Pronto vs Palm vs HTM MX-500 and Touchscreen vs Buttons for Remote (1 Viewer)

[Brett DiMichele]

Gee Oli that's odd..
You can program the hard buttons on the Pronto to use as
your cursor buttons for DVD and CD tracks.. Ehh whatever
floats your boat
Charlie,
What the heck is that thing, Looks like the keypad for
a cheap "Female Adult Toy" Heheh
------------------

Brett DiMichele
My Home Theater Site!
[email protected]

 

[Jack F]

I'm ready to go on record as another Pronto hater. I had one for about a year. Sold it when I bought my Denon 5800. I'm one of the few who preferred the Atkis to the pronto.
The Pronto 1000 I had is just plain butt ugly. The graphics stink. The screen stinks. Its too darn small for my big fingers and its to slow going from page to page.
I ordered a MX-500 to try out. I think I'm going to retire the Atkis and go back to buttons.
Another thing I hated about the Pronto is having to hit a button to wake it up before you could hit the button you needed to. Thats if its on the screen that pops up when you awaken it. The Atkis shares that drawback as well.
The ONLY thing I liked about the pronto is being able to download device files. I don't mind having to learn signals from another remote, but when you don't have the other remote, being able to download a file comes in handy. Thats why I learned all of the X-10 and my Sony Projector remote into the Atkis.
I should have my MX-500 tomorrow. It will be a while before I get it set up and retire the Atkis to the drawer.
Jack
[Edited last by Jack F on November 15, 2001 at 04:37 PM]

 

[Todd Hochard]

A well-designed GUI can eliminate virtually all of the problems mentioned about the Pronto.
Navigate buttons? No problem. On their respective screens (TV, DVD, HD box, VCR, Replay), all the navigate (up, down, left, right, select) are in the same exact physical loaction on the screen. They are spaced physically apart such that I hardly ever miss. Problem solved.
Even still, I would prefer a joystick on the bottom of the Pronto (with a push to enter feature, like Sony remotes).
Additionally, the only buttons that I have to use my fingernail for are the ReplayTV keyboard. I have the ENTIRE keyboard on one screen, so this is easily understandable.
I've not played with the 500. Can I create 22 complex (>10 step) macros, ending on a certain device, with buttons for various devices on that same "page?" If not, it wouldn't work for me.
To each his own, I suppose. My next remote will be a Color Pronto, with the joystick. I hope someone is designing it.
Todd

 

[OliverG]

Brett,
your jokes smoke
o-dog
[Edited last by OliverG on November 15, 2001 at 05:40 PM]

 

[NickSP]

My vote goes for the MX-500 too. I have used both the Pronto and the MX-500 and feel that the MX-500 is a much easier remote to own and is very wife friendly too. Needless to say much easier on the batteries.

 

[george kaplan]

First of all, I have to say that a well-programmed pronto does not make it at all difficult to navigate through menus. My menu navigation screen on my pronto has huge up/down/left/right virtual buttons that I use all the time without having to look at the remote each time. And there are all kinds of pages I have where I make judicious use of the hard buttons. For instance, once a dvd is playing, the right button on the bottom is pause, and the left is play. Not at all hard.
I suggest that we stop this debate and argue about something much less contentious like whether or not monster cables make a difference.
------------------
13-time NBA world champion Lakers: 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1972, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001

 

[Geo]

My vote goes for the MX-500 also. I have used the Pronto and
MX-500. The MX-500 is much easier to use for the entire family and is still very powerful and flexible.
geo

 

[Chuck Kent]

David: Touchscreen vs. buttons???
A subjective, personal decision. I have found that I want the tactile reponse from buttons. I also value the ability to run many different functions without having to look at the remote. The MX-500 you mention more than fits the bill for me. (I don't really need much in the macro department but the MX-500 can have up to 15.)
My best advice is to test these models out if you can before you spend your hard earned dough. Like many of us, I think you'll find that you have a clear preference.
------------------

 

[GregoriusM]

1) Why is it that even the OWNERS of the AKTIS remote can't spell it correctly?
2) The Color Pronto with a Joystick is called the Marantz 9200.
3) There is no perfect remote.
4) Macs are better than WinTels anyday.
5) No one is going to tell me that the Pronto is as ergonomic as the MX-500 whether or not the Pronto is arguably more versatile in programming. (Wait for the MX-700)
6) If you really want the WAF, then you should be looking at HER and not the remote!
I will now take questions............
------------------
.... "just me up on my pony on my boat".

 

[Brian O]

Good deal on the MX 500 here. Anyone had any experience with this vendor?
http://www.rrdeals.com/mx-500.shtml
------------------
[Edited last by Brian O on November 16, 2001 at 11:31 PM]

 

[Brian O]

DP
[Edited last by Brian O on November 16, 2001 at 11:30 PM]

 

[george kaplan]

This morning I was using my pronto to search for shows with my Replay TV, and I would like those who say their hard button remotes can do everything the pronto can, to explain to me how you'd do this.
If you're not familiar with replay tv, when you want to search, in my case for Hitchcock, you go to a screen that has all the letters and numbers on the tv. You then have to hit the right, left, up or down buttons to go to the letter you want, and press enter, and then move to the next letter, etc. I don't know how many presses of the remote it would take to get to Hitchcock, but it's easily over 50 or 60.
With my pronto, I have a ccf that actually has a qwerty keyboard and each letter has a discrete code. So for E, instead of hitting left arrow 5 times and then up arrow twice, I just press one button, E, on my pronto.
Now, you may have guessed that these buttons on my pronto are very small, and yes, I have to use the stylus from my palm to get this to work. However, the point is I can with 9 presses of my pronto do what I believe it would take at least 60 presses of your hard button remote. Since I do this often, and search for many movies, this by itself saves me far more time than I might spend looking down for 1/2 sec at my remote on occasion.
So how do you do this same thing with the 500?
------------------
13-time NBA world champion Lakers: 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1972, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001

 

[Todd Hochard]

The Color Pronto with a Joystick is called the Marantz 9200.

I did not know that. Then again, I wasn't looking.
Now, I just have to wait for the price to come WAY down.
Todd