I've had the Philips Pronto TSU9600 remote for a week now from last Saturday so I thought I write a review for people who are looking at purchasing
this remote.I've originally had the Logitech Harmony 1000i Remote but I decided to do the upgrade to the Philips(Boys and there toys I guess).
The remote itself is a nice sturdy remote with a good size screen.The Remote sits on a docking charger which
lights up when charging, looks great but when watching a movie can be annoying also.

I uploaded the software which was avaialble on disk and had a look at the manual which is 115 pages.
It also comes with quick start up guide to sort of get you going.

At first glance at looking at the program I thought to myself what the hell have I done, how on earth am I meant to program this
remote.Now I know why it has to be professionally programmed.You basically have a data base (like most remotes) or you can have
the remote learn the functions.You have a gallery where you basically decide what colour your background will be,the different
types of button,also which come in different colours and shapes.Designing it is the easy part.

The programming is what became a challenge you have what they call pronto script and I did not bother going there(Manual dd not help).
At first I thought oh this is going to be easy I got it by actioning all the button on the page I designed. Went to go and try and it did not work, and this it where I thought "Oh No I wasted my money." I basically perciveied throughout the night, I found the manual ridiculous, just not helpful at all.

I basically looked at one of there examples and was in shock horror to find that there was more to just simply actioning a remote button.

I finally got it by 4:00am Saturday morning, for someone who's knowledge in computers is very basic I say it's a damn good acheivement.
What you have to do is basically do what they call code pages for each device.These code pages have all the functions
that you need to operate a device at your convience.You then then design your page and link to each function on the code page.

As an example, I have designed a page for my denon amp.One button on my denon page is called setup.Now I have also designed a
code page for my denon amp(I just added buttons on this page that I was going to use on my denon like setup,thx,etc
and then action them, basically to action them you have the remote learn the code from the Denon remote or you look for setup in
the Denon database).What you then have to do with the setup button on the Denon design page I link it to the setup button on the denon code page and whoalah it works.After figuring it all out it does become very easy.Another thing when you do macros make sure you put delays in.

The remote itself is damn good and you can do so much the sky is the limit.Don't get me wrong the logitech Harmony 1000i is a good
remote but your only limited so much, for some thats ok but I found I was now using the Philips to control my system my way.It's worth
every penny but you have to have patients, because initially it takes awhile but then it becomes so easy.

Franin

Hi Franin,

Thanks for the review.

I have an Harmony 785, and while it's great, after a renovation it might get retired to the second room.

How do you think this would fair in a house with young children? Is it robust?

BTW, how much are we talking here.

Thanks


Chui

Seems quite robust but im not gain to have my children touch it.Get it from here B&H Photo UPS(which has a tracking system at much much cheaper rate compared to other competitors). Price here in OZ is $2500, when you see how much it's at B&H Photo you will realise that Australia has problems with it's pricing.

Same old story abour pricing

Thanks

Update on local pricing. My dealer says list pricing has recently been revised, now $2000 for the TSU9600 and $1000 for the RFX9600. Plus programming is at an houring rate. Unfortunately the reduced price is still more than double the price in the USA.

I was told I can get it for $1700 and thats meant to be a deal here but i still got it cheaper in the states also.

I have always been a fan of Pronto remotes. I recently sold my TSU3000 to a forum member (cwt) and was deciding what to do next. Was contemplating a Harmony 1000i, but after a couple of weeks thinking bout it decided to buy the colour version of my old one, the TSU7000. Beauty of course is my ccf/pcf file only needed a graphics change (from B&W to colour). Shame these remotes dont use ProntoScript as its pretty powerful what you can do with it.
Glad youre happy with it Franin!

I've just ordered the RF extender, I want to know do they require special calble for the rs232 or can you just buy them at dicksmiths? Do I ask for a rs232 cable or do they have a different name?

The RF extender, or the serial extender?

Whether you need a staright through or cross-over RS232 cable depends on the protocol of the device being controlled.

Whats the difference? Im controlling the hd-dvd players,the denon amp and the denon sd player.

