Philips SRU4208WM/17 Universal Remote Review
I’ve used the Philips SRU4208WM/17 universal remote with the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 DVR from the Atlantic Broadband cable company for nearly two years. This universal remote works as expected, serves adequately as a replacement for the Universal Remote CLIKR-5 remote that the cable company provided originally.
Benefits Of The Philips SRU4208WM/17
- The SRU4208WM/17 can control up to eight devices. Nice!
- The number keys on the SRU4208WM/17 can be read easily (bold black print on a semi-white background), which eases this universal remote for the visually handicapped. This is especially true when the backlight is on.
- The SRU4208WM/17 includes a backlit button panel and all buttons light up with decent uniformity.
- The two AAA batteries last a surprising amount of time (nearly two years) and I used the SRU4208WM/17 quite a bit for many hours of television viewing and DVR operating.
- The battery access door stays put through all the drops and jolts I’ve put the SRU4208WM/17 through.
- In fact, the SRU4208WM/17 seems to withstand lots of drops without developing any ill effects at all.
- The infrared signal that the SRU4208WM/17 emits is reasonably strong, as I’ve successfully operated my DVR from twelve feet away. I’ve seen stronger remotes. But this power level does nicely.
- I appreciated the command learning feature of the SRU4208WM/17. I was concerned that the SRU4208WM/17 does not include a LIST key found on the CLIKR-5. But the SRU4208WM/17 instead offers lots of keys that I do not normally use. So with the command learning feature, I could program one of its available keys to emit the LIST command when pressed. Plus, should a button wear out, I can easily program that function on another key.
- I do not need the device codes necessarily to set up the SRU4208WM/17, as this remote includes a code search feature. It allows you to scan through its entire library of device brands until you hit on the codes that work with your devices.
What I Dislike About The Philips SRU4208WM/17
- The infrared transmitter strength of the SRU4208WM/17 is not quite as strong as other universal remotes I’ve tried, and does not work from very far away unless you point it right at the controlled device. With some of my other remotes, I’m able to point them at walls and even dark-colored furniture, yet still properly control the DVR. But not so much with this Philips universal remote.
- The SRU4208WM/17 does not include the all-on and all-off feature of the CLIKR-5. So you cannot press just one button to turn on or off all the devices in your entertainment system. Instead, the Philips SRU4208WM/17 requires you to press the device button for each device you’re controlling in turn, and the press the power button for each device. It would sure be nice to have a single power button to turn on and off all devices controlled by the SRU4208WM/17.
- I wish the backlight remained lit longer when you press the light-up button. As it is, the SRU4208WM/17 only glows for roughly five seconds. It’d be better if this light time was programmable, or was at least thirty seconds.
- The play developed insensitivity to presses less than a year after I purchased the SRU4208WM/17, which was rather disheartening because I paid over $22 for this remote. But at least I was able to program one of the other keys to take its place.
- The device and video control keys (forward, play, back, record, pause, and stop) are too small on the SRU4208WM/17. They’re only about the size of my pinky fingernail, and about half the size of the number keys on the SRU4208WM/17. This can cause frequent wrong-button presses, which is likely one reason that the play button on my remote stopped working well so quickly. Bigger buttons all around would be better.
- The SRU4208WM/17 does not include basic setup instructions printed either on the back of the unit or on the inside of the battery compartment door. This means that a lost users manual could mean that you cannot program your remote.
While I found the SRU4208WM/17 adequate for my purposes, I would probably not buy it again, particularly if I could get my hands on a CLIKR-5 instead, which is a significantly larger universal remote with a much brighter and longer-lasting backlight. But the SRU4208WM/17 isn’t a bad universal remote.
I’ll add any new information I discover to this post, about the Philips SRU4208WM/17 universal remote control.