All Articles Tagged Philips Pronto

Julie Jacobson | 02/08 06:57 AM, 0 Comments

When Philips Pronto died its final death, one of the brand’s biggest distributors turned to Remote Technologies Inc.(RTI) “Life is all about evolution and proactivity,” said Philippe Loupias of France-based distributor Pilote Films. “We have already moved to RTI.” During the recent Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) in Amsterdam, RTI was poised to take over former Pronto dealers, duking it out with Control4, URC and others vying for the remote control business once dominated by Philips. Pronto was perhaps best known for its large number of two-way drivers for both the… View this story

Steve Crowe | 01/06 01:54 PM, 8 Comments

Philips Pronto, the Philips division that used to make higher-end remote controls, is gone for good. Philips announced last year that it was closing the division, but CE Pro learned afterward that efforts for a rescue efforts were afoot and almost certainly guaranteed. Alas, the would-be acquirers were unable to close the deal with Philips. We learned recently that it was a group of three European distributors who had tried to resurrect Philips. Philippe Loupias is principal of one of those distributors, Pilote Films. He tells CE Pro: A group… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 11/10 09:34 AM, 12 Comments

The buzz in Europe is that Philips Pronto is well on its way to a new life with "the same name, new owners," sources tell CE Pro in confidence. The news comes more than a week after Philips announced it would close its remote-control and home automation division, rather than sell the assets. Philips had claimed that "no suitable partner was found for the acquisition of these [Pronto] activities," even though major U.S. vendors told CE Pro that Philips never approached them about a potential acquisition. It appears, however, that… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 11/05 09:28 AM, 0 Comments

The demise of Philips Pronto may have been exaggerated. CE Pro has learned that Philips may sell its remote-control division after all, even after announcing last week that it would simply close the Belgium-based business. Evidently, Philips received so much interest in the product since the announcement of its demise, that the company is now entering discussions with suitors. Philips had reported earlier that a "suitable partner for the acquisition" could not be found, despite "thorough research." Evidently, the "thorough research" did not include U.S.-based companies. As CE pro has… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 11/01 09:59 AM, 74 Comments

How hard did Philips try to sell its Pronto remote-control division? Some of the major vendors in the CE pro channel never heard from the company, which announced last week it was closing its Pronto business unit. When contacted by CE Pro, many of the obvious acquisition partners said Philips never approached them about buying the Pronto operation or its intellectual property. Why is that? The closure of the Pronto division strands thousands of CE pros – including integrators and manufacturers – who invested in product training and software development,… View this story

Jason Knott | 10/29 12:14 PM, 16 Comments

Philips says it is shutting down its Pronto remote control product line. The company has been trying to find a buyer for the Pronto business since 2009 and was unsuccessful. From the official statement: “In December 2009, Philips announced the intention to relocate some of its existing remote control activities in Leuven, Belgium to Asia. At the same time, the intention was communicated to investigate alternative strategic options for the Pronto business, as this activity no longer fits with the Philips strategy. Following thorough research, no suitable partner was found… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 09/14 04:36 AM, 4 Comments

[UPDATE 9/15: New images at right, overlay screen below, and page 2] Add Philips to the growing list of remote-control manufacturers that wants to be known as a home automation company. At CEDIA Expo 2010, the company will demonstrate its new TSW9500 in-wall touchscreen, ProntoTunes iTunes controller, the next version of Pronto Edit Professional (PEP3), and a Crestron emulator that shows how a Pronto remote can be used instead of a pricier Crestron touchscreen. Pronto In-Wall Touchscreen with Soft Buttons The touchscreen was first demonstrated at Infocomm in June, but… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 08/24 04:50 AM, 11 Comments

It’s nice that so many TVs these days have Ethernet ports for streaming digital content. But as long as that port is there, why not use it for IP-based control of the device? “That was [the] question I asked many at last year’s CEDIA and at this year’s CES,” says integrator “roddymcg” on RemoteCentral.com. “Usually I get the glazed over look from sales, who then run off to get an engineer. Who then looks at me as though I have sniffed too much Elmer's glue for wanting to control a… View this story

Robert Archer | 04/15 11:20 AM, 0 Comments

January 2010 was a turning point for Philips Pronto. At CES, the European manufacturer of customizable control devices recommitted to the custom market by showing its TSU series of touchpanels and RFX9400 and RFX9600 remote extenders. And, more importantly, the company introduced the latest version of its programming software, ProntoEdit Professional (PEP 2.4), which features upgraded Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and Digital Network Living Alliance (DNLA) compatibility to enable installers to work with products from companies like Microsoft and Sonos. Rudy Musschebroeck, marketing manager for Philips Pronto, tells CE… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 02/08 05:32 AM, 0 Comments

If you can prograrm a Philips Pronto remote control, then you can program any Crestron Adagio multizone amplifier – no Crestron programming required. Germany-based Empure has introduced introduced ProntoCrestron Adagio Script, which lets you program Adagio products (AES, AAE and their international counterparts AESI and AAEI), solely through the Philips Pronto Script programming environment. “Someone who is a not a Crestron programmer can use this,” said Empure’s Michael Gotz during Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) last week, where the product debuted. The bi-directional IP script enables control of each individual zone… View this story