April 2005 Reviewed by Jeff Van Dyne	Philips Pronto NG TSU3000 Remote Control

Description Dimensions: 6"L x 3.6"W x 1.1"D Weight: 6.8 ounces Price: $399 USD Warranty: One year parts and labor Features Silver-metallic ABS housing Blue, backlit 3.8" monochrome LCD with 320x240 pixels, 16 gray scales, and digital contrast control High-sensitivity touchscreen 4MB of nonvolatile flash memory USB port connector for PC link

Features (cont'd) Programmable cursor plus 15 hard buttons Built-in universal infrared code database for more than 500 brands Four power LEDs for sending infrared codes One-way communication to control IR devices that are out of line of sight (requires RF extender) Customizable user interface Full-screen configurability Virtually unlimited number of macros (up to 250 steps per macro) CD-ROM with ProntoEdit PC software USB cable for PC connection Four AAA batteries included

It seems as if I’m forever in search of the perfect remote control. The driving forces behind this are the ever-increasing complexity of my various audio and video systems and the incredibly poor ergonomics of the vast majority of remotes supplied with the individual components. Oh, sure, things are getting better overall, and there are exceptions, but let’s face it: Most OEM remotes are just plain awful. Some are so bad that I wonder if their designers have even heard of the science of ergonomics.

My quest began a few years ago with the purchase of a Home Theater Master SL-8000, which was soon followed by a programmable version, the SL-9000. Each was a decent remote with a couple of major flaws. About a year and a half ago, the SL-9000 was replaced by the Home Theater Master MX-500. While this model was a major step forward in ergonomics and macro capability, what really got my attention was the LCD screen at the top of the remote. This allowed me to create custom buttons to handle those oddball commands that are somehow always missing from "universal" remotes. The flies in the ointment turned out to be the five-character limit of the text-only labels for the buttons, and a less-than-intuitive method for invoking macros off the LCD panel.

The MX-500 was a step in the right direction, but it got me thinking about what might be possible with one of the fully customizable remotes from the Philips Pronto line. Eventually, I gave in to my curiosity and ordered the Philips Pronto NG TSU3000. It’s the current top-of-the-line gray-scale LCD version, but at $399 USD, it’s not exactly cheap.

The lowdown

As remote controls go, the Pronto NG TSU3000 is a substantial chunk of plastic that provides probably the most powerfully programmable remote control south of $500. Everything is configurable within the confines of a 320x240-pixel monochrome LCD. You get 4MB of memory to hold the graphics and programs. What commands you create are limited by few factors outside of your imagination, artistic and design skills, and the limitations inherent in your existing components. This is compelling enough justification that anyone with $400 to blow on a remote control owes themselves a look at the TSU3000.

One issue with full LCD remotes is power. They use lots of it, and the TSU3000 is no exception. Its standard power source is four AAA batteries, but I strongly recommend replacing these with the optional DS3000 docking base and rechargeable battery ($79). In my experience, the TSU3000 eats a set of AAAs in less than a month of normal use. True, you can buy a lot of batteries for the price of the DS3000, but it’s annoying when your remote goes dead in the middle of a movie every few weeks and you have to hunt down fresh batteries.

The first thing you should do after unpacking your TSU3000 is to download and install the latest versions of the software and remote firmware from the Philips website. Early versions of the software had more bugs than a Mississippi swamp and should be bypassed altogether. My first attempts at using the original software were met with constant program crashes and difficulties in communicating with the remote.

No pain, no gain

The Pronto NG TSU3000 is capable of doing just about anything a remote can do, but be prepared to spend a lot of time programming it -- several hours or even days, if you want a fully customized setup for a complex system. A built-in library of predefined commands for more than 500 brands gives you access to the basic infrared codes for each device. This saves the time it would take to teach the TSU3000 all the commands from the components’ original remotes. Unfortunately, the software offers little or nothing in the way of quick setup features. There are no predefined graphics panels for different device types, which means that every button from each original remote must be independently created and programmed. When you consider that the average remote has from 25 to 70 buttons, some with multiple functions, and then extend that to the four or five components a small system is likely to have, you begin to understand the task at hand.

The good news is that you don’t necessarily have to start from scratch -- other owners freely share their own designs and device libraries at websites such as Remote Central. This is a terrific resource for ideas and initial layouts. Setting up the TSU3000 will still require a few hours’ work to customize the panels and program your own components into each of the Pronto’s buttons, but that’s a lot less than having to create all your own graphics and panels.

