User reviews for the Philips RU880 from Philips Electronics. Ratings Reviews MSRP (USD) Average: 3.58/5.00 Median: 4.00/5.00 38 N/A Available only in Europe, the RU880 is a pre-programmed and learning remote control with LCD screen, backlit keypad and directional pad. Message Forum Add Your Review Find universal remotes at:

Written by Rene from utrecht. The reviewer has used this remote control for more than two years.

Review 31 made on Monday April 7, 2003 at 7:06 PM. Strengths: Batteries last almost 2 years, advanced codes, lay out, time Weaknesses: timer problems when advanced codes programmed Review: I own this remote for more than two years and had no major problems yet. Even after all the times it was dropped. I haven’t seen anyone mention the advanced codes, which made it possible to use with my amp that didn’t come with a remote. (It doesn’t need to learn the codes) 1- press and hold "1" and "6" buttons simultaneously until you see "SYNTH" (ca. 3 seconds) 2- release the buttons; you see "CODE" on the screen. 3- now you can select a 3-digit code from (000–255). After 3 digits the remote will send the signal immediately 4- The screen shows "PRESS MODE", if you want to try another code just press “OK” and enter the code. If you want to assign it to a key; press the device button, the screen will show "PRESS KEY", press the key to which you want to assign the code. If you want to cancel, just press the SMART key. Arcam delta 290 amp Arcam cd8 Samsung VCR Philips TV Computer via IR-man AMP-Code: 000-phono 002-A-V 003-tuner 005-tape1 006-tape2 007-CD 011-volume down to mute 016-volume up 017-volume down Rene (thanks to Sergey) Quality: Features: Value:

Written by Henrik Øster-Jørgensen from Herning, Denmark. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 30 made on Friday February 14, 2003 at 6:42 AM. Strengths: Nice, logical, solid an easy to programme and use. Weaknesses: A bit too long to be really handy. Review: Had this for two weeks and I love it. Programming was a bit funny because none of the codes in the manual worked 100 percent. The function where this remote searches for the codes took a long time and didn't work properly. That put me off a bit and I imagined serious problems. But then I just switched to the learn-process and this is much easier and faster too. It learns all buttons of the original remote in a minute. If it says error - which it did a lot when I programmed my Pannasonic-vcr - then just push the original button for a shorter time og change the angle a bit. After a few tries it works. It has now learnt all the original buttons. I also enjoy the macros which is set to turn on and off my system. That function really impresses my friends. A macro is programmed in like 20 seconds. The best feature though is the Theatre-button, which is perfect for everyday use. Conclusion: It's simple and it does the job. And it cleans up your messy coffeetable... Quality: Features: Value:

Written by Rob from Netherlands. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 29 made on Friday January 17, 2003 at 9:46 AM. Strengths: - Nice look and feel. - Learning capability. Weaknesses: - Buggy firmware - crashes/hangs/resets too easily. - Not enough preprogrammed codes - some major brands simply are missing Review: Purchased this remote last week to replace about 5 or 6 remotes. Had I known of this forum and read the reviews on this remote I wouldn't have done so. Why ? First: it all too soon appeared that effectively the only equipment for which it had preprogrammed codes was my VCR (Aristona == Philips). It is a shame that for my tv (Telefunken) about 6 preprogrammed codes were provided of which none worked (also none of the Thomson codes). So my receiver, cd, cassette and tv had to be learned. The learning process was tedious. It clearly had difficulty with the Harman/Kardon codes (receiver) and Telefunken codes (tv). Also, the tv uses some kind of alternating code sequence of which the remote only learns one part. The result is that when a learned key is pressed twice, the tv accepts the code only once. Because so many keys had to be learned this quickly resulted in MEM FULL situations. Freeing some memory by resetting some learned keys still resulted in MEM FULL upon the first code learned. Clearly the firmware's administration was in some way corrupted which had to be corrected by pulling the batteries. Executing macros containing learned keys also resulted in hangup situations. Macros solely using preprogrammed codes worked fine. When finally the menu reset to french for the nth time I decided to bring the remote back. I don't think this device is worth its money. The manual states that it has been "extensively tested", but being in the software development myself, I don't believe a word of this. They clearly only tested "sunny day" scenarios. Instead of the Philips RU880, I tried the Philips RU865. See my review of that (its cheaper and a bit better). Quality: Features: Value:

Written by SIPPEUS from ca, usa. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-2 years.

