Hello. I'm new to the remote central forum. Wonderful information watershed. I'm trying to automate my brother's home theater system. I encouraged him, in my ignorance, to buy a Philips RC9800i a year ago in the hopes of automating the equipment listed below, but the RC9800i is not the solution. The people operating the equipment need macro commands on the remote they'll use, not that they understand or care what they are, but this would simplify operation for them. Vowing to do more research this time before buying anything else, I've come to this forum which I'm grateful to access. Anyway, I've been reading up on the Pronto TSU7000 and TSU7500 to name a few and they seem to have the features, particularly macros, that would help automate this system. I see these two remotes on ebay often and at reasonably prices, but I'm not sure which would be the best choice for this system. The TSU7500 has more memory capacity than the 7000, but other than that they seem the same. I've also seen Philips' new Prontos, i.e, TSU9600, TSU9400 and read about other remotes like the Nevo, but whatever remote I get, it doesn't need to be confusing or have too many hard/soft buttons. Any advice, suggestions or infomation would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Torino

Remote - Philips RC9800i ( included free Philips Streamium 300i )
AV receiver - JVC RX-9010VBK
TV - Samsung DLP - HLN 5065WX/XAA
DVD Player - Samsung HD931
VHS Player - Panasonic PV-V4620
Cable Box - General Instrument Starfone SFT-2
Main Room Speakers - 4 JBL plate speakers mounted in vaulted-ceiling & 1 Cerwin Vega center channel speaker on bookshelf.
2 Additional rooms each with a pair of JBL plate speakers in ceiling.

The TSU7000 should fit all your (brothers) needs. I personally own a 7500 but only because I was able to get it really cheap. The 7000 is really fine. I have not really scratched a major amount of memory with my designs, containing 10 devices, a lot of macros and many graphics. (Currently 91% free memory) The extra memory the 7500 is not really needed in most cases, I'd say.
When it comes to the "2 Additional rooms" I'm not completely sure whether there are devices that should be controlled there or controlling devices from these rooms. In whichever case you might buy an RF extender to be able to control your (brothers) devices.

I agree with these comments, although I am unable to justify the expense and "make do" with a B&W TS3000. This is perfectly acceptable if your brothers budget can't quite stretch. Although I would love to be able to stretch to the colour remote purely for the extra pose factor (plus the screen is much more readable)

Regarding ease of use. The remote can be as easy or as hard to use as you choose. Its all in the programming.
Its the actual set-up of the remote that can be the tricky part but this can make or break the useability of the remote. Some of the files on here are excellent examples of just how easy controlling a complicated setup can be when the pronto is programmed well. These files can be a very good place to start when programming your own.

Thanks for the reply Falcon 1. I appreciate your help! Yea, I kinda felt like the TSU7000 would be all that's needed for this setup, I was just unsure with all the choices available. About the additioinal room speakers, they need to be controlled by the remote I purchase and his receiver. That receiver will drive one additional pair of speakers, but I'm leary about trying to drive both. However, it does have line outs for an additional room that I could drive with another amp. Regarding the RF, I'm glad you mentioned that, his receiver's remote transmits in both IR and RF. The manual does not state what frequencies the RF or IR ransmit on, so I e-mailed JVC asking for them. I don't know if they'll respond.
If I decided to use the TSU7000 and a RFX-6500 RF extender, would the RF frequencies of the Pronto RF extender and the receiver need to match or does it matter or would it even help if they matched?
Thanks,

Thanks jimbobhaslam, I just read your post. I appreciate your help!. I apparently was in the process of responding to Falcon 1 when you posted yours. I looked at the TSU3000 as well. It should be able to do everything I need as well, its just like you said, the color is a stretch monetarily. I 've got some time to consider the options because I temporarily connected all the components to the Samsung DLP inputs, so it keeps the kids entertained for now.
This install will be the first time I attempt macros. Having read about them and seen how limited control is without them, especially with the RC9800i, I know creating one will be quiet the learning experience. I actully found a file someone, I think his name was Mark Duncan, put on this website designed especially for a Pronto TSU7000 and a JVC RX-9010VBK receiver like I'm dealing with. A lot people like yourself have been very generous and willing to donate their intellectual property to help blind mice like me.
Thanks,

Well personally I found the programming and perfecting of my layout to be a most enjoyable experience (almost a hobby) but then I'm weird :-) So much so that my current setup is pretty much as I want it so I am considering starting again, Told you I was weird.

Once you have the idea its not actually not that difficult it just has a steepish learning curve to start with but can be very rewarding. It does look daunting but its not as daunting as it looks when you get into it.

I've found it very handy after my initial setup to keep a notepad handy to note down any shortcomings or improvements to your layout.

Also if you are programming for your brother theres a handy Pack and go option to save the layout as an EXE file. This means you can e-mail updates for your brother to install without loading the software on his PC.

Thanks again jimbobhaslam, Programming several pieces of equipment to all perform harmoniously definitely would appeal to my meticulous side as well, but right now I'm feeling a little more on the ridiculous side. I was trying to program the RC9800i again today, a temporary substitute till I get a real Pronto, and I'm beginning to wonder if Alfred Hitchcock designed this device just to mystify me cause when i think I've got it programmed correctly, the right device selects the wrong input. I guess this is the steep part of the curve you mentioned. Anyway, on with the bug-hunt.
Thanks,