WSJ Reviews High End Universal Remotes

An anonymous reader writes "Walt Mossberg is at it again - this time comparing the Philips Pronto and the Harmony SST-768. These remotes have both been featured on Slashdot before."

Comments

Unfair comparison.

[juuri]

These remotes are targetted at different crowds. I used to use a pronto (until it broke from one too many falls and required $150 fee to fix). The pronto makes no excuses about being created for the high end tech/theater crowd. The remote is complex, can be tedious to setup but has some awesome high end features.

Pronto's strength is in its ability to create complex macros. For example at my old apartment which had X-10 I had rwo of the following one button macros configured:

[DVD] - Switched to TV to component input. Switched received to DVD audio. Switched TVs aspect ratio. Powered up and issued a play command to the DVD. Dimmed the lights to 50% through the pc-x10 receiver.
[SLEEP] - Switched tv off. Changed cable to classical radio. Turned off lights. Turned volume on received all the way down the up two notches. Slept for 60 minutes, turned receiver off.

Now, that, is an awesome remote.

Re:proud pronto owner

[Anonymous Coward]

The Sony Clies are PalmOs-compatible, and have a beefed-up IR port (At least the one I have, the NX70V, does). I've successfully used mine to control a TV set/VCR from thirty feet away, with no problems at all.

iPod as a remote

[adzoox]

I think one of the most innovative ideas for a universal remote was Griffin's demo of the PodMate Remote control.

Basically it converted tones into infrared signals. Unfortunately Apple asked that they drop development.

At MacWorld Expo January 2002, they used an iPod to control a Sony TV and Home Stereo system.

Now, they have released the exact same addon for the iPaq.

Does anyone know where or how to obtain a signal conversion from tone to IR?

I know that this is the same way the Macintosh TV worked. One cound take the "IR eye" from that and plug it into ANY onboard Macintosh motherboard sound connection and then use a Sony remote control to turn the unit on and control the Apple CD player or Apple Video Player.

Backwards

[DumbSwede]

The idea of programming universal remotes has always seemed backwards to me. Why not have your TV/VCR/DVD/Stereo program your remote for you instead (one button triggers a training mode)? Granted companies would have to agree to some remote standard language, but with 2-way communication between remote and home appliance, there are probably lots of interactive features just waiting to be invented. It opens the field to including remote operation to devices not normally set to have remotes (since they wouldn't actually have to bundle a remote). A really robust standard would separate buying appliances and the remotes that control them.

While we're at it, how about a capacitor or something to hold a remote's programming long enough to change the battery?

How about having the TV warn me when my remote's batteries are getting low?

Remote finder (this one has already been done), have the remote beep.

Why do most Universal remotes only have 3-6 devices? Why not 10 or 20, say by hitting a number button after a device button? It's certainly not for lack of memory.

Mostly I want my universal remote to always be able to get to the Menu/Programming/Timer operations. With a trainable remote this should be no problem. Why so many devices and universal remotes are incompatible at this level is beyond me.

While these Uber remotes no doubt address these last 2 points, they seem vast overkill for something that should be simple and flexible, but instead is stupid and obtuse.

Re:Backwards

[billtom]

You answered your own question. The reason your suggestion will never happen is because it would require consumer electronics companies to co-operate on a standard. And they really, really, REALLY hate doing that. Even when there is the potential to make lots of money they still won't (e.g. pick one re-writeable DVD standard).

All home electronics equipment could easily be interoperable by now, there's no technical obstacle and the protocols are all there. But the CE companies simply refuse to work together. They're stuck in a zero-sum game mentallity.

Crisp Solutions

[Anonymous Coward]

I went through the purchase of a remote last year, and finally ended up buying the remote that Crisp Solutions markets (UCommand 616)

Initially it was a 'step down' from other devices since it only had a limited set of macro keys, but it was also cheaper. After having it and playing it, I discocered there was an undocumented method that lets you apply a macro to any of the buttons throught the remote. (Which Crisp confirmed was there and have updated their maketing info to include that you can.

If you are looking for this type of item, this remote is actually a good contender.

It is really nice to have a button labelled "DVD On -> DVD" which changes the input on my amp, turns on my DVD player, turns off my cable box, and tells my TV to select the appropriate input.