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92 of 95 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great concept, but Philips Pronto better investment, April 24, 2000
I really wanted to like the Take Control. The key innovation that this remote brought to the (coffee) table is task-based operation. Instead of dealing with lots of individual home theater components, it can be set up to work the way you do - "watch a movie," or "watch TV." This makes a complicated system accessible by anyone who wants to use it (read: wife, kids, friends), not just the resident equipment geek (read: me). The setup process is also greatly simplified - a wizard walks you through choices, you select what you have, and you're done! Great, right?Yes. But. While the concept works, the software is not flexible enough to make it work the way you want it to work once you're finished with the initial set up. And, as many other reviewers have noted, the ergonomics leave something to be desired. This would be forgivable if it were less expensive, but at this price point, there is an alternative - the Philips Pronto. The Pronto has two things going for it, and one major strike against it. The pros: it's infinitely flexible, and allows you to set up a task-oriented interface (the major plus of the Take Control) customized EXACTLY the way you want it to look and operate, even down to the graphic for the "home" icon. To help you make the most of the remote's power, there's a whole Internet community ready to give you completed set-ups and control codes (www.remotecentral.com) you can download into your remote, including Star Trek themes, codes and icons for French sattelite TV stations, and tabbed interfaces. The con: unlike the Take Control, initial Pronto setup requires this customization - you can't start with a wizard. Note: It only took me 20 minutes to get an ugly but functional Pronto configuration set up, but you can spend months tweaking away - I'm still playing with the thing months later (it's fun!). For "set it and forget it" types, the Pronto is a bit too open ended for it's own good. Rumor has it Philips is working on an improved setup routine for a late 2000 update. For some people, this product is expensive but perfect (hence my 3 star rating), but if you're willing to invest a little time playing with the thing, the Pronto is a much better product.
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