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A few questions
This thread has 12 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Sunday December 13, 1998 at 23:08
geo
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1) I had the opportunity to try the Take Control remote (The Microsoft abomination). I was highly unimpressed. One thing I noticed, that aggravated me most, was that you could not press buttons fast enough. There is a 1-second delay between button presses. So if I was surfing using my DSS and wanted to go to channel 285 I would need to press 2 wait.... 8 wait... 5 wait... Enter. Does the Pronto suffer from the same problem or can you press buttons as rapidly as your little fingers can push them?

2) Can the Pronto learn codes from X10 control devices? I do not even know if they are IR. I'm kinda new to X10 but it can allow me to do some very cool things with the lighting etc in my entertainment room.

3) I have the misfortune of buying a Sony 90ESG with that stupid a@@ GUI remote control. As I understand it very few remotes, if any, can learn its IR codes. Has anyone got this reliably working? The remote that came with the unit has the crappiest range I've ever seen and I wanted (desperately need) to replace it. I like the receiver very much. It just seems that Sony was suffering from a serious case of Anal-Cranial-Inversion when they designed the remote.

Thank you in advance.

OP | Post 2 made on Sunday December 13, 1998 at 23:53
JACK SCHULTZ
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Geo,
You pose some fair questions.
As far as key presses, I haven't had any complaints from anyone on this site nor have I had any personally. I also suspect that many on this site are creating favorites buttons that send a macro of the necessary buttons in a string. When the software releases, thes buttons could also become icons representing the actual station if desired.
As far as X-10 is concerned, I have had no trouble teaching X-10 IR commands to Pronto from and X-10 compliant IR remote control, such as the 8 in 1's etc. I am actually using X-10 IR codes to trigger macros within a SmartLinc HouseLinc system as it has the ability to monitor the individual equipment power states which creates a fully automated scenario. Unfortunately most AV equipment still does not use explicit ON and OFF commands so conventional IR macros can cause "power out of sync" problems, which the HouseLinc totally eliminates.
As far as the Sony is concerned, sorry, I have no experience altough I should think someone else here has so just watch for additional comments.
OP | Post 3 made on Monday December 14, 1998 at 12:55
Daniel Tonks
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In regards to question 3: from what I've heard, it's not few - it's none. I'm not sure if anyone's tried using another Sony remote to see if it would respond, but from what I understand the "VisionTouch" receivers either use a continuous stream of IR signals or RF - I feel the latter is most likely the case. RF is hard enough to learn already, but toss in Sony's "unique" controller and you've got major problems. :-)
OP | Post 4 made on Tuesday December 15, 1998 at 12:44
geo
Historic Forum Post
Jack,
Thank you for you reply. Do you have the X10 IR codes in a file I can "borrow" to use in my (soon to be) Pronto. I'm kinda cheap and did not want to buy an X10 IR remote just to throw it away?

Thank you
OP | Post 5 made on Tuesday December 15, 1998 at 12:47
geo
Historic Forum Post
Daniel,
Do you know why it does not work? I had assumed that if it's (Sony) IR and the Pronto has a hell-of-an IR range then it should work.

PS. The Lexicon remote works with the Sony ESG and it is IR. I just didn't feel like buying a $2700 add-on to my $1200 receiver ;-)

OP | Post 6 made on Tuesday December 15, 1998 at 13:33
jack schultz
Historic Forum Post
Geo,

As soon as ProntoEdit software is relased, I'll be happy to send the files to you for X-10 commands. Do you require all 256 house/units? Plus of course dim up/down?

As stated earlier, I'm not sure what plans Philips has for implementing code trading into their site, but we will be happy to do so via a subsite on our site (www.safesound.com) if Philips isn't interested, no problem.
It is possible that Philips may decide to stay away from this due to possible "support" ramifications as the mfr of the product, which I can fully understand. As with most things, there's good news and bad news.
OP | Post 7 made on Tuesday December 15, 1998 at 19:35
geo
Historic Forum Post
Cool. Thanks Jack I appreciate it. And yes I would need all 256 of them and the Dim up/down. I can't wait till they release the software. :)

Can you recommend a good IR based X10 receiver/controller?


OP | Post 8 made on Wednesday December 16, 1998 at 00:36
Barry
Historic Forum Post
Maybe Daniel should offer to set up a "trading post" fpor IR cod3es and icons on this site for those of us who lost our old remotes, or need the codes or would like specific codes!! (for Power On & Power off for example.)
OP | Post 9 made on Wednesday December 16, 1998 at 00:37
jack schultz
Historic Forum Post
Geo,

At the moment, we're just using an X-10 Pro low grade dogfood (about $20 I think) X-10 to IR box. Set it to a house code, send it one of the 16 IR's and it gives you the X-10 event. We then take the X-10 event into a SmartLinc HouseLinc which actually runs the macro or runs the lighting. The primary reason is that the only dimmers I know of that are very reliable and intelligent are SmartLinc TouchLincs. They have programable ramps, 256 memory positions, can provide an X-10 signal back, can be polled for status, return after power fail to state before fail, and have variable sensitivity and far better S/N ratio abilities. Am I convinced they are the way to go? They are on backorder to death at the moment and probably won't catch up until after 1/1/99.
We use the Houselinc to trigger the macros because it can track the power status of each piece of AV gear so they are power toggled when they shouldn't be. The houselinc also provides many more features. If you're interested, look at smartlinc.com.
When the software releases, I'll be posting X-10 codes accordingly.
OP | Post 10 made on Wednesday December 16, 1998 at 14:14
geo
Historic Forum Post
Is it likely that Philips will release a new revision of the Firmware for the Pronto along with the new software this Jnauary?

And if so how much of an impact might it be to people that have the current Firware revs?

Is the firware on the unit upgradeable?
OP | Post 11 made on Wednesday December 16, 1998 at 14:29
Daniel Tonks
Historic Forum Post
Geo: I've been informed that the units are flash upgradabe through the serial port.
OP | Post 12 made on Thursday December 17, 1998 at 12:22
Barry
Historic Forum Post
My only fear about a Firmwarew upgrade is the possibility that it may screw with the current icon configuration, or even reset the unit completely.
Does anyone know if an upgrade of the untis software will reset its memory or does Phillips intends for the unit to retain the learned commands when it is upgraded?
OP | Post 13 made on Thursday December 17, 1998 at 16:04
jack schultz
Historic Forum Post
Barry,
I wouldn't worry about your learned codes and firmware upgrades.
I expect that the PC software will be available long before any firmware upgrades occur and therefore you will be able to "suck" all the config info out of your Pronto before doing any upgrades and then simply reload from your computer.
You can save as many config files as you like in the PC, including pulling configs from other people and "merging" them with any one you have, thereby providing the ability to "import" a set of device codes from someone else.
I hope this helps eliminate any fears of wasting time in relearning codes.


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