Philips TSU9400 Pronto Remote Control Review
Philips TSU9400 Pronto is perhaps one of the most expensive universal remote on the market. Pricing in at over $500.00 at most retailers, the Pronto is not for average users. It’s aimed at professional installers or hardcore home theater enthusiasts. The Pronto offers limitless customization and options. This makes it appealing to more advanced users but not so for novice users.
Features
The Pronto boasts 3.5 inch QVGA color touch screen and is somewhere between tablet and conventional remote control. The remote control can control both RS232 or IP devices as well as IR. It also comes with built in wireless capability, 802.11g. This is helpful if you have HTPC set up as you can control HTPC via this remote without any additional equipment. You can access files on your computer via the touch screen. The remote control is essentially a mini computer disguised as remote control.
Design
This not your every day remote control. The remote control itself has large LCD screen and very few buttons. The directional pad, volume, and channel buttons are few that are present on the unit. The primary method of operation is via touch screen. The focal point of the remote is the touch screen control and not the button control.
Ease of programming
The programming is lot more complicated than the Logitech’s programming. You connect the remote control to the PC via USB. You can set and download configuration with the included software called ProntoEdit. Philips provides various templates you can modify. You assign graphic buttons to do various functions. You can assign various macro functions to run several devices at once. In that sense, the programming is similar to activity based programming of Logitech's remote. The learning curve is a lot steeper for using ProntoEdit as it requires more understanding. If you can’t find the code, the remote can learn all the functions from existing remotes. Novice users can learn to use it but setting up can get difficult.
Ease of use
Out of the box, the remote is glorified paper weight. You cannot start using it without configuring it first on your PC. Once you program it, it takes good few days to get around all the menus and options to properly use this remote. You can purchase optional RF extender if you need the remote to reach hidden or stowed away devices. With the large LCD display, the battery tends to drain pretty fast. You will need to recharge it every night if you intend to use it more than few hours at a time.
As I’ve said before, this remote is not for everyone. The programming might get too complicated for novice users. Also, the actual usage takes some time getting used to. If you are tech savvy, you will really appreciate all the options and flexibility of this remote. Average users will most likely want to stick with Harmony as it is lot easier to program and use.
Pros
- Large LCD
- Flexibility
- Plethora of options
- Rechargeable system
Cons
- Battery life
- Complicated
- Expensive
This site contains the personal opinions of various authors and contributors to this website. The opinions in these articles and reviews are offered in good faith, but also come with no guarantees or warranties.
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Coolest thing since sliced bread!
I purchased this remote when I put my new surround system in the house. The software (ProntoEdit)that is used to program the remote is very easy to use once you understand the whole process of the programming. Basically, you have screens that you put graphics [buttons] on and assign them functions. The easiest thing to do is to play with the templates that come with the system. Phillips has provided the remote codes for literally hundreds of existing remotes for industry products. For me, unfortunately, not one of my electronic pieces was listed probably because they are all very new and/or too esoteric items. This is no problem at all as the remote (software) can easily learn any code simply by attaching the USB cable that came with it to the Pronto and your computer and selecting to learn the code by pointing your old remote at the Pronto and pressing the key you wish to learn. You can have it learn an entire remote in 10 to 20 minutes depending on how fast you can type the descriptions. It’s simply amazing how cool this thing is and the flexibility you have to make it do what you want and look how you want it. With the software, you can change anything on the remote any time and simply upload it to the remote. You will be using the remote and decide that you would like to move a key or have a new one on your layout. This is something that you can do easily. If you have a laptop computer, it’s even nicer. You can sit in your easy-chair on a Sunday afternoon watching TV and get your remote programmed the way you like it. It will take more time than that if you have several remotes to set up as you will probably change the menus and button designs a time or two before you get things laid out the way you want them. At any rate, this remote will do it all. Be sure to upload the most current Firmware to your Pronto. This is very easy to do: go to the Phillips website and download the newest one and click on it. It will tell you the current one your Pronto has (make sure your remote is hooked to your PC via the USB cable) and if you want it to put the new one on. Click the yes and it will do it seamlessly. One word of caution: You will need a Microsoft based PC to run the ProntoEdit software and you MUST program the remote to use it – this is not for simpletons!
The best remote you can buy
I recently bought a harmony remote. There was no flexibility in programming it. It could not completely replace the other 5 remotes. The result was to have to use 6 remotes. With the Philips remote, all my old remotes are now in storage. This device is amazing. True you have to have some computer skills to set it up, but programming is not a requirement. It does not require you to learn java script to get it set up. At first you might have difficulties in doing the design, but once you tackle one remote at a time, it becomes simple. The results are well worth the time spent.
Terrible
You virtually need a course to program this thing. I do not recommend it for anyone. I tried to figure the thing out for about two hours with little progress. It went back the same day. I bought the thing to make life a little easier and instead I paid premium money for a headache.
Best remote on the market
I upgraded to the TSU-9400 from an older Pronto. What an improvement. The addition of wireless makes all the difference. I control my a plasma tv, surround sound receiver, CD player, CD recorder, DVD juke box and Mac Mini/Squeezebox music server. I purchased ProntoSqueeze to control the music server via wireless and nolonger use another laptop for that purpose.
The build quality is great, programming is fairly easy once you get started. The response time is very fast and the wireless signal better than any of my laptops.
It is a blast to own and use!
