Anyone have the Pronto TSU 500? (1 Viewer)

[Luke_Y]

Anyone have the Pronto TSU 500? If so are you happy with it? Run into any major limitations?

I can't justify the price of one of the higher end Prontos right now but I would like to make the family room system easier for the fiancee to use. I also really like the hard button layout on the TSU 500.

I don't mind investing the time to set up all the macros and such (I'll do it at work ) just wondering if this remote will be powerful/versatile enough.

 

[Kevin Golding]

I got the TSU500 as an early Christmas present, and absolutely love it. It will take a while to set it up, but the the customization possibilities are endless and the NEOedit software is pretty easy to use. Visit remotecentral for tons of files - custom buttons, channel logos, component codes, etc. Get NEOHacker and you can input Pronto discrete codes and change the default start screen. My startup screen has macros to watch TV, watch a DVD, Power Off, etc. The family has found it very easy to use. Download NEOedit and a few ncf files from remotecentral, and run NEOemulator within the program to get a feel for how it works.

I think it's a great combination of touch screen and hard buttons, and finally retired my trusty RS 15-1994 to the bedroom system.

 

[Luke_Y]

Thanks Kevin. If I understand you correctly there is a Start Screen or Home Screen that you can't change with the NEOedit software? Can you point me toward the NEOHacker software somewhere so I can check it out?

Anyone else with some comments, good or bad?

 

[Kevin Golding]

When you add your first device, NEOEdit creates a Device Overview page. This page (or pages, depending on the number of devices you have) has a button for each device in your ncf file. Push the button for TV, for example, and the screen changes to the first page you've set up under TV. The hard button on the far right just below the touchscreen always takes you to the first Device Overview page. This page is re-created every time you save your ncf file, so you can't do much with it.

Enter NEOHacker. It's a java applet that lets you specify which device you want as your startup screen. I have a device called Main Page, with a couple pages of macros. You can find NEOHacker at remotecentral.com here. You'll also need a Java runtime environment, like the one here. Once you've saved a "hacked" copy of your ncf, load it in NEOHacker and download it to the remote. Don't make any other changes in NEOEdit to your hacked ncf, or it will re-create the default device overview.

In a month of heavy use, I've found two gripes: The IR emitter stops just short of the bottom of the remote, so I have to tilt the remote down a little for my vcr on the bottom shelf to see it. Second, the remote has locked up about once a week. Pulling a battery out for about 10 seconds seems to reboot it just fine (you don't lose any of your programming).

 

[Luke_Y]

Can you change the hard button functions depending on the "Device Pg." you are on?

 

[Kevin Golding]

Yes, all except the far left and far right buttons directly below the touch screen. The left one gets you into setup mode, and the right one takes you back to your startup page.