RC User Reviews: Philips RU880 Remote Control (4)

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User reviews for the Philips RU880 from Philips Electronics.

Ratings	Reviews	MSRP (USD)
Average: 3.58/5.00 Median: 4.00/5.00	38	N/A

Available only in Europe, the RU880 is a pre-programmed and learning remote control with LCD screen, backlit keypad and directional pad.

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Now viewing user reviews page 4 of 6 for
the Philips RU880 remote.

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Written by Marko Nurmenniemi from Sauvo, Finland.

The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 17 made on Thursday November 15, 2001 at 8:21 AM.

Strengths:

RF-operation (I use it for Sub controll).
Overall look, feel and firm operation of buttons.
It is possible to point the Ir to anywhere and signal still received. Could learn all the needed codes.

Weaknesses:

Codes, had to teach all besides CD-player, DVD (philips) and TV (also Philips).
Philips support could not tell any new codes (everything works after learning).
Manual is one of the worst ever seen. 14 pages! for a learning remote.
Even the macro key teaching was "instructed" with couple of sentences... Haven't been able to learn/teach any macros so far.

Review:

In the store I had to make a choice between RU880 and a OneForAll 8850. Because of the 30 day no questions asked policy decided to opt for the slightly more expensive Philips. Hey I can allways change it back to OFA. Philips had a bonus also, RF operated power socket.

First impressions were correct. Codes for the Philips were a bit hard to come by. Had the basics working after an hour. Started to search the other codes and found CD within minutes. All other equipment could be "found" but weren't functional with the code. ON/OFF only working and some buttons which made no sense.

Started to LEARN the keys one by one. Most keys were easy to learn and some had little trouble. All NEEDED keys could be taught. Who needs all keys in the remote anyway.

Tried the MACRO function but couldn't make it work. Instructions were useless. Even read the manual in finnish, english AND swedish to be sure! No support web-site is available. Although support said that "they are working on it".

I have used the remote now for couple of weeks and I'm not giving it back. 6 remotes in the tv desk have been relocated PERMANENTLY.
The light on the remote is a nice feature, allways wanted one with a light since I like to watch TV and movies in the dark. Illuminates the keys nicely. Strange sound comes from the remote when the light is on. Anyone else noticed this?

Only thing preventing this device from getting 5/5/5 is the lack of ready codes and the fact that support couldn't provide them.

Now I just need to find switches with RF-controll... Any one know a dealer?

HW-List
TV Philips 28PW6322
DVD Philips DVD750
CD Pioneer PD7700
Amplifier Sony STR-DB 840
Receiver Sony STR-DB 840
VCR NAD HFV 2220
STB Humax CI-5100T

ALL are working with RU880!

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Written by Mike Piff from Sheffield, UK.

The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 16 made on Wednesday October 10, 2001 at 12:45 PM.

Strengths:

200 learned keys

Weaknesses:

Just doesn't work.
None of my equipment was pre-programmed.

Review:

This remote is going back to Dixons as soon as I can get there. I only bought it this week. It learnt most of the commands for my TV but then started to hang or not recognize commands. (Only about 30 had been learnt.)

Then when I got it to learn a command, it changed languages. It remains with its last function displayed in some foreign language and the rest in unglish.

Philips, I think you have some memory overflow problems here!

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Written by Jorg Heijnis from Netherlands.

The reviewer has used this remote control for more than two years.

Review 15 made on Tuesday October 9, 2001 at 2:40 PM.

Strengths:

Well designed, aluminum front, lighting, ergonomics, Marco function RF-function to controll home atomation (lights etc.)

Weaknesses:

Sometimes hard to learn IR-codes

Review:

I've owned the remote some time now. I bought this device because it was the only one (at that time) that was able to controll RF devices (lights etc.). I've been able to learn it Grundig, JVC and Technics codes. Altough I first concluded Technics did'nt work, after some more trying I found out that pressing the button on the original remote realy, realy short worked. Since that discovery I've been able to let it learn every code. So I'm very pleased. All original remote's or in a box on the attic now :-)
This is one of the most inexpencive remote's with lot's of features (macro, rf) nice quality design and lighting.

