The RC9500 is about six inches long, three-and-a-half inches wide and an inch-and-a-quarter thick. It comes in black with metallic gray accents and is easy to read, with an LCD screen size of about two-and-a-half by three inches. Its rounded base fits nicely in my palm, making it easy to operate with just one hand. A 600mAh NiMH battery powers the unit for several hours of intermittent usage and can be easily recharged using the included docking station. There are silver-colored hard buttons that can be used in addition to the soft buttons that are featured on the LCD screen itself. The hard buttons are commonly used for things like navigating the menus and tabs of the device, controlling volume and changing channels. Both the hard and soft buttons can be fully programmed to do whatever your heart desires. A mini-USB jack on the left side of the unit allows for the RC9500 to be programmed from a PC. The screen has a sensor that will detect when the unit is tilted or picked up, resulting in the unit’s backlight buttons and LCD screen turning on.
The generously-sized color screen uses thin film transistor
(TFT) LCD technology to yield a color pallet of 64,000 colors. This 320
x 240 pixel touch screen allows for creative and rich custom graphics
to be displayed on this unit. With an impressive 16MB of RAM (this will
be increased to 48MB with a firmware upgrade from Marantz later this
year), the sky is the limit as to how much customization can be done
with this unit. The range of the IR signals from this unit is about 30
feet, but if you have greater needs or you have components in other
rooms, you can get the RF-77 extender to solve this issue for $169.
This extender sits in front of your IR components and converts RF
signals from the RC9500 into IR signals that the components can
understand.
Programming
Ah, here is the dicey part: programming
this puppy. Fortunately, Marantz has made this easy by including the
Wizz.it 9 configuration software for your PC. The software installed
easily on my Windows XP PC. Once installed, this allows you to add your
own devices, macros and graphics to the RC9500. First, I suggest you
gather up all your remotes and place them in a box. Carry the box to
your PC. Now you can add all the buttons present on each remote into
the appropriate device list on the software. It is easier to edit an
existing sample component (like a DVD player) than creating one from
scratch. I basically took the default DVD player and edited the text
and layout of all the buttons, so I could emulate the old DVD player
remote. Once this is done for each device in your collection, you can
then put the RC9500 into learn mode and program all of your
newly-created buttons on the remote with your old remote codes.
Prior
to starting the IR learning phase, you will need to save the
configuration file (with the new buttons created) to your PC and
download the file to your RC9500. I would suggest doing the IR learning
in a room distant from your stereo. The learning part goes quickly and
then you can place the old remotes back in that box and put it in the
garage. Naturally, many Marantz components are already programmed into
the RC9500. You will need to upload and save the configuration file
(with the learned IR codes in it) from your RC9500 to your PC.
Next,
you will need to create your macros. This is where this remote starts
to pay for itself. Everything is adjustable on this remote. Using the
Wizz.it 9 software, I made a macro for when I select “watch” on the top
menu and then select “DVD.” It launches a macro instead of just jumping
to the main device tab on the DVD section of the remote. This remote
first turns on the projector, waits five seconds, turns on my preamp,
waits three seconds, switches the inputs on the preamp to the DVD
setting, switches the projector to DVI input, turns on the lava lamp
and dims the other lights, turns the DVD player on by giving it the
play command and then finally signals the end of the macro with a loud
beep. You can program up to 250 individual commands in a single macro.
Despite what the specifications on the Marantz website may lead you to
believe, it will not memorize RF remotes (like my x10 lighting system),
just IR. I had to get a $40 special IR remote for my x10 system just so
I could promptly toss the remote out after learning the x10 IR codes
into the RC9500. This was a bit frustrating.
At
this point, you are done with the basic functions. However, why stop
there? With 16MB of memory, why not download an entire Washington
Redskins football theme to your remote and make all the buttons little
footballs, with a background that looks like a football field? Better
yet, you could make a “Sex in the City” theme for your significant
other and have totally different graphics for the DVD player buttons
and not have to change the macros or the IR codes. You basically can
create two or more user profiles for each potential user of the remote.
