Philips would love to coordinate a time to fly out to your home and get your Pronto TSU9600 set up for you," says the e-mail. The company wants to ensure I get the best experience possible. It’s the last thing in the world I want to deal with right now, though. I’ve got Tech Talk interviews to conduct and a Show-Offs column to write. And as soon as my wife finds out that a stranger is visiting, she’s going to make me clean my media room.

Then I remember my last experience with a Pronto remote. I spent dozens of hours programming my old TSU3000, but it ended up collecting dust as soon as I upgraded a piece of gear, because I couldn’t bear to look at the programming software again. "Anytime next week works great for me!" I reply enthusiastically. A bit of straightening up and vacuuming never killed a fellow.

Fast-forward one week and Chris, a Pronto specialist from Philips, is knocking on my door. He settles in, connects the TSU9600 to his laptop, and gets to work. First, he asks me to choose between two interfaces: a standard-looking one or a custom layout designed by Atlanta-based Only One Remote. I opt for the latter because its icons are a better fit for my large front paws; I would prefer to use the remote’s included stylus as infrequently as possible. Chris explains that I can hop between interfaces at any time by hitting the "Home" button twice.

After a few more minutes of tweaking, Chris passes the remote to me and asks me to test it. I turn all of my devices off to start with a clean slate and press "Watch DVD." My system instantly springs to life. My surround processor dials in the correct input. My DVD player boots up. My display comes on—but with no picture. The remote sent the change input command to my display before it was fully booted.

"Not a problem," Chris says. He rearranges the order of commands, inserting precise delays to compensate for my display’s long boot time. This is exactly the sort of command-level tinkering I wish I could do to my Harmony 890 remote. We go through the same process a few more times. When Chris began programming, Star Wars had just begun airing on a local broadcast channel. By the time Princess Leia recognizes Governor Tarkin’s foul stench, I have a fully functional, expertly programmed touchscreen remote control.

The only problem is, it doesn’t fit the way I use my system—especially in terms of TV watching. "Can we add the control screen from ‘Watch My Shows’ to the ‘Watch Live TV’ menus?" I ask. "My wife and I do a lot of pausing and rewinding." Not a problem. Chris adds new buttons in a matter of minutes, resizing and labeling them to my taste. "Can we assign pause and fast-forward functions to the hard buttons at the bottom? I use those the most." Sure thing. "Come to think of it, we don’t really need two separate activities, since we jump back and forth between live TV and the DVR so much. Can we just combine the functionality of both into one?" Of course. "Oh, can we add a ‘List’ button at the bottom of every screen that takes me to all of my recorded shows?" Chris doesn’t bat an eye.

If it sounds like I am reviewing the programmer more than I am the remote, that’s not far from the truth. Given the flexibility of Philips’ new ProntoEdit Professional software, what you see on the TSU9600’s screen is really only limited by your installer’s imagination. By the time Leia hangs medals around the necks of Han and Luke (poor, neglected Chewbacca), Chris has put together an interface that looks and acts exactly how I envisioned it should.

As for the hardware itself, I really have no complaints. Response is nearly instantaneous, the hard buttons are well-placed, and the remote feels balanced and comfortable whether I’m holding it or operating it from the stylish charging pedestal. Despite having built-in WiFi, it won’t access the Internet—the WiFi is there mostly for communicating with the optional RFX9400 infrared repeater module (for controlling gear that’s hidden in a cabinet) and the RFX9600 advanced extender (which does the same thing but adds two-way RS-232 control, plus compatibility with Escient FireBall media servers and Lutron RadioRA lighting controllers). I would have liked having support for the newer Z-Wave wireless protocol, which I use for lighting control in my home, but that’s my only real complaint with the TSU9600.

For an entertainment system that requires more control and customization than something like a Harmony remote can offer, but doesn’t necessarily need the massive, whole-house automation muscle of a Crestron or AMX system, the Philips TSU9600 may very well be the perfect mid-priced control solution.

DESCRIPTION
Infrared/WiFi touchscreen control system for audio/video systems and lighting

REPEATER MODULES
RFX9400 Wireless Extender, which extends the IR range of the remote using WiFi technology; RFX9600 Advanced Serial Extender, which facilitates two-way RS-232 and extended IR control; both optional

SCREEN SIZE
3.7 inches diagonal, 640 x 480 pixels

DIMENSIONS
3.9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches (hwd)

PRICE/CONTACT
PRICE: TSU9600 $1,299, RFX9400 $299, RFX9600 $699
CONTACT: 800.531.0039, pronto.philips.com