Home > Consumer Reviews > Philips SRU8008/10 Prestigo 8-in-1 Remote Control

Great remote. Within an hour of unpacking it i'd got it working with all my living room equipment (Bose Ipod Dock, Philips TV, LG surrund system, Sky HD) and had set it up to activate stuff like switching between watching Sky to watching a DVD, no more fussing with three remotes.

It didn't have the Bose ipod dock on its database, no worries, as I still had the old Bose remote, the new one simply 'learned' the keys.

Very easy to set-up, great quality, highly recommended.

This is my first universal remote and I'm very pleased with it. Set-up is very easy and quick and you could be finished in under an hour setting up 4 or 5 devices. At each stage of set-up you are guided through the process by on-screen prompts that makes it very easy to follow. If you're lucky, the remote control's database of other remotes will include the make and model of your existing remotes and within a couple of clicks your old remote is replaced by the SRU8008. If it's not in the database then the SRU8008 can learn your old remote's functions and that's also very simple to do.

If you want to get more adventurous you can program in Functions and ask the remote to perform multiple actions in 1 button click, e.g. do all this: turn on the tv, turn on the sound system, switch the sound source to dvd, turn on the dvd, and, eject the dvd tray. These are really cool!

The hardest part of using the SRU8008 was stopping myself reaching for the old remote controls... old habits die hard. The SRU8008 is exactly what I hoped for and now I have just 1 remote control replacing 5 others which are consigned to the draw for ever!

How many times have you bought a 'universal' remote control only to find it's difficult to get working on all of your equipment, and is finally consigned to the drawer?

Not any more! This is a excellent remote that allows you to assign almost any key to any function of any piece of equipment. Simply amazing. It's really easy to program - it just learns from your existing remote controls. As long as you have the old remote control, it doesn't matter what type of equipment you have or how old it is. If the equipment works from an infa-red remote, the SRU8008 can probably operate it!

In less than an hour, I now have a single remote that works with my new Philips TV and DVD player, and the V-plus Cable box from Virgin Media.

It also looks gorgeous, by the way, finished in high-gloss black plastic with a clear, full Colour LCD screen.

Top product. Can't fault it at all.

It was the usual story. Half a dozen remotes clogging up the living room. What I needed was a single remote to control a wide range of devices, from Sky + HD to Blu Ray and surround etc.

Well, the Philips certainly has the ability to do that, with an enormous library of devices stored and that essential 'learning' function. It looks good too, with a solid heavy feel although some of the buttons are a tad fiddly and non-responsive.

The activity button is also excellent, allowing you to program unique requests like play a DVD. (The remote switches on the TV, selects the right channel, turns on the DVD and plays - all in one button press.)

In fact, the Philips is almost perfect, almost. For me there is one flaw, and that is the way in which you switch between devices. When I first saw the remote, I presumed that lovely 'iPod' like wheel would be how you moved between TV, DVD etc.

But no.

You have to press 'Devices' and then manually click up and down a potentially long list of devices until you find the 'device' you want, and then click enter.

Now, compared to the recession, or the state of the NHS, for example, this is a somewhat minor inconvenience. But there lies the point.

The Philips is meant to make life simple, to give easy access to all those ugly black boxes loitering in the corner of your lounge. And fundamentally it does. But it just falls at the last hurdle due to the cumbersome way you select devices.

A simple toggle function, as found on earlier universal remotes, would be so much better.

Overall, it's a great unit, and does what it says on the tin with aplomb. Just don't expect the awsome functionality the boys at Apple are used to!

I chose this after reading the first three 5 star reviews based on the comments about it's ease of use. I have to agree. I loaded this with the full 8 remotes with minimum fuss and with no need to start using a pc etc as with other remotes. The devices included tvs, cd players, blu ray player, dvd player, av amp and subwoofer. I had to add some keys here and there but it's a doddle to do as long as you have your original remotes. Macro commands are also easy to set up and they work. My only minor gripes are that when backlit the play/stop/pause etc & numeric keys remain unlit. The play/stop keys etc are also a bit small for my liking. The first seems a bit of a design flaw really as many people use their AV kit in the dark when watching a film. However, it remains a 5 star product in my opinion and, being a bloke, the play function keys were memorised in a matter of a few hours use so the backlighting isn't really an issue. Buy with confidence and forget the hassle of pc set-up.