Design
The RC5400 is obviously a clone of the Philips Pronto RU980. The casing is slightly different but the hard-wired controls are all pretty much the same. The biggest difference is the screen. While the Philips shows buttons and icons in rich beautiful colour, the Marantz only manages a dim, washed-out monochrome blur. It is extremely difficult to read at almost any angle and in almost any light. There's not much point in going on about the design, is there?
Features
To add to our disappointment with the RC5400, the unit we were sent did not come with a CD containing PC software (a USB cable was included). We then noticed that the manual mentions that you can download "Wizz.it" software from www.marantz.com, but seriously, if you're expected pay over $1000 for a remote control, you'd think they could have gone to a little more effort.
Performance
As with the Philips Pronto RU980, much of the programming and configuration of the RC5400 could be accomplished with the unit in standalone mode, and we halfheartedly went through a few of these steps just to confirm this (squinting desperately at the screen the whole time).
We could go on, but why? We could almost feel sorry for this poor cousin to the Philips remote if it weren't for the ridiculous price the Marantz carries. The functionality may be there, but the usability just isn't — if you have this much cash to spend on a universal remote, check out the Pronto RU980. If you want exceptional functionality, a colour screen, and a much lower price, we recommend the Logitech Harmony 785.
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