My TSU 3000 touchscreen just stopped working out of the clear blue. I have had it for almost 2 years. I am not happy. Its still an expensive remote..at least it was when I purchased it. I shouldn't have to replace it already.


sally

Sally, have you tried resetting it? Then, downloading a fresh copy of the firmware?

Hold on to your hats. Just downloaded latest version of firmware, 3.6.7 from this web site. The calibration worked first time, and all the buttons worked like before. We'll see how long it lasts.

I just got a call from a former client. Their 3000 just crapped out on them too.

Both my Prontos (NG TSU3000) were purchased in Sept 2003 . The seriel numbers are 73639975 and 73597630. They stopped working 2 days apart. After reading this forum, I called Philips and paid $155.00 by CC over the phone for the privilege (ha) of mailing mine in and getting a new one . I kept asking the guy if this was really a NEW one or a refurbished. He kept saying new but I know it probably won't be. I just purchased a new one at Best Buy, only because I wanted a 3rd Pronto anyway. $400. So the next day, as I was getting ready to send 1 Pronto in, my other one (not the new one) stopped working just like that. Touchscreen failure on both! Tried to recalibrate and now both are stuck on that. So, now because I am going to send both Pronto's in, I have to get a 2nd Rma number from Pronto. I asked them how long a warranty was on the new Unit and the guy said there was NONE. I figured if something happened to the new pronto's he sends me, I can probably get them to honor fixing those for free. The TSU 3000 is convienient, but I am back to using all 5 of my remotes now. I always used the Tivo Remote anyway, because it was faster than the Pronto response. So, thats my saga. 2 Prontos that crapped out within days of each other. Almost like they were pre-programed to fail in a 2 year time span, so you would have to purchase a new one. When you spend $400 on a remote for pete's sake, you expect it to last till its obsolete.

Peter

The guy who initially wired in all our electronics , and programed our Prontos, was here for 2 hours trying to help me solve this problem. He did it all, from downloading the updated firmware, resetting, uploading and downloading info again. He has been doing this for 10 years, and has never had a a client who's Pronto both crapped out within days of each other. Guess I should ahve sprung for the Crestron!

Me again. I downloaded 3.67 just fine. Now it is stuck on the calibrate screen. I keep trying to reset and calibrate and keep getting the reply calibration failed. My TSU3000 NG is fully charged. I can't seem to find out what to do now but I am searching. From what I have read, people seem to be downgrading, but I had the other version earlier this morning and that didn't work either. Hum..what to do now?????? Any ideas???

Me again. Nothing like answering my own post. LOL . I talked to Philip's Excuse of a Customer Service Department. Got no where. They will not repair or replace as a courtesy. Have written an email to their Corporate office in New York. to
[email protected]. I believe he is the CEO.

If anyone solves the problem of the mysterious frozen touchscreen, or calibration failed screen, please feel free to email me as well as answering in the forum. Thx

Here is the email I sent to Mr. Zeven. I hope he can help.

Dear Sir,

I had been the proud owner of several Philips/Marantz pieces of consumer electronics gear. I have especially enjoyed my Marantz RC5000 remote control, but always felt it would benefit from more hard buttons. When the Philips TSU3000 was announced, I lined right up to get one, it had the perfect mix of a large customizable touch screen and a large number of hard buttons, especially the cursor control. I quickly set about programming it and relegated the RC5000 to my secondary television area (where it still serves quite well).

I, along with many others, worked with Philips through the post-release development of this remote much the same way as was done with the earlier Pronto remotes. Remotecentral.com has been a forum where we could communicate with Philips employees in Belgium who worked with us to correct problems that arose. By and large, I have felt that the community that uses remote central has been a very patient group, working with Philips to improve the product rather than destructively criticizing Philips.

