On October 4, 2006 at 11:47, hd_guy said...
Well, it has been 2 days since the 9800 arrived. I did
research here as my previous remote was a pronto classic
and this site made programming it much easier than it
would have been. From the opinions posted here I had my
doubts about ordering but new in the box for 200 dollars
I had to give it a try.
Me too, and I also had a Pronto TS1000.
My initial impressions;
Large database of built in codes? Maybe, but in my opinion
not implemented very well. The remote attempts to learn
codes the manufacturer uses and then tries to match them
up with code numbers. I believe that matching a code to
an actual inputed model number would have been best.
I agree. So why does the remote even ask you to input the device model #?
(Philips hasgot to be kidding to believe that we really could
remember 8 custom codes for each device without the ability to
rename the button)
Actually, the latest firmware allows renaming of the custom buttons. But the big downside for me is that the custom buttons are only available on a respective device instead of on any activity pages.
I then added VCR, Laser Disc, and started playing with
the EPG.
How did you add a LaserDisc? I had to use a DVD device and then re-learn all codes for it.
I activated EPG and downloaded more than 200 channels....
NOT a good idea... they do warn of not using over 100
to not impact performance, they are correct.
This feature is nice, I've got about 80-90 or so channels on mine. Performance really isn't that bad.
So then I felt I would break up the guides the way my
system uses the individual channels. Although my DTV has
local channels, it does not take advantage of all local
OVER the Air HD channels and all the digital sub channels,
The guide for cable is not captured either on the DTV
box. The DTV box has separate inputs for Satellite, Ant
A, and Ant B. I use all 3, One for Sat, one for Over the
air HD and Digital Locals, and one for cable. I then decided
to break up the EPG into 4 categories to lighten the load
on any one setup.
Satellite Channels
Satellite Music
Local
Cable
Interesting, I didn't know you could break up the EPG into categories.
Then I find out that you can't assign a different EPG
to each viewing activity, only per each unique device.
THE WORKAROUND; Create a similar device to mimic the DTV
receiver. A long as it is a sat receiver it didn’t seem
to matter what the manufacturer was.
Actually this works for a TV device as well. :)
Now the next thing that became annoying was having to
manually switch the input to match what I was watching,
i.e. dtv, locals, or cable.... (Why Philips did not design
this into the sat receivers templates is beyond my comprehension)
True! However, for each activity the wizard does prompt you (at least in the current firmware) for which input selection(s) are needed. This option is available on preamps/receivers and TVs.
You can also assign a different sound mode to each input,
i.e. DTS, DD5.1, Stereo, etc. and anything else your heart
desires, well maybe not anything. But it is great for
customizing the initial setup of each viewing or listening
activity.
I still haven't been able to do this, could you elaborate more on selecting a specific sound mode for a particular activity?
EDIT: Nevermind, I think just creating a DVD-R device like you mentioned above should do it?
So, I have had it for 48 hours now and have a remote controlling
8 different activities with the proper, inputs on all
devices, display resolution, sound mode, and EPG for each
scenario by just the touch of the activity button
I've had mine for 48 hours as well, and have run into some other problems though. Sometimes the remote screen will lock up when editing a device, and "trying" the input selections. At this point you can only turn off (reset) the remote. And because nothing was saved, you go through a round-robin effect of trying to edit the device. This makes it unable to delete device inputs, except by deleting and recreating the device.
This remote seems to have potential. I like the hard button setup on this over my old Pronto, and the EPG is nice to have. If I can work around some of the quirks I'm having, I just may keep it. Otherwise I may look into the upcoming Logitech Harmony 1000, perhaps an iPronto or maybe even a Pronto TSU7000. We'll see...
Last edited by Rambler358
on October 4, 2006 13:49.
