Dear Remote Central members,

First we would like to thank Daniel for creating
a dedicated forum for the RC9800i. We feel this
is an exciting new product that takes a new look
at controlling your Audio and Video devices and
combining the new area of multi-media control.

The RC9800i will be available in the US mid May
and will be launched later this year at the IFA
show in Berlin for Europe.

To get a general understanding of the RC9800i
and its capabilities please visit

www.homecontrol.philips.com

As several questions have come up already in the
forum regarding the capabilities of the RC9800i,
we will try to give a brief explanation here.

When we set out to create the Philips RC9800i
we had two goals in mind. First create a remote
that a general user is able to set up without
having to use a PC and secondly incorporate control
of multimedia content that resides on a PC in
a home network. This means the RC9800i is not
a Pronto. The Pronto range can be customized and
is more targeted at the custom installation and
the PC savvy consumer that has the knowledge to
create their own interface, macros and overall
system logic. The RC9800i creates its own interface
that is not customizable.

To make it simple to set up, the RC9800i incorporates
a wizard in the device that helps configure what
A/V devices you want to control. After that the
remote goes one step further and by asking questions
becomes intelligent about the devices in the system.
It figures out how devices are interconnected,
delay times for the different products, the most
efficient way to tune channels, etc. The RC9800i
then uses this information and generates an activity
based user interface, which includes macros to
automatically correctly switch all devices for
that specific activity. It also keeps track of
the status of equipment. Again all this on the
device without the need for a PC and in front
of the equipment you are trying to control.


As mentioned the second part of the RC9800i is
the control of multimedia content on the PC. WiFi
capability is incorporated in the remote so it
can attach to a wireless network in the home.
By doing so the RC9800i is able to do three things.
First you are able to browse multimedia content
residing on a PC in the network. The PC will need
to be running a UPnP server which we provide with
the RC9800i both for PC and Mac. You can even
view your digital pictures and listen to your
MP3 files on the remote. Secondly if you have
an UPnP compliant media adapter connected to your
TV or Audio system you can browse your PC content
on the remote and then send it to the adapter
via WiFi and UPnP. Thirdly the WiFi connection
is used to pull in program guide data from the
internet. This data can be displayed on the remote
so you do not need to bring up guide information
on the large TV screen.

As an added bonus you can stream MP3 directly
to your audio system. When you are listening to
MP3 files on the remote and you dock the unit
in the charger station the audio signal can be
routed through the line out to a stereo system.

Hardware
–3.5” QVGA touch screen
–802.11b WiFi
- Speaker
–USB
–Dedicated hard buttons for Channel up/down, Volume
up/down, Mute
–5- way cursor
–CPU with 32 MB Flash
–Li-polymer battery

–High end finish and design
–Charging cradle included

Features
–Unified and intuitive interface
–Control of legacy and networked devices (IR and
UPnP)
–Control of PC multimedia content
–Setup wizard
–Electronic Program Guide
–Software upgrade service
–Picture / Audio previewing

Specifics:
IR: over 1100 ir codes in the database, Learning
frequency 20kHz to 70 kHz and 455kHz

We hope this has answered some of your questions
and explained some of the capabilities of the
RC9800i. As mentioned if you have more questions
please take a look at the RC9800i website at www.homecontrol.philips.com.

Regards
The Philips RC9800i Team