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I've been helping a buddy out recently with some of his Home Theater issues and thought I'd share some information with you guys in case your addicted to Electronics like I am.
Here's the situation. He just bought a nice new HDTV, has a receiver, DVD and a VCR. His wife doesn't use the system because the remote control situation is just a pain. I'm sure everyone has gone down the path with the universal remotes and getting everything on one remote, but you still have know what to do in order to flip things on and around so that everything is on the right settings to use them.
I recommended to him the Philips Pronto remote which I use and love. It is similiar in use, size, etc to a Palm Pilot. There are several models (upgrades) available and he just needs the TSU-2000.
With some of these remotes you can control IR and RF from a highly customizable touch screen. I had mine setup at my previous house to control...
TV,
VCR,
DVD,
LD,
SAT Receiver,
Receiver,
Fireplace,
& Lights
My proposal to him is to have a touch screen with each person in the familys name on a touch screen button. When you press the button it will go to a custom screen based on who is using it. There will be one on button where it will send the specific IR commands to turn on each piece of equipment with the single touch. The kids will have the icon logo's for the kids channels and not have to worry about channel numbers. There will be logo's for NBC, ABC, CBS, Disney, Nick, etc.
There will also a button for the DVD player to. When you press the DVD button, it will flip the video in to the DVD video feed, it will flip the receiver to the DVD audio feed and it will bring up the basic buttons to play a movie. There will be an option to view all the standard DVD buttons, but why confuse people when not needed.
There are groups on the web (http://www.remotecenteral) where people do nothing more than design touch screens and icons that you can import into your remote. If you have the color version, you can even make a football theme with your favorite team as the background image on the remote.
Anyways, just thought I'd share the concept in case you are in to this kind of stuff but hadn't heard about the Pronto's before. There are other remotes, but this is my favorite.
Oh, lastly, if you are interested, have fun explaining to the wife that you are about to spend $200 on a remote... $700 on the color one.
His wife is excited and ready to jump in with both feet. I told him that next I would introduce him to http://www.x10.com where we can hook in his lights, ceiling fans and other stuff.
I attached a screen shot of my daughters menu. This is easy to do since you program the remote on your computer. They give you an applicaiton to design the screens and test them out.
Here's the situation. He just bought a nice new HDTV, has a receiver, DVD and a VCR. His wife doesn't use the system because the remote control situation is just a pain. I'm sure everyone has gone down the path with the universal remotes and getting everything on one remote, but you still have know what to do in order to flip things on and around so that everything is on the right settings to use them.
I recommended to him the Philips Pronto remote which I use and love. It is similiar in use, size, etc to a Palm Pilot. There are several models (upgrades) available and he just needs the TSU-2000.
With some of these remotes you can control IR and RF from a highly customizable touch screen. I had mine setup at my previous house to control...
TV,
VCR,
DVD,
LD,
SAT Receiver,
Receiver,
Fireplace,
& Lights
My proposal to him is to have a touch screen with each person in the familys name on a touch screen button. When you press the button it will go to a custom screen based on who is using it. There will be one on button where it will send the specific IR commands to turn on each piece of equipment with the single touch. The kids will have the icon logo's for the kids channels and not have to worry about channel numbers. There will be logo's for NBC, ABC, CBS, Disney, Nick, etc.
There will also a button for the DVD player to. When you press the DVD button, it will flip the video in to the DVD video feed, it will flip the receiver to the DVD audio feed and it will bring up the basic buttons to play a movie. There will be an option to view all the standard DVD buttons, but why confuse people when not needed.
There are groups on the web (http://www.remotecenteral) where people do nothing more than design touch screens and icons that you can import into your remote. If you have the color version, you can even make a football theme with your favorite team as the background image on the remote.
Anyways, just thought I'd share the concept in case you are in to this kind of stuff but hadn't heard about the Pronto's before. There are other remotes, but this is my favorite.
Oh, lastly, if you are interested, have fun explaining to the wife that you are about to spend $200 on a remote... $700 on the color one.
His wife is excited and ready to jump in with both feet. I told him that next I would introduce him to http://www.x10.com where we can hook in his lights, ceiling fans and other stuff.
I attached a screen shot of my daughters menu. This is easy to do since you program the remote on your computer. They give you an applicaiton to design the screens and test them out.
