Has anyone ever torn into a Pronto Remote (an put it back together)? I have an older remote that I considered taking out of its' case and surface mounting it in my console (nechanism yet unknown). The macro mechanisms would be beneficial on custom playlists. A lot of the functionality can be duplicated with Hijack but one could even put iconized artists. This idea really started from wantng a lighted remote.

If permanently installed, power could be directly supplied to the remote and eliminate the batterys. I haven't disassemble the case yet but assume the IR transmitters could be rerouted to a concealed location.

This sounds like an interesting idea. A lot of work, though, and wouldn't you eventually run into a memory limitation for macros in the Pronto. Also, this would be one-way, right? No way to display any state information (like track) back to the Pronto, true?

It is definately one way. I believe they have 8 MB of flash ram. Here's a link.

http://www.pronto.philips.com/pro_spec.htm

I had actually thought about a small touchscreen lcd tied into the serial port. I didn't even know if that were possible.

Made for Home Theater but applicable for everything. Here's a link to a btrmaps for DSS.

http://www.prontoedit.com/html/bitmaps.html

For the price of a Pronto, why not use a Palm? It's been done before and talked about in this thread.

For serial control, you can use PalmEmpeg as discussed in this thread.

For IR control, you can use either palmremote or OmniRemote as talked about in this thread.

Not to mention all the other cool things you can do with a Palm that you can't do with a Pronto. I've never used a Pronto... is there something it can do that a cheaper Palm can't? (other than distance which is moot if you're gonna extend the IR transmitter via wire anyway).

Since you've never used a Pronto, you've never seen its software (firmware). And you've never seen Pronto Edit. There's more than one reason a Pronto costs what it does.

You can also get original T1000 models much cheaper than the current colour models. Also, does the Palm do IR or IRDA?

If using a Palm or even a CE type machine, I'd rather go with an ethernet connection than serial. More expensive for sure, but a lot easier to customise an interface for (you can make them in HTML to run within a browser). Of course, if Mark were to make some sort of cool serial http implementation, that would be very cool.

Bruno

If using a Palm or even a CE type machine, I'd rather go with an ethernet connection than serial. More expensive for sure, but a lot easier to customise an interface for
Palm's don't support ethernet, but you can still customize the interface.

Well, I know that there are thousands of applications that can run on a $99 Palm. Using a Palm with PalmEmpeg gives you the advantage of two-way communication.

This post talks about the possibility of making PalmEmpeg work via tcp/ip.

The Palm does IrDA but can also do raw IR. For transferring data between the Palm and the empeg, see Hugo's post. I read another thread where someone got TCP/IP working over IR between a Palm and empeg, but I can't find it now.

With a Palm, you could also display your gps nav maps on a screen with many more pixels than the empeg's front panel.

All of that to say that there's so much more you can do both interface wise, application wise and communication wise with a Palm... for one quarter the price.

The Handspring does ir but the one I've seen has pretty limited screens/ Maybe it's better now.

The pronto is so nice because of pronto edit. I had not however thought about the ethernet capabilities of the palm. I'll look at the other threads.

what about just a lcd touch panel like some of the custom devices like some of the overlayed touchscreen devices that fit over regular monitors? We've used some on some monitors running some Honeywell control software.

The whole point of OmniRemote is that you can edit the layout. The Palm has always been a touch screen.

I'm still left wondering what (if anything) the Pronto can do for four times the price of a Palm?!

I had used the handspring version when it first came out. I don't think it was editable at that time.

This is a little off topic but reading the above threads got me to thinking about something else. The wireless ethernet module (handspring) could browse to a pc or empeg home docked? Right?

At present, I have a rack pc in an audio rack I control with VNC. I have a preamp (AV Type) with a second room fed out some outdoor speakers http://www.stereostoneinc.com/ or better http://www.stereostones.com/ . Usually just feed a playlist into a decoder and listen.

I had thought about a hardwire IR Panel like this http://www.smarthome.com/images/8163big.gif but when I switched to mp3s only from dual changers it wouldn't have worked

In theory, you'd be able to use VNC as-is. For PalmEmpeg to work, I think you'd have to wait for a software update that supports tcp/ip as well as serial.

Not sure how well the Hijack's web interface would look, but when the XML & XSLT group comes up with a plan and mlord impliments it, then you should be able to make something that works well on the Visor.

With the cheap Visor Neo and the (not so cheap) Xircom Springboard 802.11b adapter it'll run you about $470. You end up with something that fits in the palm of your hand, is customizable, has a very long range and can make instant changes to your A/V system. You can get each of those features cheaper, but I don't know of any other way to get them all in the same package.

If you're thinking about buying a Pronto, I highly recommend the old non-color one over the ProntoPro color unit ... I have a color (used to the have original), and I get the feeling that Philips had to sacrifice a lot to produce the color display. My screen is less sensitive than the original, the case production quality seems generally lower than the original, and the hard buttons on the sides don't have the tactile response of the original. Maybe I just have a bit of a lemon, but aside from the "cool" factor of having color, I wish I hadn't traded up now.

Just my two cents

Mike

I already own one of the original units. Did you ever have any problems with the hard buttons "sticking" on yours?

i never had that problem with my original one ...

When those first IR remote apps for the Palm came out, the main problem was that the IR transmitter on the Palm wouldn't reach more than a few inches. Slightly less than a foot at best. I don't know if this has been resolved in more recent Palm hardware, but it's certainly a problem that the Pronto never had (not that I have one [sigh]).

The Palm does not have an IR transmitter capable of the ranges of the Pronto or other consumer electronics remotes.

The Pronot also has a screen that is more suited to input with your fingers. The Palm looks lke crap and has a tiny square screen. The graphics on the Pronto can be completely changed.

And you can buy an older Pronto for FAR less than 4x the price of a Palm.

Using tcp/ip one doesn't have to wait for any XML or additional hijack support. You can fake button presses and serial commands right now using http. If I was going to put some kind of screen into the car for empeg use, this is how it would be done. It might be worth someone asking Mark if he can make a serial http hack so Palm users won't need ethernet.

Of course I'm surprised no one's mention using an Audrey yet.

Bruno

I thought the Audrey had been discontinued (EOLd). I don't know if it would be ironic (can't come up with the perfect word here) but coincidental to use it to control the empeg (also discontinued).

I think I'll take the low tech approach and Velcro in the Pronto on the console and see how useful it is. I have the Sony stalk but it seems somewhat dependent on the temperature.

Has anyone else noticed a slow down on the stalk response with the later Hijack versions possibly intercepting the resistance values?

Even new Palms have weak IR ports hence my statement earlier in this thread:
I've never used a Pronto... is there something it can do that a cheaper Palm can't? (other than distance which is moot if you're gonna extend the IR transmitter via wire anyway).

The really old Palms that didn't come with built-in IR have decent range (don't know actual numbers) when you buy the add-on IR module. Also, some of the Sony Clie models claim to have a "Universal Remote" feature, but they don't explain this in detail... I'd assume it at least means having a decent IR range. The current top-of-the-line 760C says "no" in that row, but the /. crowd overlooked that when babbling about it.