UCommand 616: Click to enlarge.

New remote: When Crisp Solutions named their previous product the UCommand, it seems they were actually starting a whole series of universal remote controls. Announced yesterday as the "big brother" to the UCommand 515, the UCommand 616 is a true dot-matrix LCD touchscreen remote with customizable labels and "soft" buttons along with PC connectivity. The new 616 will be able to control a total of ten devices with up to four LCD screens each, containing a maximum of 42 user buttons. All buttons can be labeled, sized, moved, added and deleted. In addition to the touchscreen, the 616 also includes 8 programmable hard buttons, usable for functions such as power, menu, volume and transport controls.

The advanced features consist of 12 macro buttons with up to 25 commands per button, 12 programmable timers (to start a macro at specific pre-configured times) and automatic screen backlighting. The UCommand 616 is also a full-featured learning remote, which means it can capture any signal off of your existing controls. Along with the 616 remote you will also be able to purchase an optional docking cradle for battery recharging, memory transfer and PC connectivity. But what’s best is that Crisp Solutions is promising that the 616 will be as responsive as the 515 – and if you’ve read our review of the 515 you know that’s prerequisite for creating a truly usable home theater interface.

The UCommand is expected to be available this coming September at a price "less than $300".
[Talk about the UCommand...]

New RC5000 Setup v2.0: Marantz has released a new edition of RC5000 Setup v2.0 which appears to fix the backwards/forwards page jumping bug. This would cause the remote to produce a "corrupt CCF" error if that function was assigned to a soft LCD button. Strangely, there is absolutely no way to differentiate between installed copies of this and the older version. The file sizes, time stamps, dates and internal version numbers all appear identical -- but this version works while the previous one did not. Other minor operational nuances have not been changed.

CCF files: New or updated Pronto system CCF files are now available from Carsten Stolz, Guy Kuo, Jason Maguire, Matthew Elton, Patrick De Giorgi, Peter L., Simon Long and Wayne Kremer. Check the out, and don't forget to upload your own!

For individual component CCF files, Renn Tarbox has uploaded a setup for the Pioneer DV-F727 DVD player, John Ivanoff a Marantz SR4000 receiver, Allen Mueller codes for all Mitsubishi 1999/2000 projection television sets, Eugin Hamarat files for both the Technics SA-DX930 and Yamaha RX-V595A receivers and, finally, David R. Hendrickson submitted a new CCF file for the Acurus ACT3 preamp.

The MakeHex Pronto utility by John Fine has been updated to version 2, while his new CCF2EFC program for converting CCF files to text and IR codes to OneForAll EFC numbers is now available. Barry Gordon's GenIRDB database management program has been updated to a new version, while Leo Davidson has submitted Nudelist, which aids in generating CD jukebox lists. Finally, Olivier Couvreur has uploaded a new versions of CCF Dumper and CCF Encoder/Decoder, which now support the new RC5000i file format. Olivier's two utilities help you maintain your CCF files and make batch changes using any text editor.

Our Unofficial Pronto/RC5000 FAQ has also had a few changes, with four new Adobe Acrobat PDF printable versions now available in the documents section of the file area. Take your pick between text or graphical versions from both Andrea Whitlock and Tom Held.