I bought this remote control a good month ago and have the same problems and the same experience as all of you. The potential is there but it is not exploited yet. I will hang onto it (but not use it) as I believe that even Philips will understand that this one needs a programming ability.
I just hope that we, in the eyes of Philips, are considered as a representative group of users and not just the nagging innovators that per definition always have special demands.

I noticed that the website is visted frequently by the Philips team so i do hope that they can confirm that this will happen.....

R