A powerful, highly flexible remote, but pricey
First off, I rated this product 4 instead of 5 stars for being pricey. Not the best value considering I paid around $800 for it including the RFX-9400 RF extender.
That said, this is one great universal remote. I am not a professional installer but I am reasonably computer literate and comfortable enough setting up and configuring my home theater gear. If I can set this thing up, anyone can. It just takes more time and it pays off handsomely if you do a lot of homework first. As the other reviewers indicated, it does not come set up out of the box. Before I attempted to set it up, I read the instructions many times, got on the fantastic website Remotecentral.com, read the many Pronto Professional posts, and downloaded the outdated but still useful Pronto Setup Guide. Then, I played with the Pronto Configuration software for about an hour a day for two weeks. Finally, I jumped in, used the powerful learning feature to learn commands from my 6 other remotes, and started making modest changes to the macros and graphics already loaded in the sample .CCF file. In all, it took me about a good month to get a useable configuration I was comfortable enough with that would allow me to put away the other remotes and allow other family members to use it without trouble. Now, I just tweak it now and then to make further use of its capabilities. Each time, it gets easier. There is no “programming” involved if you don’t want to get too fancy. It’s just a matter of following available menus and features contained in the software. There is the ability to take advantage of the Prontoscript commands that can be truly programmed into it, but it’s only necessary if you want to get into some serious power capabilities. So far, we haven’t needed to take advantage of that powerful feature. That part does require knowledge of Javascript or the services of a professional installer.
As for the unit’s performance, I can’t say enough. It’s very easy to use, once you set it up to your liking. You’re limited only by the logic in which you set it up. With the RF extender, I can easily operate any pieces of equipment without having to point it anywhere, without having to be in the media room itself. Even those pieces that I still just operate with IR capability, the radiation pattern of this remote is extremely wide, beyond 180 degrees. About 3 times over 6 months, the wireless link was lost between the remote and the extender, making it inoperable. A simple power recycle of the extender quickly solved the problem. That’s the only problem we encountered.
Battery life and charging the unit is no problem. We simply use it all day and whenever it’s not in use, we set it in the recharging cradle. Can’t get much easier than that. The display is gorgeous and between the buttons you set up on the touch screen and those hard buttons below the screen, you have amazing flexibility to set up any functions you want. We’ve set up several redundant functions between hard and soft buttons to allow use without having to even look at the screen. The sky is the limit.
Highly recommend it if you can get past the priceyness. Then again, if you have already put a sizeable investment into your home theater, this is a worthwhile upgrade that will certainly add that “Wow” factor.
Good Unit – Expensive, but you get ultimate control
I am a professional installer and I have installed many pronto units for my clients. I have been installing prontos for over 10 years.
Pros:
The unit is nice looking.
It is ultimately customizable in that every icon, image, background, etc. can be customized with your own images. The display contrast is very good and there are a number of ‘hard’ buttons (soft buttons are the ones that are configured on the touch screen) to control almost any aspect of your home theater system. It definitely takes a day to program the unit (it is basically unusable out of the box as the pre-configured devices are for Philips branded AMP, TV, etc.)
Cons:
Complicated setup – Not for the novice. It will take over a day to get it working on your system (as you have to learn how to use their software to configure the device) and beleive me that explaning the options and how to use the unit to a client takes longer than actually programming the unit. The software does feature a ‘simulation’ mode where you can test your screens and navigation on the computer before you download the configuration to the unit via USB. The body of the unit is VERY Slick and slippery – it is coated with a clear epoxy that is very hard to hold and the unit WILL break if it hits your tile floor. Unsure about the battery life, but I expect it is a battery drainer with it’s high-contrast display. The unit is quite large (not as big as the TSU-7500 in width), but still quite large. The current price on Amazon ($699) is not bad as the old discontinued TSU-7500 also used to cost $699. This is a much better unit than the TSU-7500. You will need a VERY solid flat surface on which to position the charging base and unit for charging (it is a little top-heavy when the unit is on the charger and tends to fall over if not set on a hard flat surface. The unit has a JOG dial, but you can only use it with their Media Server. The unit has built-in WI-FI and it works (you can even stream live TV to the unit’s display (check out YouTube for sample videos)) and the RF Extender (purchased separately) will allow you to control devices even in another room.
All in all a good unit. I don’t think I would own one myself as it is too big and too expensive to use every day due to potential for droppage/breaking a VERY expensive unit. I would rather own a $100 unit that if it drops and breaks, I won’t cry over it. But as long as my clients can afford them, I will install them. The software is the biggest issue I have. It is complicated and unless you know what you are doing, it is nearly impossible to setup for the non-technical computer user.
This is no logitech harmony
The Philips TSU9400 is a very impressive remote control, capable of many things when configured correctly.
HOWEVER it is not a Logitech Harmony (I also own a Harmony 990) or another consumer targeted universal remote. This is neither a criticism, not a complement. This is targeted towards either AV installation specialist or very advanced users.
On the plus side it offers a large touch screen and enormous configurability. The device can be programmed to do almost anything using JavaScript. The configuration/programming tools are fairly good.
On the negative side, you may have to program the device in JavaScript or have to dive through huge databases of IR (infrared) codes for devices. Much of the database is not very easy to navigate. This is one area Philips aught to improve.
All in all, this is a very impressive remote, but count on spending a number of hours setting it up. If you are not comfortable writing some JavaScript you may be limited on what the remote can do.
Also check out the forums at http://www.remotecentral.com for more information.