my situation visually?

3.I have done enough preliminary investigation to conclude that I am not capable either visually or competence wise of creating original or modifying existing ccf files to fit my particular purposes. Is it possible to compensate you or any other willing forum member to modify a ccf based upon the Easy Theater ccf, which by all that I have read and observed will work perfectlyl in my situation? I understand from other threads that the need to be in front of the components is not necessarily a requirement to tailor a ccf.

My system is not particularly complex as it relates to some of the setups I have seen and is as follows:

TV: Mitsubishi
Cable Box: Scientific America
Receiver: Yamaha RX-Z1
Receiver: Yamaha – Zone 2
DVD: Sony
VCR: Mitsubishi
CD: Sony 100 changer

A response with thoughts and recommendations from you and/or other forum members would be greatly appreciated.

Demetrios Economou

1) they are the same

2) functionally there is a difference between the two, but none that are related to visual (actually the 9200 has more hard buttons, that might help you)

3) not me, but maybe someone else.

I have not looked at dale's B&W easytheater, but maybe you could use the B&W on the color remote to give the biggest contrast

Greek,

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to download and install ProntoEdit ver4, then download, say Dale's easy theater and take a look at it in the emulator. As Anthony says, the contrast capabilities are the same on the B&W and color remotes. However, it's possible that the increased APPARENT resolution of the color version may be easier to deal with.

Jim L

bomerjim:

Thanks for your reply as well as Anthony's. I did as you suggested. The emulator confirms that I can work with the color version contrast with little problem. Now, what I see may be skewed by my windows scheme setup, so I would ask this question. When I see the home screen in the Easy Theater, I see the listen, play, watch ... icons with a black background. Will this be the background color I will see in the remote?

Demetrios

Demetrios,

To answer your last question, yes the opening screen has a black background, and the icons are red, green, blue, purple and white with goldish labels, so maybe it'll work for you. How about the other pages, are they readable??

I didn't consider your windows setup in my last post. Since the Pronto Pro pallet is similar to a Windows 256 color pallet, I would say that you would have to evaluate that ccf using at least 256 color Windows setup, but I can't say for sure.

If this ccf works, great. If not, it would still be possible to design a ccf in color contrasts that you can use - it would probably be a long trial and error process however.

Jim L

Bomberjim:

The colors on the other panels are passable. If all the panels had the contrast of the opening screen that would be outstanding. From what we have discussed so far, it seems that either the ProntoPro or the 9200 would work just fine. I am leaning towards the 9200 as the extra buttons on the 9200 may shorten some of the steps in the Easy Theater ccf.

The last question would then be, who might I be able to contract with in order to tweak the ccf - any names to contact would be appreciated. I was hoping that Dale might be able to assist as it is his creation, but I am not sure if he contracts out for these types of things.

Demetrios

Demetrios,

Hope it all works out for you, but I can't help you with a list of "tweakers". Personnally, I resisted the urge to buy a Pronto Pro until the 9200 came out - haven't regreted the decision. Dale's ccf is for the Pro and won't "fill up" the screen on a 9200. He is designing one specifically for the 9200 screen size I think. If you do buy a 9200, there are a few bugs in the firmware/software of which you should be aware. Check this link: [Link: remotecentral.com] for more info.

Best wishes,
Jim L


This message was edited by bomberjim on 06/30/02 21:25.59.

The remotes use a passive matrix display, so it will not look as good as your PC (colors tend to "influence" each other) also I have not seen his B&W version, but you might be better off using it (or some other CCF made for the B&W remotes). You could try getting it from a local place that will set it up for you

Anthony:

Thanks for your input. Do you have any suggestions as to someone who would accept payment (forum member) to modify a ccf to fit my needs?

Demetrios

Demtrios:

Normally I'd talk with you about modifying a CCF for your needs. Unfortunately, I'm somewhat overbooked between my day job and two contracts.

Apologies,
Dale

Dale:

Thanks for your response. I would like to find someone who would tweak my ccf on the Easy Theater. Also, I want this person to follow the guidelines that you have setup for the use of your ccf. To that end, I welcome any suggestions as to individuals you may know as I respect your hard work and value your opinion. By the way, which would you opt for, the 9200 or the ProntoPro if you had to choose and the price difference is not an issue? Thanks again....

Demetrios

For price, I'd choose the ProntoPro, but for your needs, I'd choose the 9200. The extra hard buttons get rid of many buttons that would otherwise be on screen, and that leaves more screen space for larger buttons.

Boy do I hear you there Dale! Too much work, not enough time in the day!

JJP

Dale:

Still have no names to contact in order to pay for modifying the Easy Theater CCF. If you don't have any names to suggest, I guess I'll just start a thread in hopes of contracting with someone to do the CCF.

Demetrios