Home > Consumer Reviews > Philips Prestigo SRU9600 - 8 in 1 Universal Remote Control - With LCD Touch Display

I bought this remote last Christmas, having previously owned the 'usual suspects' (Philips Pronto, Pronto NEO, Marantz RC2000 and the dreadful One-For-All series).

It has a combination of touch-sensitive and 'hard' buttons, and the touch screen is both responsive and visible (Pronto monochrome owners will know what I mean about visibility). TiVo owners will be pleased to know that they are catered for with the necessary 'thumbs up' and 'thumbs down' buttons that their kit requires.

I find the unit has good range, but is VERY heavy on batteries (a set of alkalines will last little more than 7-14 days, and it uses three at once). The layout of the 'soft' (touchscreen) buttons cannot be amended (though they can be reprogrammed) and so you may often end up with buttons 'on-screen' that do not correspond to your equipment. Previous reviewers' comments about the scroll wheel are valid - it has a tendency to skip back to a previous point which is very irritating over time. It is also rather long and the weight distribution is unven. It alows you to have extra functions for each screen, but only those chosen from those provided. Once again, TiVo owners will appreciate this, however.

Nonetheless, I do keep returning to this unit. It looks good, and provided you can live with severe battery use and relative inflexibility of the touch-screen buttons I can recommend it. Price may be a determining factor - DSG group (Currys etc.) often discount this to around £50-£60 so keep a look out...

There's no doubt that this remote is beautiful and very well made - and I was expecting great things from it. Was I disappointed!

For a start ergonomically it's much too long for single-handed operation and it's much to heavy. It also relies on a jog-wheel to select functions, but the gearing of this is such that it requires a great number of turns to do anything. The resistance of the wheel is also tiring and just when you thought you'd stopped at the function you want, it will slip back to the previous one when you let go. It's also poor at this price that the bottom half of this remote does not illuminate. Bear in mind that the electro-luminescent display only lights for up to 15 seconds, otherwise it's completely blank. There's no motion sensor so you have to either flick the jog-wheel or touch the screen for a second to get the display to light up.

However, the electro-luminescent display itself and the size of its buttons are excellent. But the number of functions on this is very limited. You can add extra functions, but these are few and mostly not useful. Moreover, you can't choose them - they're pre-set, and you can't add them to the touch display, only to the ridiculously long-winded jog dial wheel.

The learning function of this remote is also poor: I have a new Toshiba TV, but the remote won't control all the functions and is reluctant to learn them direct from the Toshiba remote. Also the SRU9600 will NOT control the Humax 9200 PVR, although it lists Humax among the brands in the PVR list. I spoke to Philips who gave me some extra codes to try - which didn't work. They then confirmed the non-compatibility.

Overall this remote is not worth the money, and frankly is not worth buying unless you want a sophisticated interface with basic functions. I now have the Logitech 525 which is superb.

Philips Prestigo SRU9600 - 8 in 1 Universal Remote Control - With LCD Touch Display
It took a week to get here. I've got a really old Phillips tv, a Packard Bell DVB-T,and a Humax PVR-9200T. Plus other stuff. I followed the on screen instructions on the hand set for the above items. It was so easy.
I didn't read the reviews until after I had ordered the remote. So! I started to feel a little uneasy about my purchase. No worries however.
The Philips tv it all worked except the AV button. there is a fix, a button control. you click the button you want to use (AV) then click the AV button on your old remote, and it copies it. The Packard Bell was immediate success. The Humax was a success 1st time. Every function worked. I was a bit worried after reading the earlier review. Maybe they updated the software. Highly recommended....

It seemed like a good idea at the time. It could not get the hand of my new Toshiba TV. It works by having about 30 goes to control the TV. Each time it switches off the TV and asks you to confirm everything works. On each go the Guide button did not work. My poor TV was switched off and on while it tried to get the correct codes, which it failed to do. I gave up that idea and manually programmed the Guide key which then worked, but the arrow keys changed the channel instead of navigating round the menu.

The unit is big and cumbersome and does not offer the fully range of controls my PVR remote offers. Overall not very impressed and I stick with originals

Soon to be on e-bay.

Great piece of kit ! It operates my TV, DVD player, Sky & recordable Freeview box. I did have to set the remote up to 'learn' the freeview controls, but once in, it works perfectly.

As a tip, I bought mine from Currys for £60