Anyone have a color Pronto? (1 Viewer)

[Brian Perry]

I haven't seen any recent comments regarding the color Pronto. Does anyone here have one? If so, how do you like it? Are there any negatives other than the high price? (I'm seeing around $600 on eBay.)
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Home Theater Pictures

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

If you haven't already check out this review at Remote Central. You can also download the latest ProntoPro Edit to see what the CCFs look like in action. I'm still waiting to see Daniel Tonks' from RC - judging from the screenshots in his review it looks fantastic.
So far as weaknesses the biggest really is the price as you mention. From the perspective of what it can do relative to other control systems like Crestron et al it's actually a bargain. But most won't see it that way. Beyond that I would have liked to see an active matrix screen vs. dual scan. The latter is slow to respond and nowhere near as crisp as active. At the same price point an active screen would be much, much more compelling for me.
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--Jay
"No one can hear when you're screaming in digital."
My Home Theatre Pictures...
"You're no messiah. You're, you're a movie of the week. You're a ... t-shirt, at best."

 

[Brett_B]

Brian,
I'm not sure if you are interested or not, but Marantz will be releasing their version of the color Pronto. Here is the link:
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Brett B.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

I noticed what is probably the coolest feature of the Marantz model on that link:

Supplied with a RF to IR Blaster for custom install (Up to 4 can be used to control IR based equipment in your room)

As far as I know the ProntoPro has RF capability but no such hardware to adapt to IR based components (ie. buy it separately). Does anyone know otherwise?
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--Jay
"No one can hear when you're screaming in digital."
My Home Theatre Pictures...
"You're no messiah. You're, you're a movie of the week. You're a ... t-shirt, at best."

 

[Brett_B]

Here are some more links to the new remotes from Marantz:
http://www.dba-pr.com/clients/marant.../remotes01.htm
http://www.remotecentral.com/wn010904.htm
Hope this helps.
Brett B.

 

[Mike Breeden]

Did you see the MSRP for the Marantz? ~1200.00 USD
Wow

 

[Jim Lenneman]

Jay,
To the best of my knowledge (pretty sure of this) the Pronto Pro will transmit RF to the base station. The base station will "decode" the RF signal and re-transmit in IR. You can control your devices in another room without additional equipment provided you have a clear line of site from the base station to your device for the IR signal. The base station receives RF but then basically serves as an IR "blaster".
Some of the misconceptions on the Pro are that it will control RF devices and that it can learn RF commands. Neither of these is the case.
There are also some "quirks" in the implementation of the RF feature. i.e. no RF on the homepage, and no mixing of RF and IR within a macro (or maybe even on the same device/device page, not absolutely sure of this). Having said this, the new software that came out may have changed these limitations.
Basically, I'm saying the Pro (with the optional RF module)works the same way as the Marantz unit is projected to.
Jim L
[Edited last by Jim Lenneman on November 12, 2001 at 12:51 PM]
[Edited last by Jim Lenneman on November 12, 2001 at 12:53 PM]
[Edited last by Jim Lenneman on November 12, 2001 at 12:55 PM]

 

[Brian Bunge]

I should have my free one on it's way to my house this week. I'll let you know what I think!
Brian

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

More about the Marantzes here:
http://www.remotecentral.com/cedia01/marantz.htm
Look very nice indeed, except for the price of course. Ouch.
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/Kimmo

 

[Michael Lee]

I have one but I have not used its RF capabilites yet, if any. There are some quirks about not being able to do RF from the home page or something like that.
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[GregH]

Just to clarify there is a seperate RF base station you can buy which has 4-IR ports on it that you can then plug 2-headed IR connectors into that allows for control of 8 devices. I believe there are 3 different RF freqs. so you could control 24 devices remotely. Looking at ProntoPro I don't see anything that would keep you from mixing and matching, but I haven't played with the RF station at all yet.
Regarding the Pro versus the 1000 or 2000 I don't feel there's any comparison. The older Prontos can be very difficult to read and nearly impossible in some lighting scenarios. The color Pronto is very bright and easy to see plus the addition of color allows for some awesome GUIs. As a nice touch it comes with a far superior base station that you can use to load the Pronto while it's docked.