Customer Reviews

Philips Prestigo SRU8008/27 Universal Remote Control

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I ordered this remote to replace the one I lost that came with my Philips 42pf9630 television. Other universal remotes say they support Philips televisions but only volume, and channel controls really work. Disappointing. However, this remote fully supported my TV; the menu button, arrow keys, and special function buttons all work just like the remote the TV came with.

I wasn't aware of this when I purchased it but this remote comes pre-programmed with controls for Media Center PCs. I was thinking I would need to use the learning function to get my MCE PC to work, but those controls worked out of the box. I'm very happy with my purchase.

This remote worked fine for my TV, cable box with DVR, Blu Ray player, receiver, and CD player. Not all of the buttons worked correctly right out of the box but it was very easy to program the buttons to do what they were supposed to.

However after a couple of weeks it stopped working correctly on most components. You push a button and it resets itself.

Other drawbacks: The backlight only works on a few buttons. Most buttons are very small and it seems like there is a lot of wasted space.

When it worked it was a decent remote for the price but I will be returning it and buying a different one.

I Give it 5 stars because I have purchased so many Universal Remotes over the years (from the very expensive to the very cheap) and by far, for my uses, this is my favorite. Reasons:

1. There is no software or computer interface. The Logitech Harmony 550 and others with software based programming with usb connection have always ended up being much more trouble and time consuming than it was worth.

2. It has enough (not all) hard buttons (including the Red, Yellow, Blue,Green) which have a decent tactile feel and push. However the play/pause/record/ff/rew etc. are rather small and close together. I have repeatedly re-programed my high end remotes to use the directional pad as the keys for play/ ff / rew / and even volume. TIP: create a bogus new device and then you can manually make any button do anything (rather than creating your brand then trying to turn the directional buttons into something else.

3. The price drops frequently, and for a really good price (under $30, it's worth it). I got it for less, but would not recommend it at all at a price above $30.

All the reviews about the sensitivity of the turning wheel are true, but still everything about the buttons, ergonomics and programming are better than the Logitech and other Universal Remotes that require software installation and a usb connection to program. In my opinion. :)

I bought this item to help consolidate the amount of remotes I have. One for the tv, one for the cable, one for the DVD, one for the Reciever etc... When it came it, I was expecting to lose some functionality of my controllers, but to my surprise, there was very little, and after a small tweak, none! Like many universal remotes, select what type of device it is, what brand and then hold down a button and it auto searches until it shuts off your device, and then it saves the code. I was able to link all of my devices to this remote and they worked great, even my Xbox 360! It did miss some buttons on my remotes, but with the Fix a Key feature, I just pointed my remote for the devise at the Prestigo and after a second, it could do same thing! There are purposely extra buttons on the remote just for this reason IMO. So after I got everything all connected I looked into how to write a macro to say, watch a movie or turn off all the devices. It was really simple to do by just setting up an "Activity", a few pushes of the buttons and I was able to set up an activity to turn on all the devices, switch to the correct input and pop open the DVD tray. I highly recommend this product. Great buy.

Philips Prestigo brand has been around a couple of years now and mainly competes with Logitech's Harmony remotes. However unlike Logitech's range, the Prestigo brand differs in the fact that it doesn't need to be connected to a computer to be programmed. The Harmony remote requires the user to connect it to a PC via USB and download the database to it whereas the Prestigo already has the database installed into it's internal memory making it quicker and easier to get up and running. However, it would have been nice if you could update the database so it could be easily programmed when new devices come out.

Design wise, it looks like an expensive piece of kit with its piano black finish and silver highlights. It is a quite long and thin remote with the lower end being much thicker than the top due to the bottom housing 3AA batteries. In the center of the remote is a control wheel which doubles up as a directional pad that falls nicely where your thumb lies. Although not touch sensitive, the operation of the control wheel reminds me of those on an Ipod. However the wheel is a little on the sensitive side, quite often going past the option that I wanted but for the most part works pretty well.

Further up the remote is a backlit 1.4' LCD screen with a resolution of 96×67 pixels. Although fairly low quality, it does its job well and I am able to easily read what's being displayed.

The buttons are firm, solid and have a nice feel to them however the positioning sometimes feels uncomfortable having to stretch for some of the higher and lower ones. For example the red, green, yellow and blue buttons at the top would have worked better if they were below the screen allowing them to fall nicely where your thumb lies. I think this is due to the length of the remote which is slightly longer than your average one to accommodate the screen and extra buttons. The layout of the buttons is fairly standard but they do their job well. For the most part they're spaced out nicely and is neither too basic or overcrowded.

Programming the device proved to be extremely easy and intuitive. Below the screen are three buttons labelled more, activities and devices. Holding down the devices button for 3 seconds brings up the setup menu that allows you to add devices and activities, program more advanced functions and change system settings and language.

The SRU 8008 allows you to add up to 10 devices. To add a device you simply enter the set up menu, select the device option and select add device. You are then prompted to select the type of device (such as TV, DVD Player, set top box, etx.) then select the brand. You then point the remote at the device and it cycles through all the possible profiles for that devices. This could be 5 or could be 30. When the remote finds the right profile it turns the device off and also allows you to test out all the other buttons to make sure that it's fully working.

