User reviews for the Philips ProntoNEO TSU500 from Philips Electronics. Ratings Reviews MSRP (USD) Average: 3.29/5.00 Median: 3.67/5.00 52 $249 The ProntoNEO TSU500 is a lower-cost addition to the Pronto Family. But with a graphical LCD touchscreen, full code learning, macros on any button and complete PC editing software with custom bitmaps, the ProntoNEO itself is no lightweight. Message Forum Add Your Review Get it at:

Written by Adam from Toronto, Canada. The reviewer has used this remote control for more than two years.

Review 52 made on Friday November 11, 2005 at 11:29 PM. Strengths: -Easy to use -Affordable -Versatile Weaknesses: -Unreliable -Fragile -Poor Manufacturer Support Review: Hard buttons under the screen fell apart from repeated use after 6 months. Phillips was not helpful. I threw it in a drawer for a year and a half. I started using it again recently and within 2 weeks the touchscreen failed. The remote left a small crater on the lawn outside my appartment window, I'm sure. I will not buy from Phillips again. I have no respect for a company who doesnt stand by their product. Quality: Features: Value:

Written by Bear21 from Ohio, Usa. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-2 years.

Review 51 made on Tuesday October 11, 2005 at 11:43 PM. Strengths: Cheap Price for its type, Hard Buttons Weaknesses: Unusable after a year. Screen Calibration Failed. Crappy Remote. Very Poor Value for Money. Review: It should be illegal to sell equipment that fails so miserably right after warranty. It took a long and absorbing time to program but finally was great to use. Only to be met with a faith shared with too many other owners of this device. Apart from the huge consumption of battery power, and the need to take these batteries out not only for frequent changes but also to perform frequent hard resets when the unit stops responding. Now The top 1/2 of the screen stops responding (it was slowsly losing calibration, me having to press some phantom area next to a button to get the button working but this has worsened and no matter where I press I cannot get the first 1/2 of the screen to respond). If I try to recalibrate, I get the usual 'CALIBRATION FAILED' message. I thought it wouldnt happen to me :( Quality: Features: Value:

Written by yamatosoul from Orange, CA. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-2 years.

Review 50 made on Monday June 6, 2005 at 9:06 PM. Strengths: Graphical interface on the LCD screen can be fun to use. Weaknesses: Poor overall quality. Marginal performance. Review: If you're considering buying one of these NEO's, I'd highly recommend against. My first one, failed within the first six months (touchscreen stopped working, unable to update firmware). So, I contacted Philips customer service for a warranty replacement. After 2 weeks of going back and forth with the most unhelpful staff at Philips, I finally got them to send me a replacement. But almost within 2 weeks, I started having problems with the new one. I now own a HTM MX-700 (huge difference in quality/performance!), and have been ecstatic with it for over a year. The only problem is, now, I don't know what to do with my near-dead NEO. Quality: Features: Value:

Written by M Fischer from Chicago. The reviewer has used this remote control for more than two years.

Review 49 made on Monday May 16, 2005 at 4:29 AM. Strengths: Highly customizable - most of the features of the more expensive remotes, no RF, not color - but PC interface, macros, etc. Weaknesses: Touchscreen fails. Review: Love this remote - got very, very attached to it - only to have it stop working JUST after the end of its one year warranty period. The touch screen fails. No one sells the part that I can find anywhere. Philips charges about $80-100 to replace the touchscreen - half the remote's value. So, I bought another one brand new on E-Bay from someone who had received it as a gift and was intimidated by it for less than that. But...it wasn't a fluke. Again...JUST after the year mark, the touchscreen failed. The failure is widely attributed to a very thin cable inside the housing. I opened both of mine up after the second one's death. Everything was intact, no chips, no marks, no scratches. I admit - I dropped my remote control. But, it was not abused. It just met the same fate that thousands of remotes meet every day across the nation without failing - it slipped out of my hand while I was sitting on the couch. I've read many instances too of this remote failing without any dropping at all. See reviews on popular electronics web stores. It just takes one drop - one - that's all. If you think you will never, ever, ever drop it - not even once....then, hey - buy it and enjoy. I know I did...for a while anyway. Quality: Features: Value:

