I was wondering if anyone had some experience in matching the 990 with the Philips RC9800I touch screen universal remote. I am looking for a universal remote and in general like the features and design. Also, you can get this thing for less than $200 but I want to make sure it works with the pre/pro. An alternative would be Logitech's Harmony 1000 but probably noone got his hands on one these is my guess.

Info on the Philips site was a bit underwhelming. If it is a learning remote, then you should be just fine with the 990. In fact, if it supports the Pronto files, you could get a head start with the Model 990 files found here (there are three .PCF files to choose from).

I have this Philips Remote - have been using it for 5 months or so. All I ask it to do (in regards to the 990) is change inputs and volume, and it does this fine.

My only minor problem with this remote is that it has seemed to develop a minor lag. Sometimes it takes a few seconds to register a command. Usually this is not a problem but there have been a few times where I have been pressing volume up and the next thing I know the volume on the 990 is skyrocketing - it's almost like the volume up command is being continuously sent.

To be fair, this has only really bothered me on 1 occasion. The other times, the volume usually goes a few clicks higher than I'd like - at most 10 notches. On one occasion, it went up about 45 notches.

For simple commands such as switching inputs and volume, this remote works well. I enjoy the 'activity' based aspect of it (setup was pretty painless), although I don't think it is as configurable as other universal remotes.

I have setup activities to:
1)Watch Xbox360
2)Watch DVD
3)Watch DVD (this turns on my digital media player)
4)Watch PVR
5)Listen to CD

2 clicks on the remote does all of the necessary switching to perform the relevant task.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your input so far. I had the same experience as you gonk, not much info about the remote on the Philips web site. So I did a little research and found that people that really like to program and squeeze the last bit out of a device managed to get, for the most part, what they wanted out of the remote. However, there seem to be quite a few issues with the remote such as slow interface. Thanks kgt for confirming this! Also, not all types of devices seem to be supported. Maybe this is due to the fact that the device is already 2+ years old. As I want to control my XBox360 and PS3 (as well as the 990 and a Sony XBR2) with the remote I should probably wait for a final review on the Harmony 1000 which was introduced at this years CES. If anyone has seen a decent reviwe on this one maybe you could post a link. Thanks guys!

Benson,

I looked at the remote a little more carefully last night - the lag is about 1 second or less depending on what you're doing (not that bad in my book). It does control the 360, though I think I remember having to 'teach' it those controls and it does control my SonyA2000, which probably has the same controls as your XBR2.

It's also cool how the remote can display the TV guide. I don't usually use this feature bc I navigate way too fast to use anything other than the original remote, but my girlfriend thinks its kind of cool that she can click on a show title and it will come on.

If your XBR2 is the SXRD, you will appreciate the delay settings in the remote where it will allow the TV to 'warm up' before switching inputs. Otherwise, if you pressed power and then cycled through the inputs immediately, the TV wouldn't register the commands correctly.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

It seem that you are more of a patient person than I am ktg. When watching TV I like to channel surf and that might not be possible with this remote. Another thing I came across is that when using activity based controls the remote frequently fails to turn on/off one of the devices maybe due to the lag in the interface?) and you have to use a "fix" button. I know that these shortcomming may be considered minor but I am an impatient person
However, it is good to know that it would work with the XBox360 (any rumors about the PS3?). The TV guide would not be that interesting to me as the XBR2s (SXRD) work with a cable card and have a built-in TV guide so that you can get rid of one additonal (cable) box.

It's odd that a learning remote has any significant problems with device compatibility - the only devices that should be a problem are those with abnormal IR frequencies, RF-only devices, or something like the PS3 that uses bluetooth for the remote (although I've heard that there's a USB dongle coming that will allow IR remote control of some sort for the PS3). I can certainly see where the database would be incomplete (companies like Outlaw and OPPO might not be included, and newer devices like the Xbox360 would also be unlikely to show up), but learning capability should make that a somewhat moot point.

Benson, I have never had a problem with the remote failing to turn on a component during an 'activity' command (unless the remote wasn't aimed anywhere near the device or unless someone walked in between the remote and device).

Can't comment on the 9800 and the PS3.

Regarding the channel surfing, this is one aspect of the remote that I wouldn't be able to recommend to you. Like I said, I almost always use the cable box dvr remote when surfing. There are several reasons:
1. To get to the digit screen on the 9800, you have to hit 'page' a few times.
2. Buttons such as 'DVR' 'Last' 'Exit' 'Guide' just aren't as easily accessible on the 9800 as they are on the DVR remote (I'm not even sure that they're all even there).
3. The buttons 'A' 'B' and 'C' aren't on the 9800 - I believe I programmed them in there one time, but to get to them, you have to do a good bit of searching (way more than what I want).

For your reference, the lag generally only occurs with the first command. That is, if I'm 30 minutes into a TV show and I pick up the remote to change the channel/volume/etc, the first command might take 1 second to register - each subsequent command is immediate.

I have not used many universal remotes, but to be honest, I have a hard time believing any one of them would alleviate my problems with the cable box functionality of the 9800 - at least not to the point that I wouldn't use the DVR remote anymore.

Cheers.

I have the PS3 connected to my 990. Also use the Pronto remote for everything. This was an issue for the bluetooth only PS3, until I read about the hack available to convert to IR. Its posted on remote central, or search for "ps3 ir remote". Basically you buy a PS2 to USB interface cable (11.99 from RS, cheaper on ebay), and buy a sony ps2 dvd remote WITH SEPARATE IR RECEIVER. I got one on ebay, $12 including shipping, lots available. Don't get fooled by ones you can buy at circuit city, etc, they need to have the separate receiver. Plug the IR rx into the convertor, the USB into the PS3, and you are all set. The codes for the remote are available on remote central for downloading to the pronto.

one caveat - you only can use the remote while playing dvds (haven't tried cds yet), doesn't turn ps3 off and on, or navigate main ps3 toolbar. But all you need to watch the dvd (play, pause, cursor, f/w, b/w, ps3 dvd ops menu) works fine.

dave

Gonk, thanks for posting the remote files! I just got a Phillips TSU3500 and am hoping to leverage from other's pcf files. One question: the files on your link appear to be xml files with associated bit maps. How do I turn those into pcf files?

Thanks!