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Written by Dennis van der Wal from Netherlands.

The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 14 made on Tuesday October 2, 2001 at 4:28 PM.

Strengths:

Nice looks, (relatively) low price, just enough buttons

Weaknesses:

Unable to learn commands from my Technics SH-AC500D surround processor and my Grundig Xenaro 5100 DVD player

Review:

With this remote control, I can not control the devices where I bought this remote control for. Philips has the usermanuals for most of their equipment available on the internet (very good!!!), so I thought I knew what it was capable of, both Technics and Grundig audio/video devices were supported. Bad luck.
The learning of the Technics commands results in an "error", the very few time it says "ok" the Technics didn't respond at all.
The Grundig commands it was ablle to learn correctly but pressing one key twice or more in a row didn't work until another key was pressed, weird and not usable.
The people at the helpdesk from Philips were nice but useless, they couldn't do anything for me.
The next time I buy a univesal remote I want to make sure *in the shop* everything works fine.

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Written by Fredrik from Sweden.

The reviewer has used this remote control for more than two years.

Review 13 made on Friday September 28, 2001 at 5:47 PM.

Strengths:

It's ergonomy and the ability to access all buttons with one hand. The ability for RF controll of electric deivces.

Weaknesses:

slightly to less buttons. But it would be hard to squeze in more buttons without making the ergonomy bad. Dimmer functions for RF is not so good as with the original RF remote.

Review:

I got this remote 2 years ago, at that time i only had a VCR and a TV that needed a Remote. Although time went on and i bought a LOT of home cinema stuff. Nowdays i have problems finding a free slot for my new devices i have at home ;-)

However I seldom think about the remote as long as i find it. My kids loves to hide it for their parents.

One of the few times I reflected over the greatness of this one was when I bought my Philips 32PW9545 a year ago. The Standard remote shipped with it was a multiremote but not as good as the RU880.

Speaking of my family. My wife's first reaction over this was a bit suspicious. But she learnt to love it.

I'll never trade my RU880.. even for a pronto!

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Written by Henrik from Sweden.

The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 12 made on Thursday September 13, 2001 at 6:47 AM.

Strengths:

Easy to program
LCD Display

Weaknesses:

Crashes during learning
Not enough memory
No support for samsung DVD player
No Support for Harman/Kardon.

Review:

The control didn't work with the menu function on my Technics vcr.

The control couldn't learn functions for my Samsung DVD.

The control couldn't learn functions for my Harman/Kardon reciver.

The LCD dislpay is nice. And the timecontrol was also good

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Written by Mark R. from Bucks, UK.

The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 11 made on Thursday August 16, 2001 at 9:41 AM.

Strengths:

Nice layout, colour coding
LCD screen, backlighting
Good price for its features

Weaknesses:

Small number of pre-programmed codes
Crashes during learning
Not enough memory
Terrible support from Philips

Review:

When I opened the box I was impressed by the layout, look and feel of this remote and though, "Yup, this is a winner." Unfortunately it did not live up to this.

The devices I have are fairly popular brand names in Europe (Matsui TV, Sharp VCR, Toshiba DVD, Pace NTL cable box, etc.) yet the RU880 only had a valid code for one of the 5 remotes -- the Sharp VCR.

I started to program the other devices; this was a fairly straightforward procedure which was handled nicely by the menu structure and LCD display. However the remote crashed quite a few times on learning codes from certain devices (this required removal of the batteries, which reset the language and clock). Also, I only got through programming 2 of the 4 other devices when the RU880 ran out of memory. Therefore it is useless for my purposes. Philips technical support was terrible (when I finally got through to their London number), saying there's basically nothing they can do for me.

For those of you who are more fortunate and have equipment which has workable codes pre-programmed in the RU880, or have less remotes/keys for the RU880 to learn, it may be a suitable remote for you. Not in my case though.

After only one night of owning it I have returned it to letsautomate.com and am awaiting delivery of the slightly more expensive One-for-All Topline 8.

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