Mike, David and Christopher

Mike was right, heres your answer from AEI:

Damn.....

Hi Again Warren,

I was reading a little on the Pronto not too long ago. Unfortunately all it means is that the DigiSender will happily transmit IRDA signals - you will still require a remote capable of switching the channel (ie the NTL remote). Obviously as soon as somebody produces a remote capable of learning IRDA this can be used too but I am unaware of any at present. I think it's more a matter of 3rd parties catching up with the latest technology (ie IRDA) which it seems is slow to happen. IRDA does have benefits over traditional remotes as we slowly become more integrated and interactive and it looks like it's here to stay, so 3rd parties will have to adjust accoringly (as obviously we are trying to do). Hopefully Philips will soon do this too.

Regards

Tony Brodie

I have sent my letter to Stephen Carter and I have had a reply tody.

Stephen has passed the letter to a Customer Liaison Manager who promises that the issue will be investigated and resolved in 20 days.

I was expecting the letter to get passed down, but now hopefully sorting the problem out has been instructed from the top so we will see what happens.

I will keep you posted with any progress . . . .
C

Hi, to save my head exploding by reading all the replies could someone briefly summarise this??
I want to update to digital and use a powermind and a RC5000 to control the current box.

Will the new marantz remote control the new codes?
If not, is there a universal remote that will be able to handle them out soon?
Is there an equivalent to the powermid that will handle the new codes?

Has there been any hope of a decent, low cost solution?

Many Thanks, Ross

P.s don't suppose you could copy me on my mail address as well, as I will forget to check back, as I am on holiday soon.
Ross.helliwell@chase.com

I have written a letter to the ntl head summarising what the thread says, please find it attached for you to read.

>Will the new marantz remote control the new codes?

There are three different types of box 1000, 2000 & 4000.
If you are supplied with a 4000 then you will be able to control the box with Philips Pronto, Marantz Pronto or ProntoPro
If you are supplied with a 1000 or 2000 you wont.
You cannot choose which box you will be supplied with as it must match the one at the supplier end of the cable

>If not, is there a universal remote that will be able to handle them out soon?
The OneForAll remote can control the all cable boxes but the disadvantage is that it is not a configurable as the pronto
(no pretty pictures and limits on the macros steps, the number of buttons and locations of buttons)


>Is there an equivalent to the powermid that will handle the new codes?
Don't understand what a powermind is so can't respond to this

>Has there been any hope of a decent, low cost solution?
There are a few solutions
- OneForAll remote (approx £200)
- Controlling the top set box through a TiVo (approx £400 for TiVo then optional lifetime subscription £200)
- Sky / OnDigital
- 2 remotes

- someone is working on a gadget that will allow you to control the box through it like the TiVo allows, but there is no time scale or approximate cost for this

>P.s don't suppose you could copy me on my mail address as well, as I will forget to check back, as I am on holiday soon.
Done

>DanielTonks - is there any chance of having replies autocatially posted to you e-mail. Another post I use tells you (via e-mail) when you have had a message sent to your thread which is very useful (and keeps you coming back when you might not otherwise remember to - Advertising Revenue !!)

Has anyone got any experience of the "One for All 4 Digital" remote - I am guessing that this new addition to their range is specfically aimed at the latest generation of digital set top boxes that use Irda..? Has anyone had any success with Telewest or NTL digital boxes?

I just got my pronto, all chuffed as muck coz i got the 2meg version for £150 and then i go try and learn my telewest remote...

...$h!t!

Guys,

Sorry about the delay in posting the reply from the head of ntl: regarding my letter posted in this thread.

Bad news I am afraid.

The reply letter confirmed what we already knew and said that, “additional features will not be provisioned until there is a compelling business case to do so”. In other words, unless there are a few hundred thousand people with the same Pronto/ntl: problem as we have, ntl: intend to do diddly-squat about it.

The letter also included the regular corporate stuff about how ntl: care about all there customers and how advanced their current technology is but the long and short is that the guy at the top has said that ntl: will not help us.

I phoned up after receiving the letters to give ntl: one last chance but I was basically told, again, that there was no business case to help us out.

