Yeah, I'm back. Just thought I'd check in to see what has transpired...
My 3500 was completely black and white. No color what so ever. Does anyone know if there is a manfacturing issue?

Lowpro, this was exactly my point (one of them at least). As much as I do value the opinion and support from the forums here and people like yourself (Remote Central is Awesome) I don't think that we as professional integraters should rely on a website forum for technical support. Can you name ONE other manufacturer that does this?

For average DYIers this is great, but for those of use spending tens of thousands of dollars a year on REMOTE CONTROLS I think we deserve a little more attention from the manufacturers. More along the lines of what AMX,Crestron and ELAN have available on their sites.

What happens if the owner of Remote Central decides to call it quits and just flips the switch? Maybe when that day comes you will understand where I'm coming from.

I want to reiterate that I have been a LONG time Pronto programmer. They have served me VERY well. All my customers are VERY pleased. It's not necessarily what Philips HAS put out in the market, but what they ARE putting out NOW. Right now I don't see how they intend on competing with the competition. They seem more concerned with providing end users with remotes simple enough for them to program - look at the RC9800.

Does this in ANY way appear to be a company interested in the custom installation industry??!!

What really bugs me is that people are arguing with me. You apparently either don't know what you are doing or don't take your job seriously enough to see things from my point of view. Sit back, take a deep breath and try to understand what I'm saying.

** Thanks to SPRINGS and DDARCHE for actually understanding why I started this post about. **

Ox,

Do you have a phone contact @ Philips? If not, does your distributor?
Rather than bitch at us, let your fingers do the walking and give em a call. In today's world, a rant on a website is not necessarily taken seriously. Taking the time to make a phone call is.

I understand your frustration. Ernie Gillman likes to rant every now and then. Sometimes folks rant so much, you don't know when to take them seriously. Placing the phone call helps to emphasize that you do care and you do have needs/concerns.

Lyndel

Viewability/Legibility is key to the success of the remotes my company installs for our clients. In my opinion, The TSU-3500 LCD screen is a step backward from the TSU-3000.

Ok, how do the screens rate with the original pronto tsu1000 (I have three)? Those screens are nothing special. (I haven't seen a tsu3000 or tsu3500 BTW, except for the pictures.)

Ok, I am resurecting this post, since I just received my 1st 3500, demo/development model. I was really hoping for a nice screen on the 3500, so we could offer a mid-priced Pronto to budget-minded customers, who want a touch-screen.

I have to agree with most of the posters in this thread. The screen is a bad mistake by the Philips Pronto product team. This "sepia-brown-blue" type of look is just plain lousy. The prototype we saw at CEDIA would have been acceptable but the production model is just a huge miss.

I do not know what the challenges were regarding screen technology versus price, etc. but I would basically be ashamed if this were my product and I had one chance to really improve the 3500 over the 3000. Guess what folks, you missed again!!!

I am not just bitching. I have written a note to Dick Mol at Philips, with my opinion, if it is worth anything. The case work is attractive with the new silver/black look but the screen is just weak.

My $.02 cents...Dave

Sounds like a big thumbs down for the 3500. Not much of an issue as long as 7000s are available on the cheap. Here's one to think about: A computer company I can't name is giving serious consideration to a programmable remote with a color screen to sell for less than $400 MSRP. If it happens and the programming environment - described to me as "next generation" - is really good, the 3500 won't have a place to call home.

Lets just hope it's not a Microsoft Take Control with a color screen. Those remotes were horrible.