Pronto TS1000
Pronto TSU3000
9/2/2006
Time to update this page.
Due to an unfortunate accident my original and much loved Pronto (TS1000) met its demise. It was dropped and the LCD cracked making it useles.
After having one remote do it all it was quite a drag juggling all the individual remotes.
After some thought and online investigation I replaced the original Pronto TS1000 with a Pronto TSU3000.
I would have loved to get a color Pronto but decided the cost wasn't worth it so I got the black and white version. This all
happened over a year ago, June 2005.
The 3000 has more physical buttons then the original allowing you to program more things that don't need to look at the
lcd. The 3000 also has more memory which may be useful as the number of devices controlled goes up. On the downside the
buttons don't feel very robust. The four way toggle isn't very percise, its easy to get an 'up' when your trying to press 'left'.
Also on the TS1000 the buttons were always active, on the 3000 the buttons are only active when the lcd is on. Which means the first
press after the lcd turns of doesn't do anything but turn on the lcd. It takes a second press to actually preform the desired
action.
On the programming side the 3000 is about the same as the 1000. I was able to transfer all my programming to the 3000 which was
nice.
Since getting the 3000, my AV setup has gotten more complicated. I got a 37" Toshiba HD LCD and two
Scientific Atlanta(SA) 8300HD DVRs to get the benefits of the HD LCD. Reprogramming the Pronto to support these devices was
straight forward and continue to be able to control the AV setup with one device.
As an aside, the cable companies don't have a clue about how DVRs are used. The both SA 8300HD use the same IR codes and have
no capability of having alternative codes. Tivo has four code sets. Panasonic DVDs have two. I know because I have had to use
these alternate sets. But the SA 8300HD does not. SA used to sell a device that would do this but I haven't been able to
find one. This is one problem that the Pronto can't solve.
2/8/2004
Well since writing the above I have acquired another Tivo, a DVD player,
a DVD Recorder,
an AV receiver to increase available video inputs and an electronic video switch
to again increase available video inputs. As these changes occured they
were easily accomodated through reprogramming of the Pronto. Without
the Pronto I would be up to 9 remotes.
There is now a whole family of Pronto's from the Pronto Neo a low end version
to a full color version.
9/16/2000
When I got the Tivo, I got one more remote. That made five, TV, Cable, Tivo, VCR and CD player. Most of the
time I only needed the Tivo remote, but when I wanted to watch cable direct I needed the cable remote plus the
TV remote to switch sources. Plus all five were laying around the living room. The answer was a truly universal
remote. In my case I got Phillips' Pronto remote. There
are others but I'm glad I got Pronto. You can program it control any device and because it uses an touch LCD display
you can design your buttons anyway you want. The Pronto may be the ultimate remote
Now with a second Tivo the Pronto proved its worth. Reprogramming Pronto to handle the new combinations possible
was straight forward.