There hasn't been any firmware updates in months although the 3000 still has many unresolved issues. Anyone heard of any upcoming update?

The last update was last month - though software only.

My guess is that the 3000 product line doesn't justify much more investment. If I can find the right people to talk to at Philips next week at CES, I'll post what I learn on this forum.

The 3000 firmware hasn't been updated since April 1, 2004. Will the 3000 get any of the recent ProntoPro improvements? That's what we want to know.

This message was edited by onward on 12/31/04 22:54 ET.

It justifes the investment if Philips cares about customer loyalty and good word-of-mouth. Maybe they don't. I invested around $400 and countless hours into programming the 3000. They really expect me to fork over more cash to buy the latest and greatest, based on my experience with the 3000?

I bought the 3000, based on the overall quality of the 2000, that they listened to customer feedback, and released timely bug fixes. With the 3000, they added more buttons, but refused to give us full control over them. They degraded the IR learning capability and transmission speed. They added a ridiculous half second delay after every IR command, and so far have refused to at least cache the button presses to compensate for it. We're lucky if we get one firmware update a year, and they give us virtually no idea when the next release may or may not be released and what fixes we can expect. They release firmware updates that are so poorly tested, they break existing functionality and require additional updates to fix. I don't care if some of these items may have been fixed in the 7000. I'm not buying any more Philips remotes.

This message was edited by onward on 12/31/04 23:23 ET.

onward,

I share some of your thoughts on Philips support. Previously to acquiring my 3000, I had purchased a Harmony remote. Unfortunately, although I think the Harmony is miles ahead of other "somewhat intelligent" remotes, it didnt allow macro programmability. BUT, in terms of marketing and support, it was amazing.

I wonder if the apparent lack of support for its client base isn't due in part to the core engineering team being in the Netherlands (as far as I know).

This is a product with amazing (untapped) potential. I would think the margins on this product would allow better marketing and development. But then again, this division is part of a bigger corp where profits may be channeled.

Could it also be a situation where there is a lack of serious competition?

It's too bad that these products are offered by consumer product divisions. Support would likely be a lot better if the remotes were offered by computer units. Unfortunately, Philips exited the computer biz years ago, and its support organization went with it.

Programmable remotes are undoubtedly perceived as a small niche market. As such, none of the big consumer electronics companies will have much more than a passing interest in the genre. Sony's Navitus is a case in point.

Unfortunately, this has turned into mostly a ProntoPro NG (TSU7000/RU980) discussion forum, making it even easier for Philips to ignore the Pronto NG (TSU3000/RU950) owners. I suggested before that Daniel make a separate forum for the Pronto NG. It's still a good idea IMO, since they really are different both in hardware and software, Philips puts out firmware releases for them on different schedules, and they each use completely different versions of PENG. Neither side wants to wade through posts for remotes they don't own.

This message was edited by onward on 01/01/05 16:31 ET.

I agree on the separation of the forum! I would also like to see an update for the TSU3000, especially I like to see added is the not have the main screen turn on by using the lower buttons!!!

I don't know, if you look at it, bug fixes and added features are added to one remote/SW and then ported to the next one, don't forget they are working on the Pronto/ProntoPro, Marantz version of each of those remotes and the iPronto.