Philips RC9800i LCD Touchscreen Remote Control

If you could design one remote to replace all the remote controls in your home, what features would you include?

- Controls on a large color touchscreen with intuitive button layouts for each device?
- Rechargeable batteries that never need replacing?
- On-board TV program guide that's constantly updated from the internet, wirelessly?
- Activity based controls, one single button that turns on your TV, DVD player, and Sound system, and selects the correct input and settings for watching TV or playing DVD's?
- Enough memory to hold information for all the devices in your home?
- The ability to access and play or display other media content (mp3's, pictures) stored on your PC?
- Control new Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) devices, media adapters that transfer media content from your PC to entertainment systems?

If those features are on your list, the Philips RC9800i Touchscreen Remote Control can do all those things while replacing all the IR remotes in your home.

The target market for activity based remotes is those of use who have home entertainment systems or TV setups with multiple devices connected together, all of which must be turned on and adjusted to the right input and output each time you want to watch TV, a DVD, listen to music, or do something else. Unlike less expensive models, the RC9800i uses its touchscreen to provide a more intuitive and simple button layout specific for each device, rather than having a 50 or more different "hard" buttons. In my case, I have a Vizio LCD HDTV, a CyberHome upconverting DVD player, a Sony surround sound system, and Sharp VHS VCR that I wanted to coordinate with a single remote control.

For the past 3 months, I've been using a Logitech/Harmony 628 activity based remote with this system. While the 628 was an adequate replacement for the original 4 remotes included with the components in my system, it wasn't performing as well as I'd like. About 20% of the time, when I told the remote I wanted to "watch a DVD", it would not start one of the devices it needed to start. The button layout on the remote was a little confusing, and it wasn't as easy to using in the dark as I'd like (even though there was a backlight button). There was a "2nd try" option to start the last device, but that required a few more clicks, which partially defeated the purpose of the remote. So when I was recently offered a RC9800i Remote Control by the public relations firm of Haas MS&L if I agreed to use this remote and post an honest review on Epinions, I quickly accepted.

(If you are looking for a more complete specification and feature summary, try this Philips datasheet:
http://www3.p4c.philips.com/files/r/rc9800i_17/rc9800i_17_pss_aen.pdf )

In the Box

When you open the RC9800i box, you'll find the remote itself, a stylus, docking/charging station, usb cable, power block, bound user manual, quick start guide, software cd, license agreement and warranty information. The software CD contains the Philips Media Manger software, similar to media player or itunes software, which must be installed on any PC that you wish to use as a source of mp3 files to play through the RC9800i.

The remote itself is a little larger than a Palm or PocketPC, 4" x 6" x 1" thick. The display is typical of PDA's, about 3.5" diagonal in size. The Remote layout and the display are used in "landscape mode". The display is on the left side of the remote, a few key hard buttons are on the right (volume and channel adjust buttons, menu navigation buttons, a mute buttons, and 3 other buttons for changing screens as you use the RC9800). The hard buttons allow you to use the remote to adjust channels or volume with just one hand, but using most of the other touch screen controls require two hands, one to hold the remote and one to hold the stylus.

One thing you'll notice is that there is no place to store the stylus. I spent a couple of minutes looking over the Remote when I first got it, as I was sure there would be a slot to store the stylus, but there's not.

Setup

Setting up the RC9800i to work with my components didni??t quite live up to Philips Quick and Easy Setup claims. Many users will likely be able to get their units optimized for use in an hour or so, but I spent several hours getting mine to work. To setup your remote, the RC9800i walks you through the setup process with a wizard type of interface, asking you a series of questions about how each of your devices works and how you want to use your remote.

Settting up activity based remotes to control home theater systems is not trivial, even in the best of cases. Even if the manufacturer has all the control codes for the thousands of types of remotes in their database, they still need to be able to account for how different equipment works, for example, if you doni??t wait at least 5 seconds after my TV turns on before you select which input you want to use, the input select option isni??t recognized. Sometimes manufacturers use two buttons to select, say RGB input 1 and RGB input 2, while others say push a button once to select RGB1, and twice to select RGB 2. Some TV's require you to enter "03" to select channel 3, others require you to just select "3". Those kinds of factors lead to choices you must make while setting up the RC9800i to work with your system.

The setup steps include

The Preliminaries......

- plugging in the docking station and charging the battery in the remote. (takes 2-3 hours)

- Updating the RC9800's firmware (which erases any programming you have done, so you want to do this first). Updated firmware is available on the Philips website, which you download to a PC and install on the remote via the included USB cable

- Set up your unit for wireless operation. This is where I ran into my first problems. The first RC9800i I received would not recognize any wireless networks, I tried two wireless routers, one access point, even took it to a local coffee shop with wireless internet. After speaking to Philips support (available 13-14 hours/day, 7 days/week with a toll free call!!!), we decided the unit was defective, and I was sent a replacement. The second quickly recognized my wireless network, and once I entered my WEP security key, I was connected. Philips warns that your wireless network must be set to work with "b" (802.11b) devices (ie, set your router to mixed mode, not "g" only mode), and if you are using MAC (Media Access Control) filtering, you'll need to turn that off or set the MAC filters to allow your device to communicate (a safer solution). My firewall also caused problems (I'm using the Windows Live OneCare beta), keeping me from streaming mp3 files from my PC through the remote. I was able to resolve this by opening 4 ports in the OneCare settings menu, as suggested in the settings menu in the Philips Media Center software.