Set-up proved to be very easy with all the functions on my compatible devices working as they should. But what happens when a device isn't in it's database? No problem, the SRU 8008 can learn the functions of your old remote.

The activities function lets you easily control and set up multiple devices at once. For example if I wanted to watch a blu-ray and turn on the home cinema, I'd normally have to switch the remote to TV, turn the channel over, select HC on the remote and then turn that on and then select BD on the remote and turn that on as well as perhaps ejecting the disk tray. With activities, you can do all that with the click of one button making life much easier for you and perhaps for some non technical minded family members.

The SRU 8008 also worked extremely well with my Philips Ambilight TV. It allowed me to access all the advanced functions (like ambilight, PIP, aspect ratio, etc) through the more menu on the remote.

On a final note the battery life on the SRU 8008 has proved to be very good considering it's got a colour LCD screen and is being used for every device. So far the 3 cheap AA batteries in my unit have lasted over a month which is rather impressive.

Verdict:

Although not perfect the SRU 8008 is a fine remote control that really has made my life simpler. It really lives up to the hype of being easy to use and looks gorgeous. It's a little on the big side and a couple of buttons are hard to reach but overall the layout of the buttons and the menu system is very easy and intuitive to use. For £30 from Amazon this remote represents excellent value for money.

I ordered this remote because I had 5 remotes cluttering up my living room. I opened the box, popped in the batteries, it then prompted me how to program it (took about 10 minutes), and I was off watching TV. I found that it had all the buttons a cable remote does (including DVR, pause/rewind/FF, and picture and picture). You can program activities into it so you can switch from watching TV to a DVD or a gaming console with the press of a button. My living room is not cluttered by remotes anymore, which makes me happy. I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend this remote.

Great product. I bought it to replace my Pronto TSU2000. SRU8008 is very easily programmable to everything in my entertainment room. Maintains all the functions of my surround sound receiver, DVD player, DVD recorder, and television all in one single package! Very nice and friendly interface. The batteries are still alive after 6 months of use so far. Highly recommended.

I bought this remote to try and consolidate the 4 remotes I have for my 4 basic electronic items - TV, VCR, DVD, and TIVO. This is the first universal remote I tried, and I have been really disappointed so far. Here are my issues:

1. Despite this being a learning remote, I can't get it to learn the power button for my Olevia tv. Obviously this is one of the major functions that I use on a daily basis. There doesn't seem to be any solutions in the manual for a function that the remote cannot learn. I have heard that Olevia TVs are difficult to program on a remote, so I am unsure if this is the fault of the TV or the remote.

2. The remote is not very ergonomic. Many of the controls are at the bottom of the remote, which makes it difficult to hit the buttons while holding the remote.

3. The scroll wheel on the remote is useless - it only controls functions within the remote itself, and unless you have 100 devices, there is no need to scroll through options. I assumed it would control scrolling through lists on devices (DVD menus, or my tivo shows list, for example) but it does not. Additionally, because the scroll button also doubles as the directional keys, it is difficult to control them because rather than pushing down, you end up accidentally scrolling.

4. There are 4 colored shortcut keys, but I am unsure how these should be programmed. I assumed you could program these as shortcuts to switch devices. However, I don't think this is possible, as this would have to be done within the remote itself (as opposed to being a learned function). Therefore, to switch between devices, you have to hit the devices key, scroll to the device you want, and press ok, then wait several seconds for that to load on the little screen. This is a very cumbersome process, especially when you need to control 2 devices simultaneously (TV and TIVO for example).

Additionally, there seems to be no support for this remote anywhere, including the Phillips website. I bought this because I got a great deal on it, but I guess you get what you pay for. I would definitely not recommend this remote.

For the price you get a remote with good lighting, easy use and step by step programming instructions. This is much better than the collection of remotes I've amassed with impossible programing sequences that render the remote useless when you misplace the instructions. This remote has a great array of compatability without having you search through and attempt various 3-4 digit codes.

On the negative side the remote could use a firmware update. It's not very intuitive during daily useage and switching between systems. It seems more and more harmony and other competetive products are focusing on practicality and this remote sadly missed that boat. You wll have a longer learning curve and tire of using the jog wheel to switch systems and spell names. However for the price, I was happy to put up with that inconvenience.

I ordered this remote for under $20, thinking it might be worthwhile. I like the fact that it doesn't require a computer, and the setup is really quite easy. That is, if it works. This remote easily found my TV, sattellite box, even was able to control my blueray player. All was going well until I tried to add my Yamaha HTR-6150, it would add the device, but then nothing. This receiver has separate buttons for power on/ power off. I guess its just too much for the sru8008 to control. Tried adding the functions manually but will not work. Spent way too much time on the Philips customer servive line talking to someone who was very friendly but of no help. Too bad, because I like the look and usability of this remote, but if it can't control my reciever, its really of no use. Luckily it didn't cost much.