When the remote is first picked up, it can display a top-level menu to
ask the user which person is using it and it will launch the
corresponding theme. This is incredibly cool and, although it takes a
little patience to set up, it’s well worth it and makes your remote a
special gadget worthy of your beloved AV system.
The
power of this remote grows with the much-awaited 48MB upgrade, which
will allow for more intricate customization like animation and even
more goodies to rock this remote out. There is an entire website
devoted to themes, usable graphics and macros for this remote. Visit www.remotecentral.com
to get more details, then look in the file archive for the Pronto NG
(these will work on the RC9500) for sample themes. The themes are
basically html and jpg files, so creating your own themes is not
difficult. (Note: The RC9500 and Wizz.it 9 are also compatible with bmp
and png files.) I particularly like using the logo graphics for the
Discovery Channel, ESPN, etc. to replace having to memorize which
channel number corresponds to each. This is a must-have.
Alternatives
So
what are my other options? There are many. You can get learning remotes
from a few dozen companies, ranging in price from $100 all the way up
to an entry-level $6,000 AMX system (not including the hours of
programming it needs from a technician at a cost that is comparable to
the remote hardware cost). The cheap remotes offer little improvement
in the ease of use department and will frequently not learn all the
codes for every function on the remotes. Also, who wants to look at
bundle of non-descriptive rubber buttons? If 8MB is enough for your
themes and you don’t mind a monochrome screen, the Marantz RC5400 could
be a good alternative for $649. With a little creativity and some
effort, you can create a remote that will attempt to emulate the big
boys like AMX and Crestron. There are even aftermarket converters that
will translate some IR codes to serial RS-232 ports on the back of your
components, the way an AMX unit will do. One thing to keep in mind is
that Marantz offers a three-year warranty and a killer amount of
customer service to aid you along the way with customizing this baby. I
spent a few hours on the phone with a helpful tech free of charge.
Crestron and AMX owners more often than not have to call their
technician at $125 per hour every time they add a component or want to
change a preset on their TiVo page.
It is important to
note that an AMX or Crestron remote system can do things that this
Marantz simply can’t dream of, including successfully controlling
sophisticated multi-zone HVAC, circuitry and far beyond. The big boys
also connect your gear mostly via RS-232, which allows for a more
reliable, secure system. Make no mistake, you get what you pay for with
the big gun remotes, but boy, do you ever pay.{mospagebreak}
Downsides
Although this is an amazing remote, there is
always room for improvement. First priority is the battery. This
battery runs out after a couple of hours of moderate use. It currently
has a 600mAh NiMH battery and, in my eyes, needs at least a 1000mAh
Lithium ion in the next revision. Lithium ion batteries last longer,
recharge faster and have no memory, so you do not have to deplete them
entirely before recharging. If my $150 cell phone has a lithium ion
battery, then so can a $1,100 remote.
The pick-up
sensor sounds like a loose plastic ball rolling around in the remote.
This may annoy some, but it is part of the design. We are used to
things feeling solid. yet other than changing the design to a
liquid-based switch, it is something we will have to live with.
This remote could use some rubber feet and some bumpers, since it is
small enough that it may likely be dropped. This would serve to protect
your furniture and your remote alike.
The
Wizz.it 9 software has some quirks. When I rename a device tab like the
“numpad” to “joystick,” it does not change this in all the views for
the device. This means I have to rename the label for each tab I may
have, which adds up to a lot of extra effort when you have four or five
tabs per device.
Conclusion
Although
the addition of this remote to my home theater has not improved the
sound or picture of my system, it has won over my friends who try to
use my theater. My tech-adverse father can totally figure out how to
control my system when he visits, thanks to the macros on this remote.
I have a little more comfort with letting my roommate use my system,
knowing the macros will power up and down all my components in the
correct order and not damage anything. Best of all, the themes allow
for this remote to be completely personalized to your taste and that of
the whole family. Indeed, the price is steep for this power; however,
if you consider the level of customer service that you get and the cost
of the big boys, this is very affordable. This remote has definitely
made an impact on the wow factor of my system. The Marantz RC9500 will
make you the undisputed “coolest kid on the block.”
Reviewer: Matthew Evert