Rooms and Devices

- The RC9800i allows you to sort your multimedia devices by room, making it little easier to organize your remote to work with multiple TV's or entertainment centers. Within each room, you add devices by selecting their type and brand from the RC9800's menu. After each device is added, you then try to identify the correct remote control codes for that device. There are three ways to identify the correct codes......

- Learn and Match , where you are asked to point your remote at the RC9800i and press a specific button. The RC9800 has control codes for almost every brand in its database. It compares the signal with those in its database, and if it finds a match, it loads those codes and a button layout for the touchscreen. Unfortunately, the RC9800i found matches for only two of my 4 remotes in its database. (By comparison, all 4 were in the Logitech/Harmony database).

Autoscan is the second option the RC9800i uses to identify the correct control signals. In this mode, the RC9800i sends different signals to your device until you signal that a code works. As with Learn and Match, the RC9800i uses that identification to select the proper set IR signals and buttons for the device.

Select and Try shows you a list of control codes you can choose from to try with your device. Each is identified by a 4 digit number. If you haven't found your device with Learn and Match or Autoscan, this gives you another way to try out the codes in the RC9800i's database. More importantly, you can also select a "custom" code at this point. Once you select a custom code, you must point your remote at the RC9800i, and tediously push each button on the remote to match options listed for the custom mode, ie, play, stop, fast forward, channel up, etc. There are also user defineable options. Once this is done, the RC9800i stores those codes and loads them into the operating memory.
I was "lucky" enough to get to program custom codes for two of my remotes, which can be tedious if you want to program all the buttons from each remote.

Setting up a Custom code takes about half a minute for each button on your remote. In my case I had to do this for two remotes (a Vizio L32 HDTV remote, and a Cyberhome DVD player remote), which took over an hour.

Activities

In addition to setting up your "rooms" and "devices", you'll need to define your activities. One of my activities is watching DVD's. The following actions must occur before I watch a DVD:

Turn on the TV
5 seconds after turning on the TV, set the TV to use the HDMI input
Turn on the DVD player
Turn on the Sony Surround sound system
Set the surround sound system input to "DVD player"

After selecting to program an activity, the RC9800i asks you "what devices participate in that activity", and a few questions, like "is the sound level controlled by the TV or the Surround sound system?", and then programs the correct series of events to occur when you tap the button labeled "DVD". In use, once you tap the DVD button, the touchscreen display also shows a graphical touch sensitive interface through which you access the DVD player's controls.

Other activities I've programmed include watching TV, listening to cd's, and listening to the radio.

Electronic Program Guide

To download program guides (channel listings) to your remote, users must first sign up on the Philips website, create an account and select which TV lineups (your local basic cable lineup for example, or the local broadcast lineup), you want to be able to download to your remote. The Philips service provides EPG's for US and European users (Canada was not listed as an option on the menu I used). You can choose and associate different lineups with different devices in your home. Perhaps you have one digital cable converter in your home which is hooked to main TV, while the TV in your bedroom on receives broadcast TV or only the basic analog cable channels. The digital cable lineup would be accessed from the screen showing the controls for your main TV, while the analog cable line up would be called up from the button the screen when you are watching your bedroom TV.

The literature supplied with the RC9800i says the EPG is free for the first year, while the Philips webpage claims it will free for three years. When I go to my account page, it shows that my subscription will expire in 2 1/2 years. I'm hoping the longer numbers turn out to be right. The built in program guide is one of the best features of this device.

Media Content Server

Installation of the Philips Media Manager software on any PC allows you to stream mp3 files from that PC over a wifi network, through your remote and on to your sound system. The lcd display can be used to navigate through your files to select mp3 files, or m3u playlists, for playback. The docking station has an audio out connection (1/8" headphone jack) the needs to be connected to a sound system (a Sony surround sound system, in my case). Utilizing the RC9800i's wifi connection to my PC's, I can now browse image and music files on my PC, and either play them through my sound system, or view images on the RC9800i's screen. Although the RC9800i will recognize all types of audio files, it will only play mp3 files. The sound quality is excellent, I don't notice that the remote has any impact on the audio quality. You can also play mp3's over the RC98900i's speakers, but thats just to preview the sound, the volume and quality is too low for listening.

If you want to stream wma files from your PC to your sound system using this remote, you'll need to add a UPnP 1.0 compliant media server, to stream the media files from your PC to other devices, another device which can then be controlled by the RC9800i. The Philips website does not yet have a list of UPnP servers which have been tested with the remote. A few users have reported their experiences with UPnP media servers here: http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-rc9800i/thread.cgi?45. More information on the Philips Streamium, one UPnP compliant media server, can be found here: http://www.streamium.com/whatisstreamium/ .