If you find that none of the available designs fully suits your needs, two options remain. Philips includes a basic graphics library that can be used to create buttons and panel elements, but it’s meager at best. If you want to create your own custom buttons, you’ll need an external graphics package. I found that a combination of Liatro Button Maker and a photo-editing package such as Microsoft’s Digital Imaging Suite or Adobe PhotoShop works well. If this sounds like a lot of work, it is. First, you need to spend $100 or more on additional software, and then you have to learn how to use it before you can begin to create your own designs. I suggest exhausting all other options before heading down this path, but it’s there if you desire a truly custom solution.

Over the course of the last several months I’ve been down all of these paths. I started out with a design based on one I found on the Web. However, I found some of the buttons to be too small to hit reliably, and my wife had a hard time reading the text on many of them. I went back to the drawing board and built my own design based on a mix of my own graphics and those supplied by Philips. I started by determining which features we regularly use for each device, and thereby cut the number of buttons on each panel to a bare minimum. Buttons used less often were moved to secondary pages. To improve use and readability, I opted for larger buttons with high contrast between the button and the text on it. The beauty of this remote is that it can condense the available commands of a very complex system to a few that are incredibly easy to use and require little knowledge of the remote or the system it controls.

The workout

At 6" by 3.6" by 1.1", the Pronto NG TSU3000 is a little chubby, and requires two-handed operation for most functions. There are a few hard buttons that can be pressed by the thumb of the right hand, but, due to the remote’s shape and the placement of the buttons, even this is awkward. As for the hard buttons, the cursor pad below the screen is pretty easy to work with, though the graphic icons surrounding the pad are less than intuitive. Along the right side of the LCD screen are five buttons: Channel Up/Down, Mute, and Volume Up/Down. Unfortunately, they have little in the way of distinguishing features. Sure, there are shallow raised areas and indentations on the + and - keys for the volume and channel controls, but in such low relief as to render the buttons nearly indistinguishable by feel alone. Months after buying my TSU3000, I still find myself inadvertently hitting the wrong button. And while the screen has reasonably good contrast, my wife has difficulty reading it in situations of medium illumination, where the backlight provides minimal assistance.

Its LCD panel is the Pronto’s greatest strength and its greatest weakness. The panel means that you no longer have to live with buttons that are labeled one thing but do something else entirely. Each button can have its own custom graphic and text, thus greatly improving the remote’s functionality and ease of use. However, the LCD has no tactile feedback; selecting a button on the LCD means you have to look at it. It seems like a small thing, but I get a little annoyed when I have to look at the remote to find the Pause button before I can answer the phone.

One advantage of the Pronto’s LCD panel is the option of reprogramming any of its buttons. For example, the main screens for my DVD player, satellite receiver, and VCR each have a button for changing the aspect ratio on my widescreen TV. This is a frequently used function in each of these modes, and it’s immediately available in any mode from the TSU3000’s main panel. With most hard-button remotes I would have to switch to the TV device, change the aspect ratio, then switch back to the source device. The Pronto requires only that I tap a button on its screen for the mode I’m in, and I’m done. Additionally, the fact that many components have discrete power on/off and input-selection codes makes it possible to create macros for the Pronto TSU3000 that will perform complete system startup and shutdown, regardless of the system’s current state. It worked perfectly in my system, but your mileage may vary.

How it all stacks up

The Home Theater Master MX-500 ($149) is the standard by which I judge all hard-button remotes, but the Philips Pronto NG TSU3000 is so vastly different that the present comparison is more a matter of judging the difference between a largely hard-button remote and a full LCD model. The differences are not subtle. I find the MX-500 easier to use in the dark; for the most part, I can reliably find any button on it by feel alone, and have little trouble operating the system without being able to see the MX-500. (Granted, I’m the only one in the house who feels this way.)

The Pronto TSU3000 is another story altogether. While everyone agrees that its chunky size and relative lack of hard buttons means you pretty much have to look at it to use it, they all like the simplicity of being able to tap the main screen and have everything set up for them. Another great benefit is the Pronto’s ability to display only those buttons that are required for immediate operation. Most of the screens I’ve programmed for my TSU3000 have fewer than 15 buttons, thus greatly reducing confusion and the need to hunt through 50 or more keys to find the right function.

The right remote for you?

I used to get constant complaints from the rest of the family that our home theater was too difficult to use. It was a point well taken. Now, virtually anyone who enters my theater can pick up the Philips Pronto NG TSU3000 and start using the system within seconds. I’ve found no other remote with which this can be accomplished as successfully as the Pronto.

If you’re willing and able to invest the considerable time and effort required to program the Pronto NG TSU3000, you’ll be rewarded with a remote that is tailored exactly to your tastes, equipment, and specific requirements. I think many will find the results well worth the effort. For that reason alone, this is one remote that deserves a very close look.

Manufacturer contact information:

Philips Consumer Electronics
P.O. Box 14810
One Philips Dr.
Knoxville, TN 37914
Phone: (888) 486-6272

Website: www.pronto.philips.com

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