I just got a NEO and have a few questions. First the IR seems to be very weak. I need to point it directly at my equipment for it to work. With the touch screen I have to lift the remote up, locate a button, point the remote down at the equipment which is near the floor, repeat. I have a One For All Cinema 7 and I can point it in any direction in the room and it still operates my equipment. Is the NEO IR really this weak ?

I have also been playing with the remote for about 4 days. No programming, just learning a few buttons. One bar is already gone from the battery. At this rate I'll need new batteries in a couple of weeks. Is the battery life really that bad ? I have the LCD and backlight set at 8 seconds.

Lastly, it seems like a good remote should be based on what you want to do, not on your devices. I want to watch TV, watch DVD, listen to a CD, etc. I know this can be accomplished with the wife friendly macro, but why do I have to go to a device screeen, then to a macro screen to get the macro I want. Why can't the staring point of the remote be a list of activities ? Should I just program a hard buttin to always go to e device screen with marcos ?

Lastly, has anybody had any luck programming the NEO using a Macintosh and Virtual PC ?

Thanks.

The NEO has only 2 emitters versus the standard Pronto's 3. The emitters are also of a different type that omits the IR in a narrower patters versus the Pronto's broader pattern. You can see the emitters and their patterns using a camcorder that has a "night shot" feature.

As far as going to the device screeen, I suggest creating a "home" page with buttons (with appropriate icons) that have the macro's you want. My home page has a macro that turns everything on and makes the proper switching to watch a DVD. Another macro turns everything off, another enters the commands and security code to disable the child lock out for my UltimateTV receiver, etc. You can program the hard "function" button to jump to your home page, which you use a starting point.