Need some up-front advice. I am in the market for a universal remote to consolidate all my remotes into one. I have narrowed my selection down to two – the Pronto TSU-3000 or the HTM MX-850. I want to use the RF capabilities from both to operate the devises from behind built-in cabinet doors.

I have a conglomerate of devices: Vizio HD Plasma, Dish 811 sat receiver, JVC DVD, ONKYO surround etc. All different brands as you can see.

Here are my concerns around the TSU-3000 – please address as you see fit.

1.From the information I have seen on the internet, this remote is not for the novice. True or untrue? Do you need a PHD in programming to set this thing up?

2.The Vizio is a new model. Do existing codes exist and if not, how difficult would it be to program the remote. Anyone have any experience with this Plasma used with the Pronto or other remotes?

3.Concerning the Dish 811 – I will use the RFX-6000 to operate the system. Are existing codes or programs available and if so, how well do they work? If not, can the TSU-3000 be programmed using the receiver codes in IR mode? Which brings up another question – Does the 811 work well with the RFX-6000?

4.I’ve read about software problems with the TSU-3000. Have these been resolved? Will the unit come with the latest software or will I have to download from the Pronto site?

5.I’ve also read in some forums that the programs disappear every so often. The word used was unstable. Is this a rare problem or something to be concerned with?

I would appreciate any feedback on the above items and any other thoughts you might like to share.

Thanks……….jaq

I will give you my thoughts for what it is worth but so you can put my experience into context my daytime job is in IT so I am used to working with things that are technical but I have never had any experience with programming a Pronto up until I purchased mine about 2 months ago.

Question #1

I would say no you do not need to be a PHD however you must be farmilliar and comfortable with computers and the windows operating system look and feel. If you consider yourself moderately technical then you can do this. However I caution you depending on how elaborate you want to make your configuration and the number of devices you can invest anywhere from 50 to 500 hours for a working config. This is one thing where what you put into it directly relates to what you will get out of it.

If you do go ahead and purchase the TSU3000 I would highly recommedn purchasing a user guide devloped by a Pronto user. It is available over the internet at www.prontowizard.com. I don't work for this guy or get any comission I am just someone who bought it and would highly recommend it to anyone who want's to do their own programming. It explaines things much better than the paultry user guide and online help that comes with the unit from Philips. It costs around $20 US and in my opinion is well worth the money.


I personally have spent about 100 hours now and have a very good activity based first version with macro's.

Question 3
I do have the RFX-6000 and I am experiencing an issue with it and my DVD player. I can control all my other devices through the RFX-6000 except this one. Not sure why. I have spoken to an installer locally as I have given up trying to fix it myself and he said he trys to stay away from the RFX-6000 if at all possible as he has found them finicky and he recommends to use an IR Repeater instead if this can be accomodated in the setup. I am sure if you get comments from others the will praise the RFX-6000 and say it worked flawlessly for them. This was just my experience. Chances are if i had a different DVD player I would be saying the same thing. For me close but no cigar.
Question 4

The only anomolies I have experience are the occasional lockup requiring a reset of the device and the dissappearance of the occasional Icon from my config file. Neither earth shattering issues and as long as you back up your config often especially when you are modifying it this is a minor nusance.

As far as the latest software it all depends, timing is everything if Philips just happens to launch a new version of the editor and firmware and you get one that is already in the chanel you may have to upgrade. Mine was up-to-date when I got it howeve like anything with computers assume everything is out of date when you receive it and always check remotecentral.com or www.pronto.philips.com to ensure you have the latest and greatest firmware/editor before beginning.

P.S. I would highly recommend the charging cradle it makes it so much more convenient to keep your unit charged especially when doing programming as downloading chews up batteries quite quickly I am told.

Good luck in your decision making.

1. You need technical skills and aptitude.

2. It is easy learning codes. Generally speaking, it is quicker to learn teh codes yourself than to use what someone else has set up.

3. Don't quite understand your question. You cannot control devices using RF (with rare exceptions). The RFX 6000 works by the Pronto transmitting your code to the RFX600 (using RF) which in turn transmits to your device using IR. In theory, it does not make any difference if you transmit directly or via the RFX6000 - it is teh same code that is transmitted. As you have read, some people have no trouble with the RFX6000, others have some problems (usually caused by interference).

Do a search on "811" or similar. It comes up a lot. There are issues with this device.

4. Most problems have been resolved. A few people still have some problems, usually some codes don;' work.

5. Haven't heard that one. Unless you are referring to the editor losing graphics. That still happens, especially with older operating systems. Save frequently and to different file names each time.

no you don't. Also I would not call setting up a Pronto Programming it is much more like web development all you do is put images together and give them simple functions. It is also what makes it "harder" you need to decide what icons you want decide how to lay them out and wherre to find or create them. nothing that is technical or difficult but can easily be overwelming to some newbs. On the other hand what do you want to happen when you press play you want to send the play command to the DVD, so you add it to the command list. What do you do when you want to watch a DVD (turn on TV, turn on receiver, turn on DVD player, switch the receiver to the DVD input....) so you put all those commands in the "watch DVD" button


teaching codes to a Pronto is easy if they exist you might be able to find them in the file area here, but learning codes (if you need to) is theeasiest and fastest part of setting up a Pronto


it might come with the latest firmware r not. you can look at the file section and compare it to the one on the remote if the one in he file section is older don't do anything. if it is newer download from this site (or Philips) and use it to upgrade the remote


I have never experienced problems but like Peter said saving often and under different names is always a good idea (and it is not always the editors fault , "woops, that was not the button I wanted to delete " :-) )

As you have read, you can easily invest a week's effort or a lot more in creating your "perfect" Pronto program. Unless you value your time at very little, you should buy the TSU7000. I guarantee you will be much happier with it. The $300 more you will spend will disappear into the noise level when you take into account the amount of time you will be spending developing your program.

You do not need a computer science degree to program a Pronto, although it would certainly help. You need to be familiar with Windows, have a logical mindset, and be patient. The Pronto editing software is cumbersome (not difficult) to use, and even minor tasks sometimes seem to take forever to accomplish.

The payoff is in the end product. You can download the software for free from the Philips Pronto site or Remote Central. Do that and then download some of the designs that others have done and see what they look like. I especially recommend the designs of Andre du Fresne. They represent the ultimate in what can be accomplished.