No device was recognized, had to “Learn” them all (not too bad of a process really). So far I’ve programmed 2 Olevia LCDs, HD-DVD player, Xbox 360, RCA receiver, Hisense Tuner… and that’s it at the moment.
I assigned one Macro, it worked but don’t know how the hell I’m supposed to get it to go directly to HDMI. I know the Harmony will do this with its “Activities” feature as I set one up for my parents.
Anyways… its all working but setting up is leagues behind what Logitech is doing with their USB interface.
I had no luck with Uverse either, so I chatted with a support rep at Philips earlier and here’s what Alicia L had to say:
“I talked to AT&T yesterday in regards to the Uverse box. They said that the Uverse box runs off a RF signal, so a universal remote cannot control it. The uverse remote sends out an IR signal to your TV, DVD player, etc., but an RF signal to the Uverse box. So when it says successful, it is misreading the mixed signals that are being sent out from the Uverse remote. I do apologize about that.”
That can’t be right for all UVerse equipment. They sell a special RF remote that has it’s own USB dongle for the box.
I’m about 99% sure the UVerse box runs off IR, but I’ll be damned if I can get this Philips remote to work with it. It learns the command fine, supposedly, but then it never registers when it’s sent to the UVerse box.
Just set this up and it took my tv (samsung) and home theater (sony) fine. I got it to work on my verizon fios (motorola) box but can’t seem to get it to navigate the menus too well. I am guessing, based on previous comments, that the dvr controls are RF or whatever so that may explain that, and it appears that the up and down on the remote are interpreted as page up / page down by the cable box. Has anyone else had this problem?
Anyway, it was very easy to have it learn buttons to change inputs for home theater, and setting up a macro to turn all 3 devices on/off wasn’t too tricky. Happy so far
I got one that was DOA also…I called them at 1-919-573-7854 and got an RMA number which you can fax to them. Takes 2 days to process, then probably 2-3 weeks before you get the new one.
Kind of stinks to have to wait for the new one, but what can you do. Just hope the next one isn’t useless…
I went online and downloaded the manual from Philips. I set everything up with the learning key function…it worked quite well… I set up my tv, bluray player, surround system and cable. Everything is working great. You do have to have the device remote to set up the Philips remote with the learning key. I found this to be the easiest way and I could put all the original remote control functions on the Philips which I really like!
I spent some time this evening trying to program this device. I used the learn mode to learn the functions from my Samsung Blueray. I pressed the Home button to exit and now it’s stuck on Exiting Learn Mode. I don’t know what to do. So far this thing is a pile of crap.
It doesn’t have an HTS setting so I can’t program my Sony Home Theater.
Apparently you can’t program the power button for devices that won’t program.
Bought it as a replacement form a harmony that died. As a straight up tivo remote its great. Mixed bad with my other components. It won’t recognize my Harman Kardon AVR 335 and I’ve had no luck with the Xbox 360. Previous comments have referenced “Games” as a device but I don’t have such an option.
The learning worked, but I think its not 100%. It said it learned the HK Volume+ but nothing actually happens. Volume- does work.
Its a hard device to set up. Lots of steps to do things and they don’t make a lot of sense to me. The ALL OFF macro I added works fine, except it leaves as active device the last one in the chain. So in this case: TV off -> AUDIO off -> DVD off -> CD off. Future device clicks will target CD (least important) rather than TV (most important).
This is counter intuitive but is simple to handle. Just strikes me as weird and I can’t figure out how to edit/delete the macros. Lots of things like this.
When the remote gets stuck in Exiting Learn Mode, wait for a while (probably 15 minutes) and then pull one of the batteries. Put it back in and it will work.
To program the power button for a device you can’t program the remote’s power button. But you can set one of the side keys on the new remote to do the power action of other devices.
It now controls all my devices adequately, although it doesn’t seem right to me that it doesn’t have a code for a Sony HTS that’s from 2004/2005.
I wouldn’t recommend this remote to anyone really because of some of the things that make it overly complicated to use. For instance, to control my TV I had to use the “Plasma” device and not the TV device (even though the code is identical) but the Plasma device is on the second screen of devices. And I only have 4 devices programmed and it won’t hide the unprogrammed devices or allow me to re-order them on the screen so that all my programmed devices are on one screen. Workable but irritating
#2.) It only recognized one of my TVs, I had to do the learning function for everything, but you most certainly can program the power button on the remote as the power button for any device. I have done it with every device I have.
#5.) You can edit your devices. The manual explains how to add/delete devices from the screen. You can change the icon/type as well.
To others:
It controls my Xbox 360 perfectly (I did the learning function with the old remote my launch Xbox 360 came with).
You can edit Macros. There are a lot of options in the “Setup” section for numerous things, including Macros.
My only complaint is that there doesn’t seem to be a good way to hit a custom Macro and have the TV change to a specific input like the Harmony does. It’s also not even near as easy to set up as the Harmony, but once it’s set up, it’s an awesome remote!
It works fine so far. Love the icons for favorites. Only two issues and one dislike among Many likes.
learn always returns a failure. I’ve done it by the book and then tried different distances between remotes and length of time pressing the buttons. Still fails.
2)I must be overlooking something. I’ve seen a few say they got it to work with XBOX 360 but only one person said how. They used a remote for XBOX I don’t have. Any sugesttions?
I have one dislike. The OK button is recessed making it harder to push and also difficult to avoid hitting a directional button. It seems I must press OK very hard to get it to respond.
Make sure you’re putting the remotes end to end instead of facing each other when in learning mode. The IR receiver is on the end opposite of the IR transmitter on the Philips remote.
Yes. I’m fairly confident I’m positioning them correctly. I’ve tried five different remotes. I’m going to reread documentation to make sure I’m not missing a step but i have a number of universal remotes and never had this much difficulty. Is it possible for the remote to work perfectly in every respect and be defective only here? It seems to me it’s using the same components learning as it does transmitting
So, I got mine in the mail yesterday and messed with it for a few hours. I couldn’t get it to do anything. I saw some of the previous post and called philips. The rep I spoke to said I was the 3rd person on his shift with this remote from woot. They are sending me a new one in 15-20 days. My question to woot is this: If the new one is a piece of junk also is there anyway to get a refund? I know woot doesn’t have a return policy but this kinda seems like a fairly widespread problem when the manufacturer is all but calling you out. Well, I guess it will be 2-3 weeks before I get to test the new one. thanks for the vent space.
If its stuck i would pull a battery out, and put it back in. Dont know if everything is going to stay saved, it should. HTS setting? I programed my h/k home theater system to work with this remote.
I got the remote and it works well, i just have one question. I set it up with my cable box and it automatically put “PIP” as one of the buttons on top. I want to delete this, so when i go to my cablebox, it automatically has the favorites on the top.
No, I never did get it to work with UVerse. I picked up a Logitech Harmony remote last night and it works great. Double the price, but it’s easier to program and seems to be more consistent. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the Philips yet.