So, I am now the proud owner of a new Sky+ dish with the far superior electronic programming guide, loads of extra channels, recordable to hard-disk, watch and record different channels, access to real interactivity that only Sky can do and finally I CAN CHANGE CHANNELS WITH MY PRONTO.

Too bad ntl: you lost this customer !

Christopher

> both reply letters posted below <

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

3rd August 2001

Dear Mr Booth

Thank you for taking the time to communicate your concerns to Stephen Carter. I have been asked by Stephen Carter to look into the issues you have raised and ensure the necessary actions are taken and to gain satisfactory resolution for both parties.

I can assure you that ntl: treats every customer concern seriously and the issues that you have raised will be investigated thoroughly.

I will be liasing with the most appropriate departments within the organisation and would hope to have your issues resolved within 20 working days from the date of this letter.

In the meantime should you feel that I can be of any further assistance, of you would like to discuss the matter further, please do not hesitate to contact me on 01582 XXXXXX.

Yours sincerely,

David Novell
Customer Liaison Manager

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

August 29, 2001

Dear Mr Booth

Your account number is XXXXXXXX

Thank you for you recent letter addressed to Stephen Carter highlighting your concerns regarding the problem you have encountered with you Pronto remote. I have been asked to respond to you and keep Stephen Carter informed.

It is our aim to make dealing with ntl: as trouble free as possible and we are sorry that you have been unable to receive a satisfactory answer to your question.

Your detailed letter and cross-references is very thorough and indicate your close interest in this subject.

I have spoken with our STB and Consumer Product architecture people and they confirm that we have no plans at present to provision the IR Blaster and IR Sender ports on the current generation of STBs. The boxes are “future proof” in several ways and additional features will not be provisioned until there is a compelling business case to do so.

I am also advised that the standard remote control of IR Keyboard we supply have a high degree of inbuilt sophistication to control the many Two Way TV games, which are now available in our Digital service. These commands cannot be readily mirrored by current learning remotes.

I hope I have clarified the position and I am sorry I cannot give you more positive feedback
Yours sincerely,

David Stephenson
Managing Director’s Office
For and on behalf of Stephen Carter, Chief Operating Officer

Is there an award for the longest running post?

--Alexis

Well, this one's not dead yet !

OK, that's the help from ntl: come to an end, but one of the guys in this post is working on creating a product to solve the problem

- watch this post (all 248+ posts off it!)
C

Christopher,

Is that "CAN" or "CAN'T"?

CAN

I have changed to Sky so that I CAN change channels with my Pronto. (that was the point)

C

Just to add to the above post about a low cost solution, there is no need to buy an OFA Mosaic. If you're after a cheap (non-touchscreen) solution, an OFA 4 Digital or OFA 6 can both be upgraded to operate this. You should be able to find one for between 25 and 40 quid.
Not as flash as the Pronto though.

Just signed up to ntl - yes you've guessed it. Now having to use two remotes. Has anyone tried using anther i/r receiver with the std ntl remote. I know maplin.co.uk do a vellman kit ref K6711 this is a 15 channel receiver which could be easily hardwired to the std remote control and left sat on top of the stb basically decoding the pronto to the pace output. The kit is £35 + box & psu + the cost of a new ntl remote, 15 channels is not enough for every button but you could get all the basic functions easily. Any feedback would be appreciated.

This is a bit off-topic for a Pronto board, but is the Mosaic actually any good? I've used OFA remotes before, and functionally they've done what I wanted (other than the accursed Di1000/2000 problem) but have been extremely awkward to use. Full-blown Pronto programmabililty would be nice, but I'm prepared to sacrifice that for a remote that actually controls all my devices. A touch-screen One-For-All seems to fit that bill, but would be an expensive mistake if it turns out to be a dog to use.

Anybody got any views/comments?

This message was edited by jonnyroz on 12/05/01 16:54.53.

I don't think anyone is working on a product to fix this problem, the product in question was an IRDA sender as opposed to an IR sender. Neither of these will fix the Pronto/PACE/NTL problem.

As suggested the only solutions are:

TIVO/IRda Blaster option - expensive
OFA Mosaic - ditch pronto :-(
Switch to SKY and lose the broadband option.
Hack the remote with the maplins 16 way remote receiver. :-)