Posted by Daniel Tonks on March 23, 2004 at 1:00 AM
Quietly and without any sort of official press release, Sony has recently “announced” two new touchscreen remote controls: the
RM-AV2500 and the
RM-AV3100. The RM-AV3100 is nearly identical to its RM-AV3000 predecessor, but features upgraded software with several new features. The RM-AV2500, on the other hand, is a completely new physical design that is functionally similar to the older RM-AV2100. Both remotes are not yet available, but should be shipping shortly.
Here are the details available for now (updated March 24th):
RM-AV2500: Click to enlarge.
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Sony RM-AV2500:
- Controls up to 12 components
- Blue LCD backlighting
- Glow-in-the-dark component selection keys
- Menu cursor hard buttons
- Full code learning
- Updated preprogrammed codes & Sony discrete codes
- 24 macros with up to 32 steps each: 12 system macros and 12 component select macros
- Channel macros
- Key aliasing
- Beam Interval: prevent accidental key presses
- Duplicate remote-to-remote
- Locks for remote operation or settings
- Dimensions (WxHxD): 4.5” x 7.0” x 1.5”
- Weight: 8.64 ounces (without batteries)
- $149 MSRP
Sony RM-AV3100:
- Micro macros have been expanded into a fully supported feature!
- Updated preprogrammed codes
- Key aliasing
- Beam Interval: prevent accidental key presses
- $199 MSRP
Also, a note to those of you eagerly awaiting the new
Sony Navitus RM-NX7000 color touchscreen remote control: it’s coming!
[ Talk about Sony remotes! ]
Forum improvements!
Over the weekend, several tweaks and changes have been made to the forum system:
- New navigation bar: A new “you are here”-type text bar running along the top of all forum pages better indicates where in the forum system you currently are, and provides quick links back to the master forum listing, or only those forums under a particular category.
- Forum toolbox: The information presented at the top of the main forum index has been rearranged into a less confusing format. You’ll also find additional information: the current number of verified forum members (currently over 25,000!), along with the most recent user to join Remote Central.
- New search option: Think you can remember the subject line of the post you’re looking for, but can’t find the post? Well, it’s now possible to search through just thread subject lines! Since this method takes far less server work, a search of the entire forum – all 68,000+ threads of it – can be done in a single run! Since subject lines are so important, I strongly suggest that posters beginning a new thread use a subject line that makes sense!
- Faster searches: The forum search index program has been modified to make better use of the new server’s capabilities. Searches encompassing all forums should now complete much quicker, and searches of smaller forums should complete in a single run!
- Other tweaks: Numerous other small tweaks have also been made. For instance: modified forums search results page links; changed time display on the forum index; corrected “back” links on edit/reply forms for multi-page threads; corrected bug in account program that could have deleted information; made the “find author’s recent posts” search smarter; plus more.
I’m always changing things on Remote Central, even though I rarely make news announcements about them. For example, one of the most fluid areas on the site is the File Archive. Did you know that there’s now a “
Miscellaneous Files” section for remote control manuals (
email me with your PDF remote manuals!) and other files that don’t fall under the main categories? And that the “Downloading File” page now properly detects missing files, displays the correct file sizes, and has a new broadband time estimation? Or that file area searches that don't find anything to your query now provide an option to search through
all remote areas at once? Or how about the recent improvements to the “
Top Download Files” page? There’s always something new to find!
That childhood favorite is back in a new Timmy video.