Hi,
While waiting patiently for the Pronto software, I have been anticipating changes I could make to a Pronto device screen to achieve my previously discussed channel surfing function or "activity." To this end, I have been working on icons for the major channels (SfiFi, HBO, FOX, UPN, etc.). I have about 8 completed so far and expect to finish another 8-16 in the next week or two.

Given the usable Pronto screen dimensions provided by Jack Schultz (270 x 217), I concluded that 48 x 48 pixel icons would be best. This would allow a 20 channel grid on a single channel-surfing device screen. Most of the icons I created are in 2 color (i.e., black and white) although a few are in four shades of grey. I would be willing to share these icons with other Pronto forum participants if Daniel would provide the vehicle (i.e, a place to upload/download the icon files). Question to Daniel - can this be done?

Also, I'm not sure if icon sharing would infringe on copyrights. I based my icons on station "on-tv-screen" logos but in all cases created the icons from scratch. I can't imagine that my icons would cause financial harm to any broadcast station as (1) the icons would be offered free and thus of no financial benifit to me, (2) the stations themselves do not appear to have plans to sell Pronto station icons and thus would not be financially harmed by Pronto icon sharing, and (3) the icons would not be for commercial purposes (i.e., private use only). Do any any legal types out there know the answer to this copyright question?

Thanks,
Clay W.

Clay,

i too am plying with icons for the major networks. I was wondering if the grey scale icons will up load, or do they have to be in black and white. Can you emial me one of each so we can compare?

Joe Paolozzi

Clay,

I hope this doesn't mean you have to start all over again, but the Pronto panels are actually 240 x 219 pixels. Moreover, the selected button bitmap can be different from the unselected one (actually there are up to four bitmaps per button, but I assume you will not put in any inactive buttons).

Regards,

Jan

Joe,

Yes, you can use all 4 grays. However, 2 color bitmaps will consume less memory.

Regards,

Jan

RE: Bitmaps in Pronto

Per current documentation:

ProntoEdit can load any Windows bitmap file that has 1,4 or 8 bits per pixel and is at most 240 x 219 pixels. A color bitmap will automatically convert to a reasonably close grayscale version.

Sorry for any unclear information previously regarding this subject.

Another note to consider is that ProntoEdit only saves unique bitmaps so if they appear in multiple locations, they are not saved multiple times.

I hope this makes everything much clearer.

As far as the legalities, while i am not of the "legal flesh" it would seem reasonable that icon owners (networks) would be happy to have you use the icon in your remote so long as it points to their station of course.

I also would have thought that these icons could easily be "picked" off of websites directly and resized/converted to grayscale.

Hi,
Wow, thanks for all the fast feedback!

Jan - I may have to resize my bitmaps to be a little shorter (48x44) but that should be no big problem. Or, rather than resize the icons, I could settle for just 4 row of icons (16 icons total - 4x4) insead of 5 rows of icons (20 icons total - 4x5).

Jack - As you suggested, I did try clipping logos from station websites. However, I was compressng the information typicaly from about 300x300 pixels x 16E6 colors. Consequently, the product of a straight conversion from the website bitmaps was generally not usable. Hence, my comment that I based the icons on the logos but recreated the icons from scratch (i.e, most every pixel in the icon changed color, location, and intensity). I also have added the channel number to the icons (either terrestrial or satilite) for additional clarity.

I am also glad to learn that the Pronto software will automatically convert bitmaps to grayscale. While making my icons, I saved the file at each step in its creation. Updating my Icons to fully exploit Pronto capabilities should be no problem.

Daniel - Any thoughts on an upload/download area for icon & config file sharing?

Thanks,
Clay W.

I was able to obtain about 29 icons for various networks and save them as monochrome bitmaps. I copied them from the LexiDraw software which I obtained from the Lexicon web-site (Lexicon makes a very expensive remote control that is also software customizable). I zipped them all into a file of less than 10k. If anyone wants me to mail the file to them, please let me know by sending me an e-mail message at sshearer@keeferwood.com

Since I don't have the Pronto software, I can't confirm they will work with Pronto. If someone wants to provide a web-site, I will be glad to upload this file for everyone's use.

Scott

Scott,
I would be interested in those icons.

Since you have the Lexicon software I would also be interested in the IR codes from the Lexicon for a Sony STR-DA90ESG receiver. I could not find it directly on their site but it might be in their software. I'm hoping to borrow the IR code file and see if I can load it into the Pronto.

Thanks in advance

Scott, I would also be interested in obtaining those icons! Thanks... :)

Geo,

I knew I had gotten some of the many icons along the way somewhere and in fact I also pulled off the Lexicon site some time ago.
As far as the IR codes, I'm not sure they'll be much good as they seem to be in a proprietary format to Lexicon. Interesting though that people are pulling icons off of a Harmon (Lexicon) website for their competing Prontos.

I would like those icons too!!
I sent you an e-mail on the topic.
Also would it be possible for you to send me all that Lexicon software you have?
Thans,
Barry

Another source for channel icons is the DISH network site, or other cable/satellite site. They tend to show the icons for all the channels somewhere on their web pages.

Another source for channel icons is the DISH network site, or other cable/satellite site. They tend to show the icons for all the channels somewhere on their web pages.

Hi,
A thousand thanks to Kieth! I just checked the DISH site and all the icons I sought were there. This will save me lots of time. Help for this "non-power computer user" (me) is greatly appreciated.

Clay W.

....and an apology for misspelling "Keith"

Clay W.