Written by Chad Mondor from Massachusetts, USA. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 48 made on Wednesday July 14, 2004 at 12:54 PM. Strengths: LCD Backlit display Customizable using ProntoNEO software and NeoHacker software Works with a wide range of components Customizable macros Learning capabilities Long battery life Overall great product at $200 price point Weaknesses: Takes a lot of time and effort to customize the device to get it to how you want it to work. Review: I bought this remote control over the Sony RM-AV3100 for one main reason being the customizable lables on the TSU500. I realized that the RM-AV3100 had more positive reviews, but I went with the ProntoNEO anyway. I am in no way disappointed with my decision. After a few weeks of use, I realized that the Philips was the superior choice. The prontoNEO has fully lived up to my expectations. It took a lot of time to customize, but I finally got it to work flawlessly with all of my equipment. The NEO controls all 10 pieces of my equipment including TV's, DVD Players, CD players, AVR's, VCR's, and Speaker Systems. The only drawback that I found of the remote is that it needs to be well customized and takes a lot of time to customize. It's so easy to use. Before I bought it, family would come over and not know how to work the television along with all of the other equipment. Now they just push a button that reads "Watch TV" or "Watch a DVD" and the equipment switches to all of the right inputs and turns on. It's absolutely great. Therefore, I gladly rate the remote a 5 out of 5. Quality: Features: Value:

Written by ravikantbhamawat from neemuch india. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 47 made on Monday February 9, 2004 at 3:49 AM. Review: chose this unit over the other Pronto units not because of price, but because it's the only one with enough hard buttons to operate Tivo and DVD shuttle controls w/o having to look at the touchscreen. I could never understand why this isn't the norm in touchscreen remotes... I bought the TSU 500 at Best Buy as a restock for $150, and spent the next 10 hours programming it for a moderately complex home theature system - HK AVR 80 mkIII receiver, Pioneer Elite 610 rptv, Sony SAT-H100 HD receiver, Hughes DirecTivo, Pioneer DV38a DVD, Technics outboard digital audio decoder. I've got most of the kinks worked out, and I do love the device - plenty of macros to set up all the components for various viewing modes - HD, DVD, Tivo, etc..., and even some simple pages for my father (77 years old) who isn't too fond of universal remotes and their sixteen million tiny buttons. It's a shame that the editing software has so many limitations, but I imagine that this will change over time, and I am glad I invested the time to program the unit - it's the best one I've owned, so far. Quality: Features: Value:

Written by Max Y. from Orange, CA. The reviewer has used this remote control for 6-12 months.

Review 46 made on Wednesday December 17, 2003 at 11:47 PM. Strengths: Flexibility, programmability, NeoEdit software Weaknesses: First, the Pronto support through their website is worthless. Any problems you may report will not be responded to. Now the clincher: Just when I thought I had my Neo programmed just the way I wanted the calibration went out on me. The buttons on the upper half of the touchscreen no longer responded at the designated locations. So, I tried to re-calibrate, but it would not take. No matter how many times I tried, it would not calibrate successfully. Then, I tried reloading the firmware. Now, I just get the calibration screen without any way to calbrate. This thing is less than 3 months old. What a waste. Review: I was initially thrilled with the Neo with all that it can do. I programmed, tweaked, and designed my own Neo. But nothing should crap out after only 3 months. This is truly a dissappointment. I had considered upgrading to an NG when I saw one at Costco.com for $229, but after reading user reviews on those, I've decided against it. This will be the first and last Philips product I buy. I'm now moving on to the Universal Remote's MX-500, which I should've done in the first place. Quality: Features: Value:

Return to the user reviews index...

Add your review