I'm looking for a uni. remote and was zeroing in on the NEO - not so sure now with a lot of these posts about glitches and suck service. Anyone want to tell me why they just *love* their NEO and how awesome it works? ;-)

Also, importantly: are the HARD buttons fully programmable/customizable? i.e. I demand hard buttons for: play/ff/rw/stop/pause/mute/DVD menu navigation. Will this work?

Thanks!
Peace
Sanaka

Yes the hard buttons are fully programmable

The only problem is wether you can manage to teach it the codes from the original remote.

The built in support for devices is very limited and the learning capabilities flacky at best, it can only cope with very std IR codes coming at it, you will have problems with modern remotes.

I am returning mine and wondering wether to exchange it for an original Pronto which looking at the posts here does not have the same learning problems. But it is more expensive

Chris

I purchased the Neo 5 days ago after reading about it on the Web. I can honestly say that it is just about worthless out of the box. The unit I bought had the old firmware and old software on CD. The first thing I had to do was upgrade the firmware and download the new version of NeoEdit, the programming software. The devices which are pre-programmed are so generic that they give you no more than the basic functionality of the device. There are a number of bugs in the firmware and in the programming software. The unit and software are not well documented and the software is not very intuitive. After a few hours with the device, I was about ready to return it.

Having said all that, just about the time I was about to pack said Neo up and take it back to Best Buy (I bought it there because of the mixed reviews and BBs 30 day return policy), I started to have small successes in programming it. I became accustomed to the quirks that I discovered in the package and found work-arounds for most of the things I needed to do. And then I began to realize the "power" of the Neo. Neo's strength (much like the original Pronto) lies in its ABSOLUTE flexibility. The Neo is a blank slate on which you can express your desires for a remote. The Neo can look ANY WAY that you want it to. No longer did I have to remember that the button labelled "A/B" was an input selector, I could label the button "In Sel", "Inp Select", or "Input Selector". I could put buttons wherever they made sense to me so that they were always handy when I needed them. I could use station logos instead of channels number for one-button access to all of my stations. I could operate a sequence of operations which span 4 or 5 remotes from a single button. I can implement drop-down menus, tabbed pages, and requesters. I can provide audio feedback to the user. As a matter of fact, in combination with my HTPC, the Neo can even speak! In short, I am pretty amazed at the POTENTIAL of this device.

You should know that most (if not all) of these capabilities are present in the Pronto (original) remote. The Pronto is a more mature product and most of the problems have already been worked out. Also, the Pronto has a few features that the Neo does not possess (e.g., timers). But the Neo is a little cheaper and has better hard keys. The deciding factor for me was the inclusion of hard keys. I was not sure that I could adapt to a device which was LCD only. I like the feel of a hard rocker under my thumb for channel changing and volume (among other things).

Finally, as a programmer, I was delighted to find that the Neo's programs are really nothing more than pages of XML. It should be fairly easy to develop cross-platform development environments for the Neo. In addition, it makes it fairly easy to write utilities to manipulate the (.ncf) program files that run the Neo. I think there is room in the Neo for large improvements via a firmware upgrade. Philips could easily, for exemple, add timers, scrollable screens, or animated icons. Only time will tell how many of these features get added.

Despite a rocky start, I have my Neo mostly programmed for 12 devices and organized so that an unfamiliar user could come in and operate my home theater unaided. This has never been possible before. My Neo's not perfect, but I think I'll keep it.

This message was edited by Gary D. Walborn on 07/31/02 10:17.55.

The NEo is great, for the people that want to spend time setting it up. It is not a remote that you just take out of the box and use! Try, the code database is small, but I believe the Pronto1000 had no database at all. The cost for the database would of cost all users more!

There are many NCF files out there now that have many device in them that can be copied to your own NCF so the learning of the codes is not needed. Try some devices will not learn, but thanks to thous of us that spent many many hours of time, there is now a couple of programs that can do wonders.

Neohacker now includes the Exal spreadsheet for converting the CCF codes and allows you to move any device you chose to the device overview screen. I also use the RC3200 setup, which, BTW has no database at all, but if you double click on the "Learned IR" code of a button it allows you to input CCF codes to it!.

The hard buttons are great, but the two outer most buttons below the touch screen can not be programed.
I would say, if one is interested in the remote, to gather there device and see if there are any NCF's out there that have them and to DL NeoEdit and check it out before buying it.

If every one did that, I'd think they'd know weather to buy or not first!

-steve

Thanks all. Seems workable, if a lot of work. But that's pretty much my mission, to do all the work one time then have the thing SET.

Couple more questions:

So presumably I can have the LCD screen be a number pad, right? I use the skip to specific hr:min:sec on DVD a lot.

Can someone define for this newbie what is CCF and NCF?

What are 'timers' about?

I keep reading about 'discrete' codes. What are they and does the NEO handle them?

Thanks bunches!

Sanaka

Well, i'll try my best. Yes you can have a screen as a number pad. Check out the files section here and see some great pads for the Neo. A *.ccf file is for the Pronto and a *.ncf is for the Neo. They are configuration files. After that I am lost. The Neo has a clock but no timers. Out of the box or with NeoEdit it will not do discrete codes. Discrete codes are codes people have located that do a very specific function only. For example I am looking for a discrete code that will turn on my DVD player only, but not shut it off. These are used in Macros. I understand and others here on this site can help you more that there are utilities that will permit the Neo to work with these codes possibly NeoHacker. Good Luck Butch

Sanaka, I would strongly recommend downloading the NEOedit software (avail. in the files section) and a few .ncf files. The NEOedit software includes a simulator that will give you a very good feel for how your Neo will look and work. The simulator is fairly unstable - it locks up my windows 2000 system frequently - but it's definitely a valuable tool for prospective buyers.

I've had my Neo for about 2 weeks, and I'm very happy with it so far. It takes a LOT of time to set it up the way you want it (definitely start with somebody else's .ncf and customize the buttons for your system), but the folks on this forum are extremely helpful.

Good luck-

I have my Neo a month now, and yes it takes a lot of work to get it like you want it, but I think that is also the power of the Pronto series. I bought the Neo because of the hard buttons and it was alot cheaper than the Pronto here in europe.
I only had trouble learning one button of my DVD player but the people on this Forum helped me and that is solved now also. The learning capabilities are definitly an issue on the Neo. But I got all to work so no worries here.
Neoedit and Neohacker together are the only programs I use and it works perfectly.
If you don't mind the setup work, get a Neo or a Pronto.
I love mine....and for the first time my wife can use an universal remote also. All the previous ones [2] are gone now.

Good Luck

NeoRd is quite correct in that the Neo is a tough learner, but it learned all that I threw at it. Upgrade the firmware to the latest version and use NeoEdit 2.0 and you will get your remote to do what you want. Check out the files section as there is plenty of info to get you through whatever problem you might encounter. Butch