This is the serial extender for RS232 control: http://www.pronto.philips.com/index.cfm?id=1307
This is the RF extender: http://www.pronto.philips.com/index.cfm?id=1305
For the TSU9600 to control devices by serial control you need the RFX9600, to extend the wireless range you need the RFX9400.
Whether you need a straight through DB9 serial cable (pin to pin), or a cross over DB9 serial cable, or whether you need to short some pins on the device (eg for the DVDO video scalers), depends on the control protocol for each device.

The Denon amp and DVD player will require a 9 pin straight cable (also know as mouse extension cable at Dick Smith).
Male one end and Female at the other.
The RS232 commands for the amp and DVD are available from the Denon and APG website.

do you just put the command in they givce you?

PWON<CR> they use that for power on.Do I type that in for AscII string?

Yes you type PWON then carrage return.

I'll send you a message with my email as I have already done a fair bit of the codes for a 4306, 3808 and a DVD 3930.

Hi there,

I saw that you must be a pro on this thing,... I have the remote and the serial extender, it works amazing, but I would like to control my Denon AVC-AX1XVA (AV surround Amplifier) throug the RS-232.

I have looked verywhere on the condig of the RS-232 port (on the pronto side, the Denon side I have), but I can not find it.

Furthermore I am the most basic RS-232 command user you will ever meet in your life,.... so It might be that i have the right cable but i do not know how to enter commands and stuff. can you help me a little here?

The email you send to the oFranin would be much appreciated :-)

Belgium, witch is realy the other side of the world would love aussies even more ;-)

Thx.

Walter

I am looking to buy the Pronto TSU9400. Unfortunately I'm not sure if all my devices have disctete on-off IR codes, so was planning to buy the serial extender (RFX9600) and use its power sensing option.

The Philips information on the RFX9600 says it is compatible with most power sensing modules. The wiring of the power sensing module seems to depend on whether it outputs a voltage, or acts as a relay. I have found one (http://www.lifestylestore.com.au/product.php?id=934&brand_id=89) by RTI, which appears to be the relay type.

My question is, does anyone know whether you can connect multiple relay-style power sensors and have them all work individually, given that the wiring for each separate one would have to connect to the common DC output on the back of the RFX9600?

The other soluition of course would be to have the Pronto remote remember the power state of each device. I have seen mentioned that this could be scripted, but no specific details how to do this. Does anyone know how to do this, to save needing to buy the serial extender and multiple power sensors?

Thanks heaps for any help!

guys this is the thread that helped me also.Mrfreeze aslo helped me, actually he helped me alot and I like thank him for that.

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboar...ntopro/list.cgi

This is a fourm for remotes.

every connection port on the RFX9600 and RFX9400 is individually addressable, so you can use a combination of the control ports to do what you need.

however there is usually ways around not having discrete codes if thats what your trying to achieve, test your devices to see if other buttons also turn them on, Play on a dvd player usually works, and numbers for a TV or set top box.

Had a look at the RFX9600, but couldn't seem to find out how I can send commands from a TSU7500 to it for then sending a command thru rs232 to a projector.

Am I missing something, as I couldn't seem to find a IR receiver on the RFX9600, which would receive commands sent from my 7500 ??

The RX9600 works by router.Works well with the tsu 9600

So basically you can not use the RFX9600 with a TSU7500 then? oh well.

The tsu7500 doesn't support wifi?

The RFX9600 & 9400 are only designed to work with the new 9400 & 9600 remotes.

the editing software for the old remotes cant identify the current extenders or address the ports.

That's a damn shame then, as I'm hoping to control my projector via it's serial port, as I can then have a discrete on/off, as well as directly go to different modes.


I did see somewhere that claimed that the TSU7500 would work with a RFX9600, and that's what got me interested in it, as IR to Serial converters are hard to find, particulary if you try to find something in Australia.

Franin, was it hard to get your tsu9600 thru customs? Is there a lot of paperwork or excess fees to pay ontop as far as import costs? How long did it take to get urs from the u.s?

I had no problems at all getting my tsu9600 and rfx9600 through, no extra charges..
Think it took about a week by memory, if that..

ditto

ditto to the ditto.

Did anybody actually buy their Pronto gear in Australia?