Review 28 made on Thursday December 26, 2002 at 2:12 AM. Strengths: lots of options, leaning (however see the weaknesses) Weaknesses: Crashes very easily when learning the codes, have to take the batteries off after crash. Philips has absolutely no support for this product. You cannot really find any info on it on their web site Review: Works well if you do not have to make it learn the codes. But quite often you have to make it to learn the codes: with Yamakava, Onkyo. Does not even recognise the GE TV codes. I would not buy this again if I had known that it crashes so easily. Quality: Features: Value:

Written by Dr Fruit from Netherlands. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-2 years.

Review 27 made on Saturday December 14, 2002 at 4:14 PM. Strengths: Good design, long battery life, replaces most of my remotes Weaknesses: Directional pad is hard to operate. Learn mode is tricky. Review: I use this one to replace 6 rc's (2 different tv's, a dvd, vcr and a reciever split in amp and tuner parts). My only problem is using the directional pad. It is dome shaped, which makes it hard to press the edges. On screen menus are hard to operate because of this silly design mistake. Otherwise, a great universal rc. Quality: Features: Value:

Written by Eddy Carroll from Dublin, Ireland. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 26 made on Sunday September 1, 2002 at 8:12 PM. Strengths: Good ergonomics, decent layout, backlighting, LCD display, good UI, plenty of programmable keys, programming survives battery removal. Weaknesses: Some surprising ommissions in the preset keymaps (both in functionality and in supported brands); can have trouble learning new codes; Review: While not in the same class as my main programmable remote (Marantz RC2000+), this is a pretty nice unit. It was easy to setup, had presets for my TV, VCR, Amp, CD Player and Tuner that mostly worked right away, and generally feels like a good solid remote. The keys could have been shaped a little more distinctively to aid use in the dark but this is minor. The biggest problem was teaching it codes it didn't already know. It learn a Sony hi-fi, TIVO, and PC infrared keyboard with no trouble but refused to learn any of the codes from my Panasonic VCR or DVD. From reading other reviews here and on Usenet, this is a common complaint. After some experimenting, I discovered the secret: you need to do an extremely short keypress on the Panasonic key, to minimise the number of times the infrared code repeats. I found it worked best if I tapped my fingernail on the key, a bit like strumming a guitar string. "Normal" presses always resulted in an Error message, but using very short presses, I was able to program all the keys I needed with 100% success. Some others have reported many lockups while teaching it new codes. I've only managed to lock it up once, and this was when I was holding down a button on the original remote for an extended period. Short definitely seems to be better... (I can't comment on the macro keys and timer feature since I haven't had any need to use either.) Overall, I'm very happy with this remote. It's replaced five separate remotes, and is also easier to use in the dark. If Philips had put a little more effort in, it would have been a solid five-star. Quality: Features: Value:

Written by Willem Udo from Netherlands. The reviewer has used this remote control for 3-6 months.

Review 25 made on Friday August 2, 2002 at 6:26 AM. Strengths: Complete functionality, great design & good overall quality Real buttons, easy programming and easy to use (even my wife knows how to use it.) All other RC's are gone ! Weaknesses: Can't find the RF Philips switching set. I don't know if it will work with other RF remote switches as this is undocumented So I will have to test this. Review: Works great. Never had a any problems programming or learning buttons, the trick is to push the buttons on the original remote only shortly, or they will repeat their signal and the RU880 will also record this. Really makes all your other RC's redundant. Use it for Sony, Panasonic, aiwa & Deawoo AV equipment. Quality: Features: Value:

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