I have been looking for a long time for a cool easy to use universal remote to run the over 8 components I have. 2 years ago I purchased the Marantz RC2000 which was the coolest remote around. The problem was it would not learn the commands from my 60” Pioneer Elite TV. I ended up having to return the remote all because of that. Ever since I have been using 8 remotes to control my home theater system. I have tried a bunch of $20-$50 remotes since but none of them ever worked everything right.

I recently purchased the Sony RM-AV2000 which looked cool. After using it for a week I returned it as well because it was very difficult pressing the little squares on the touch screen. Every square on the touch screen is the same size and it makes using the remote more difficult. You cannot use this remote without looking at it. The other problem was that none of the touch screen squares could be labeled different so you had to deal with the labels Sony assigned. The good news about the Sony remote was that it at least could learn all my RC functions.

I have been reading everything that was posted about the Pronto and it sound very cool except for one thing. I now do not like pressing a touch screen after using the Sony remote. Even though the Pronto touch screen buttons can be sized, moved and custom labeled I am not sure I like touching a flat screen. I have grown so use to pressing a physical button that this new concept is rather difficult to get use to now. The other problems I have with the Pronto is that there is no software for it yet, you cannot rearrange the templates in any order you choose and the remote itself costs around $400.00. I have a ton of money tied up in my home theater system right now and $400.00 does not really bother me much if it works but I have to worry about my 2 year old who loves to play with things. He just loves Remotes and I would about die if he ever dropped a $400.00 remote on the floor and broke it. On top of all of that it now sounds as if the Pronto has some problems.

According to Marantz which is the same company as Philips, the RC5000 which is the same exact remote as the Pronto will not ship until next year now. They want to wait and see how the Pronto does and if there are any problems with it. The RC5000 also will not ship until the software is ready and will most likely come with the software, battery and charger making it cost over $500.00.

At that rate I started looking at the new Harman Kardon Take Control remote which will not be shipping until late December according to Harman Kardon (800) 422-8027. I checked with Shop4.com and even though they show it as an item you can order, they cannot tell you if it is in stock. I think the reason is the they place the order with the manufacture direct. It is also a touch screen but with the PC software shipping with it and costing only about $250.00 street price. That is almost half the price of the Pronto and RC5000. The problem is that there is virtually no information on this remote except a picture of it. I would have to believe the “Take Control” remote will have it’s problems when it finally does start shipping mostly because it is a whole new design with Microsoft’s software running it. If it works anything like Windows 95/98/NT, Office 97 or just about any other software there will be service pack releases for it before it works flawless.

What is the solution???

I finally decided this week to try out the new updated Marantz RC 2000MKII. I loved the look and feel of the original RC2000 except it did not work my TV. I purchased the new updated remote for $199.00 and I am now finally sold on the remote. It works all my remotes perfectly now and I love the feel of real buttons. Most of the buttons I use consist of the Power (On/Off), Volume Up/Down, Channel Up/Down, number pad, Mute, Play, FF, RW, Stop, Pause and 4 arrow keys with an enter button. This remote has all of those physical keys and they actually feel better to press then any one of the factory remotes that come with the equipment you purchase. Marantz has done a great job of putting the buttons of controls you use almost all of the time right on the remote in a very logical layout.

You can also custom label 32 other buttons per device (10 total different devices) via an LCD screen at the top of the remote. Most of these custom controls are items that are not normally used that much since most of the main functions are physical buttons. Unlike touch screen remotes this remote has 8 physical buttons next to the LCD screen to select the custom labeled command you want to use. The remote has 4 pages of LCD functions per device that allows 8 custom functions per page. There are also two physical buttons that allow you to scroll through the pages. The other cool part of this remote is there are 4 dedicated one push Macro buttons (Terrible if you have kids) and also 10 special macro buttons that require you to press the button once and then immediately again for 3 seconds to send the macro (Great if you have Kids). The remote is very easy to use and handle and the best part is now my wife and babysitter can figure it out. It lights up like a Christmas Tree too. Every single button is back lit and so is the LCD screen.

For the price I am probably going to purchase 2 of them bring the total up to what a Pronto cost but giving me 2 universal remotes with the ability to clone them. Cloning the remote is about the closest thing you will get to PC programming with these remotes but at least everything is backed up and you can use the remote in another area of the house.