As the remote developed, it rounded out into something that most people were very happy with. Then something happened. TSU3000’s all over the world started exhibiting bizarre behavior. The touchscreens began to indicate that they could not be calibrated. Then soft buttons stopped working at all. People on Remotecentral.com expressed this frustration to each other and to Philips, only to have it fall on deaf ears on the Philips side. Please see the two threads linked below for more details on the problems that people are having and the response they are getting from Philips customer service.

Mr. Zeven, I am hoping that you are unaware of this situation, and can do something to improve it. Thank you for your consideration,

Chris Poppy

[Link: remotecentral.com]
[Link: remotecentral.com]

Very nice letter! Lets hope it helps the situation.

Very nice letter indeed - I doubt that it will even be read by Philips.

I have been HOPING that Philips would have been sensible and taken note of my emails, but they have not - so it is time to go public.

I encountered the typical symptoms at the end of June amd started posting here. I was pretty annoyed about the whole thing and was surprised when I got an email from the ProntoTeam asking for details of the demise of the TSU3000. I sent a response immediately. I was even more suprised a few days later when I got an Email from Erik Gybels, the Quality Manager in Belgium.

Mr Gybels asked me to ship the TSU3000 back to him, using Philip's DHL account and he would send me a replacement TSU3000 at no charge. For all of those folks who paid $160 for a refurbished remote
in the US - read that again -AT NO CHARGE...

My first reaction was that it was someone spoofing Gybels and trying to 'steal' my remote - so there were a couple of email exchanges before I sent the remote. That was when I realised that I'd made a mistake. Since I use the docking station (how else can the piece of
s**t be any use without it) I sent the rechargeable battery pack. I reasoned that maybe battery voltage may have something to do with the problem - so I left it in place. I emailed Mr. Gybels and requested a replacement eith the TSU3000 and he agreed to send a 'battery pack'.

A week later I received the replacement TSU3000 from Portugal. I was a little concerned when I found that the seal on the box had been broken (you know, refurbished unit, etc.) but I found it to be a new remote. Then I saw my 'battery pack' - an extra 4 AAA cells in addition to the usual 4 AAAs. Instant email to Gybels - Instant lack of response. In fact no response to any of the 5 emails I've sent including the copies to 'ProntoTeam'.

-- An aside for our US Readers...

When someone takes a customer service request at Philips do
they say 'Let's take one for the Team' ? ...

So, I'm back where I started. I'm thinking of putting some concrete in the battery compartment and sinking it into my aquarium as a talking
point - but it would probably poison the fish. I guess I'll just put it in a drawer somewhere and forget about it - I've certainly forgotton the name of that company -- what was it Phirrips?

I have had such success with the Harmony 659 (and I might go for
an 880 later) - the family love the simplicity, speed (on a complex sequence there's time for the dog to get in the way and absorb half the IR). They always grabbed one of the original remotes to do some things because it was quicker and when they hit a button it sent (even when 'calibrated' that touchscreen was not really realiable). The lack of cute iconic buttons is no loss to them...

Now if you'd like to email Mr Gybels (strictly one-way but at least you might fill his mailbox) or phone him or write to him - here's what I know:

Erik Gybels Quality Manager

Philips BL Home Control
Interleuvenlaan 74-76
B-3001 Leuven

Phone: 32 16 394957
Email: [email protected]

By the way - I understand that Philips is starting a new advertising campaign for the Tonto 3000 - The Lone Ranger Remote.

Thanks guys. I forwarded to Erik Gybels as well. I'll keep you updated if I hear anything, but I'm not holding my breath.

In the meantime, my touchscreen no longer appears to have phases; soft buttons have been unresponive for over a week now. Time to do some research on the URC and Harmony models as I am tired of having my 5 original MFR remotes on the coffee table and a useless Pronto sitting on it's docking station.

Update!

Mr. Zevon replied (on a Sunday no less!) to say that he recieved my email and would forward onto his Customer Service manager (Erik Gybels and Carroll Thompson CC'd) and that he or one of his staff would be contacting me in the coming one to two days.

I will keep you informed.