Photographs: My update of the remote reviews, starting with the Philips Pronto, continues today with new photos for the Sony RM-AV2000 and the Home Theater Master SL-9000. Even if you've already seen these reviews I would appreciated it if you could check out the new photos (they're spread out amongst the pages) and let me know what you think. Thanks for any comments!

Marantz RC5000: A brief update for RC5000 users still waiting for an official firmware update for their remote. I've spoken with Marantz, and they're as eager to release it as you are to receive it! Programming for the update is being completed, so hopefully it will be available for download in the very near future.

Firmware cracked: If you've been following the Pronto/RC5000 Forum you've probably seen mention of a crack that a fellow user has released, designed to allow RC5000 users to load a Pronto's firmware onto their remote. Unfortunately, it only appears to work on half of the remotes attempted -- the author is investigating the problem and may find a way to fix it. For now, if you've got a remote that didn't take the update just download RC5000 Setup from Marantz' page and run the Update RC5000 command. All will be returned to normal.

Contest: December's contest, sponsored by AVsmarts.com has reached the halfway point -- so be sure to get your entry in! There's hundreds of dollars worth of equipment to be won! Click here for all the details.