I have had a Philips Pronto Pro as my main universal remote for a while. The review on RemoteCentral.com, along with many comments in the RemoteCentral forums, identified this as the best consumer remote on the market at the time that I bought it. The remote was excellent at everything, truly exceeding my expectations. It arrived preconfigured to support every device that I own (and more). I was able to setup macros to control multiple devices with the touch of one button. I was even able to configure it to shut off all of the lights in my living room when I wanted to watch a movie.
But with time, I got tired of looking at the passive matrix LCD display. It’s just old technology that really doesn’t have a place in my “technologically advanced” household. I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to these things. When I moved a year ago, I never even bothered unpacking the Pronto Pro. Instead, I am using several different remotes now. I have something like five different remotes on the coffee table, each of which can change the volume on the TV. Yes, I know, it’s disgusting.
It seems that there are some new options on the market these days, though. I first start looking into remotes today when I saw Matt Haughey’s post on the Harmony 880. The Harmony 880 is made by Logitech. I typically like their gear. But I’m really not too sure about this one yet. It looks nice, and as Matt entions, it has that TiVo-like peanut shape to it. But how would it stack up to the old Pronto Pro?
Well it turns out that there’s a new Pronto Pro out now. RemoteCentral has a review on it. This is going to be a tough decision. The new Pronto Pro now has a TFT display and more buttons as well. But I have become a bit spoiled by my DirecTiVo’s peanut-shaped remote lately. Time for more research.
