For those who use the Pronto, what do you think of it? I know there's a separate forum for this, but I am looking for feedback from X-10 users.

Easy to program?
Will it learn any IR command?
Durability?
Compared to Sony RM-AV2000 or others in its class?

I'm considering buying one, but with the price attached to it ($300-$400), I'm kinda hesitant. I think my wife would kill me if I bought a $400 remote control.

Thanx,
Roland

Roland,
The Pronto is easy to program and will learn most all IR codes. It is pretty bullet proof and is very good on batteries. It has very strong IR output and works good if not pointed directly at the equipment. One thing you may miss is the hard buttons and knowing that you are pushing the button (as compared to most remotes). The only problem is you can do so much with it, and you will want to do so much with it... It never ends, add this, add that, change this delete that... When you get it like you think want it, something else comes out and your back to square one. Your wife will like it as long as you make it easy. My suggestion is to program your home page to say his and hers. That way you can change your panels and leave hers alone. Make the buttons big if she has nails and put help menus for her to operate dificult things(I have the hot tub on mine). She will get over the price once she uses the remote and finds how nice it is to use one remote that interacts through jumps programed to the buttons. Buy it, you will love it!
Chris Couture

Just got mine set up and running. What a great piece of equipment! I used one of the x-10 templates provided here to help with the x-10 part. What a time saver that was.

I have a sony juke box (w/2 way remote) and have just set up all of the CDs in the pronto. I like it much better then the Sony remote.

I have gone from 8, down to 1 remote! It took some time to complete the setup, 2 1/2 days for a nice look and stuff, but I think it was the best buy of the year for me.

Good Luck.

Roland,

I don't think you will regret the money you spend on Pronto. You'll only sorry when you thought why you didn't buy it sooner!

With RC5000 (aka Pronto), I now have the HT Lights ON/OFF embedded to the DVD Player page so as soon as I press PLAY, the macro will initialize. When I press STOP. Lights will come back normal. Or if I press PAUSE, my desk lamp will come on.

You can download the X10 codes right here at RemoteCentral. No need to learn, just assign the alias (A1,A2,A3 ON) and you're done. It works 100% with the IR543. You can control up to 16 devices through the IR543 per house code. However, you cannot stack up IR543 in one room (one A, one B), collision will occur if you do that.

The reason I bought RC5000 and not Pronto is I'm living in Canada, and for some reason, I can't find any place to sell Pronto here. So I ended up getting a RC5000. I was thinking about mail order, but I was like in your situation, kinda wonder if I'd really want to keep it. I paid WAY LOT MORE here ($800 CAD). Right now, the RC5000 is like part of my body - can't work without it!!!

Steve:
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I was once thinking of getting a second CD Changer CDP-CX260 with a 2 Way Remote. Is 2 way that much of a big deal? I now have all 200 songs listed in the CCF file just like you (I have a CDP-CX250).

Thanks

Simon

Simon,

The 2-Way was very cool before I got the Pronto. I have put the 2-Way(s) in the box with the other remotes the pronto replaced.

The only cool thing about the 2-Way was the Title (and sometimes Track) listings which were provided on the remotes LCD screen. It made CD selection easy.

Otherwise, I found the remote a pain to use. The controlls/responce was slow due to the communications going on between the player and remote. Also, the display on the remote does not scroll horizontaly so you don't get to see all of the title anyway. (This becomes a problem when the CD has text already and the titles are longer then the manual input allows.)

I have the 2-Way for my Sony STR-DA333ES Receiver and had the same problems with speed. Switching between devices was very slow. Also, the receiver display is SMALLER. It was nice to have all of the radio stations listed on screen, but again I have listed them in the Pronto.

I will be uploading my Pronto CFC (a modified D. Tonks) today. Take a look at the CD Guide, I think you might like the layout.

Steve.

Steve,

Thanks for the information. The local Sony Store has CDP-CX260 but they don't have the remote so I can't try it out. They told me they have no idea where the remote is, would you believe it? Not me anyway.

Good thing that you tell me the remote doesn't scroll horizontally as most of the names on the CDs are very long. I'm now in a process of re-organize all the songs and put them on CDR with CD-TEXT. This way all the songs that I like will have titles displayed on the deck as well as the titles are not limited to only 13 characters with as with the MEMO input method.

Is it true that you can name the not only the CD titles but also the song titles with CDP-CX260? I can only input DISC TITLES but not SONG TITLES.

I guess I won't get a new changer until I'm running out of room with my current one.

Thanks again for your input.

Simon

Simon,

I believe that you must get the Sony CDP-CX270 changer to do your own TRACK titles. Other modles will use and display track titles if they are "CD TEXT" but not allow you to enter your own.

Steve.