I'm looking for a nice remote to control all the usual home theater goodies, and do the obvious things like power on the tv and cable box at the same time, and maybe another main macro button to turn those both on AND the receiver. I'd also like macro features such as being able to press one button and have the DVD player turn on, the tv switch to DVD input, and the receiver switch to DVD input. Maybe this is obviously simple, but I also need one that can learn the "favorite" button from my Comcast remote since that's what I use to scroll through the only channels I watch on the hi-def box.
So far I've liked the Sony AV3000 the best I think, but it does seem a bit intimidating (but I'm quick to learn). I think the Phillips 2000 might be a bit of an overkill for me.

Have you taken a look at the Home Theatre Master MX-500? It's a hard-buttoned remote which uses an LCD screen to allow you to label some of the buttons.

There's a detailed review available on this site.

yeah, I did look at it, but it looks a bit too limited and ... too close to the universal remote that Comcast gave me. Granted, it does have the lcd screen... I'll read up on it though since I didn't yet and don't know anything about it.

I consider the Sony more limited then the MX-500. If you want a touch screen the best choice price/performance is one of the Prontos If you like hard buttons go with either the MX-500 or the Harmony SST-768.

So, what's wrong with the Sony? Why would it be more limiting than the mx-500?

read the reviews if you have not. It is not that there is something wrong with it. It is just that in my opinion it defeats the purpose of an LCD. For most of the LCD buttons Sony decided to only give you at most 4 choices, that means that even though you have an LCD you can still end up with labels that don't fit the function. They only give you 4 buttons where you can give them any name you want (up to 8 char). On the other hand with a Pronto you can do things like ...
with a bit of time, patience and help from the file section.


My peeve (if you want) is that a remote should be self explanatory (i.e. if a guest comes over, or you have a new baby sitter.... it should not take half an hour of showing them how to work the system). With this in mind
1) the MX-500 has ten buttons with LCD names, these buttons can have any name you want (up to 5 char) so in that respect the 500 is much more customizable. Plus you get two pages per device (i.e. 20 buttons with the names you want)

2) you can get IR-clone for the 500, it is a third party Hardware/Software package that lets you share the configs with others

3) the IR on the 500 is stronger then that of the 3000

All remotes will do that, it's a simple matter of stacking one command on top of another. The problem is, this will be a specialized button, which can only be used once, when all devices are already off. In the world of limited physical real state of universal remotes, you can't afford to have too many of these specialized buttons, not to mention the clutter, making it real user un-friendly.

One approach I can think of is to have a specialized page with these buttons, once pressed, then make it jump to the appropriate generic control page. Task made easier from a remote with PC editing capability.



All remote can do that. Again, with function that "turns something on" you gotta be aware this is a once-off push ('cuz a second push will have the opposite effect). Switching functions, no matter how many times you pushed, will always switch to that function.



Is this as simple as pushing buttons "0" and "5" for CBS? Any remote can do that. You just have to manually program it in, no hooking up a cable to your Comcast and press "learn." No such luxury.


That's what they all say :)

Very simple. If you are willing to put up the time to program it for your environment, then the work will pay off toward an intuitive finished product. No effort, no payoff.

Everybody should begin their remote research by answering: Hard buttons or Touch Screen? One-hand operation paramount? Touch-no-look operation paramount? How much effort are you willing to put up? How do you feel about doing most of the programing on your PC? Pssshhh... even the ProntoPRO requires that you do some work to push its capabilities.

Well, I ended up getting a Pronto TS1000 with charger...that should do the trick! Now I have to read up on this forum and figure out how to work the thing!

enjoy. Also if you have not noticed the Pronto forum on this site is the best place for Pronto questions