Looking into getting a new remote. not quite sure what to get a Marantz 5200 or a Pronto 3000. what are the pros and cons of both? must be easy to use.

The Marantz 5200 is built on the older TSU2000 Chasis and therefore shares the CCF format with the 1000,2000,6000 RAV, and CHAD... Lots of pre-established Codes, templates and files to work with. The TSU3000 is the first ina new series..... Its been plagued by Firmware bugs and doesnt have a really strong following yet.... However, If your willing to put up with the Early Adopter Hicups, eventually, you'll be fine.

You can find the TSU3000 for a few bucks less than the Marantz if thats a factor....

At least the Screen is an inprovement on the 3000 now... Larger editable area..... (Makes it about as large as the Marantz)

Imp

to correct some stuff from impaqt

1) PENG and therefor the 3000 can import all the CCFs like the 5200

2) the 3000s screen has 16 shades of gray while the 5200 only 4

3) the 3000s screen is 100% configurable, and you can even move some of the system icons

4) there are some bugs (and with the latest SW/FW version a lot less) but there are new SW/FW versions coming out for the 3000, while there have not been any for the 5200 in a long time. So the correction of bugs or addition of features are much more likely for the 3000 then the 5200

PS as for a following for the 3000, the PENG forum is outpacing this one.

I've had issues Importing files, and I've heard from other who have as well.



I did mention the Improved screen.....


Still leaves you with the same amount of space as the 5200..... and again, I did mention that.


I havent run into any major bugs in the Marantz remotes in a while.... Macro page bug is a litte annoying, but I never use the macro page in my designs anymore anyway.

ANd I gues if you count all the complaint threads in the TSU3000 furum,..... Yeah, it has more activity that this one....

the 5200 is not 100%


not using something because of a bug does not make the bug go away


:-)


have you tried the latest version?

No, I havent tried the lates Firmware/software (Unless they are only about 30-45 days old)

I think the TSU3000 is great for someone with patience for his own use.

I program and/or install anywhere from 5-10 remotes a week sometime (When I'm not deep in an AMX or Crestron Project) and cant have Beta grade Firmware and Software on potentially dozens of Remote controls in the field. Philips certainly is not going to pay me to go out an reflash all those remotes.

If you look on the left, Daniel announced the arrival of the new 3000 firmware/software on June 4th.

I got this e-mail from Stephen, so I thought I would add it to this thread, and my response to him



|Hope you can give me some insight.

here is my reply

Both are good remotes, I just thought that Impaqt gave the 3000 a bit of a hard time, and just wanted to show it had some good qualities. If you like a touch screen any one would be a good choice. The two remotes are much more similar to each other then they are different. The 5200 is built on the original Pronto platform CCF (i.e. the Pronto 1000. 2000, 6000, The Marantz RC 50000, 50000i) so it has had around 5 years to fix most of the bugs. The 3000 has only been out for 6 months and is a totally different platform PCF. In my opinion the 5200 is a good remote, but is an evolutionary dead end Philips is the one that created these remotes, and if they are moving from CCF to PCF, that means either Marantz need to get its own developers (only one team worked on all CCF remotes from 4 manufacturers) or Marantz will continue with the 5200/9200 as is or they will eventually go with a totally different remote. The TSU-3000 is new, and has some bugs still (but V2 did correct a few of them), so chances are that more
o
f the bugs will be eliminated over time and possibly new features will be added (if you read what's new sept.4 [Link: remotecentral.com] it has a list of some future SW add-ons.)

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I would also want to add, that I forgot in the e-mail

P.S.

as for disagreements, they are healthy :-) I don't think Impaqt and I are that far apart, I think the difference is that I see the possibilities of the 3000, while he is looking at the current limits of it. He is an installer, so for him today's bugs are real important. I am a user, so future improvements are more fun.

P.P.S. Any of these remotes will require a lot of time to set-up. but if done right they can be easy to work. I don't think they need a computer programmer, in some ways I think it is a negative to be one. It is a matter of adding icons and telling them what to do, I think someone artistic or a web developer is a much better person for the job, it is all about layout.

P.P.P.S. Stephen, hope you don't mind that I added your e-mail and my response to the site. But since this thread was started on RC, I thought my response might benefit others.