Using the Philips RC9800i

Battery life

Battery life is specified as 3 hours of active use, or 14 days in standby. Three hours sounds pretty short, but I've not found it to be a problem. To save battery life, the button backlight turns off after an adjustable length of time (5-30 seconds), and the unit goes into Power Save mode (screen off) after a longer time (30-300 seconds). The screen brightness is adjustable. These power saving features should conserve enough power to allow most users to go a few days between charges.

Charging after each use should not cause "memory effect" problems with the Li-ion battery, so I store my RC9800 in the charging base every night. I have gone 2 or 3 days between charges.

Electronic Program Guide

The EPG is my favorite feature. My cable TV provider is Cox cable, and I am using their basic service, which includes about 60 channels. The remote displays 5 channels worth of programming data at a time, in 30 minute time blocks. I've set my RC9800i to download programming data daily, and it downloads 7 days worth at time, which takes just a few minutes over my wifi network. When viewing the EPG, programming is color coded, sports listings are shown on a green background while news is on a red background. When you first select to view the EPG, it takes about 3 seconds to load on the screen. Scrolling up or down channels is almost instantaneous. It takes about 1 second to move forward or back in time.

The remote optionally sync's with a clock on the internet to help ensure it always displays the right time. The EPG offers a few search options, though you can't search by title. You can search any 2 hour time slot for certain types of programming, sports, movies, kids, entertainment, education, soaps, and news.

Using the Activity based controls

I'm pleased with how the RC9800i works with my entertainment system. I'm not 100% satisfied, because it still occasionally misses a step when I choose to play a DVD, sometimes the DVD player won't start, or turn off, when the RC9800i goes through the steps to line everthing up to watch or stop watching DVD's. (I had similar problems with a Harmony remote) Its easy to fix this, as there's a specific button labeled "fix" to access the individual controls for each device. The problems seem to occur mostly when I'm off to one side rather than facing the units head on. Still, I find having a single remote to control 4 devices is world's better than keeping up with 3 or 4 remotes at a time, even with the occasional misstep. I also wish the RC9800 was smart enough to switch from watch DVD's to watch TV "on the fly", ie I wish you could select the watch TV button while watching a DVD, and have the right devices turn on and off as needed. Instead, to keep everything "in sync", you first need to "stop watching DVD's", which turns everything off, in my case, and then "watch TV" which turns the TV back on and selects the right input for the TV signal.

Streaming MP3 files from my network to the Surround Sound System

I've connected the audio output connection from the RC9800i docking station to one set of inputs on my sound system. I've also installed the Philips Media Manager software on two of the PC's connected to the wireless network in my home. I can now browse to mp3 files on either PC, and play them through the surround sound system, all from the remote, as long as its setting in the docking station. Pretty neat feature, though its one I only use occasionally.

Similarly, I can navigate to the directories containing image files on those PC's and view them on the RC9800i's screen, which is also pretty neat. I can do this any time the PC's are running.

Other Comments

The wireless range of the remote is at least 50', when communicating with my US Robotics Wireless G router. At 50' the signal is minimal, about 25% according to the indicator on the RC9800i, but the wifi connection still works ok. I can download EPG updates, and play mp3 files. Philips recommends you keep the remote in locations where the signal strength indicator is at least 50%, which would require I relocate my router to be closer to the remote, but in practice, I've not had problems.

Support

The wireless (wifi) feature of the first remote I received did not work. I called the Philips toll free number (which is listed on the Philips site for this and only this specific remote) on a Saturday, and go through pretty quickly. The first couple of people I talked to didn't recognize my model number (this is a fairly new model), and one even transferred me to a tech rep for games. I finall reached someone knowledgeable, a level 2 tech support rep who agreed that the wireless was likely faulty (I had tested it exhaustively by then). So while it was initially difficult to reach the right person, it turns out that Philips support is really pretty good, a toll free number, weekend hours, and knowledgeable support tech's are more that a lot of companies provide.

The manual and startup guide are pretty good, clearly written, lots of chapters, a good index, etc. I wish there were more troubleshooting sections. There are also a lot of good FAQ's on the Philips website, but this product really needs to have a user support forum, for people like us to discuss problems and find solutions quickly. There's nothing like the experience of users to help others.


Key Links

Philips Website for the RC9800i
http://www.homecontrol.philips.com/

Remote Central forum for the RC9800i
http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-rc9800i/list.cgi

RC9800i Pre Release FAQ's
http://www.homecontrol.philips.com/index.cfm?id=863

RC9800i Support FAQ's, downloads, and other links
http://www.homecontrol.philips.com/index.cfm?act=dspSupport

RC9800i images
http://www3.p4c.philips.com/files/r/rc9800i_17/rc9800i_17_rtp_.jpg

RC9800i datasheet
http://www3.p4c.philips.com/files/r/rc9800i_17/rc9800i_17_pss_aen.pdf