Well, after living with the Phillips 9800i for about a week I have a few accolades and complaints to make. I will go into a more detailed analysis after I have used it for a bit longer but for the most part I am happy with my decision to upgrade from the TSU-3000, and yes after using the device I do still consider it an upgrade.
As stated in the manual and all the press material this little device is pretty easy to setup. Even though I took my time and did my programming in between other weekend projects, I estimate I spent maybe 4 hours total setting it up over a three day period. The one part I have not gotten configured is the Electronic Program Guide, and this is more due to problems with my wireless network than anything else. My unit came with about a 75% battery charge which made setup much easier…. No waiting for it to charge. Also, I was impressed with the Phillips in the fact that it allowed me to start the programming one afternoon, and finish up the next day. I expected to loose all my settings by having to stop in the middle of the setup without the ability to save, but this wasn’t the case.
The only real problem I had was the remote not recognizing two of my devices. It would not find a remote code for my DirecTv HR-10 HD Sat receiver, or my Polk Audio XM-Radio receiver. I remedied this by using the direct remote to remote learning feature which we are all familiar with for your everyday garden variety “programmable remotes”. I attribute the 9800i’s inability to recognize these devices more with their newness than anything else. The 9800i had no problems recognizing the “basic” features of my Harman AVR-525 Receiver, although I did have to go back in and teach it some additional buttons. I do wish that you could re-label some of these buttons, or delete others. The remote has a rather generic screen layout, one for A/V Receiver, one for DVD, one for CD, etc. . The only buttons which I have found you can put custom names to are the input buttons used to switch sources. A good example of not being able to re-label, or have customizable buttons is the Multi-room feature of the AVR-525…. I had to us a generic button to activate this, and there is no way to move this button to a different screen which is more frequently used. So if I want to cut on speakers in additional rooms in the house, I have to page through to the last page of the AVR-525 and use this “user program” button. I want to try and create a custome device and call it Whole House Audio and see if I can create macros to cut on my XM Receiver, my mainroom system, as well as my multiroom amplifers. I'll keep you posted on this...
Overall I am happy with this product, I think like most that migrate from the Pronto series, especially those of us who did our own programming and made customized screens, will miss some of those features. The one thing my wife picked up on right away is the 9800i’s inability to program channel buttons, i.e. a single button for HBO, or HGTV, etc. If one really wanted to do this, I imagine you could use one of the programmable buttons; however there are only 6 or so of these custom programmable buttons for each device.
As I stated before the one feature that I am most excited about, is the one I have not been able to test. The EPG (Electronic Program Guide) sounds like a great options, but until I get my WiFi network back up I am stuck without it. As I finish configuring the remaining components in my system I will update my overview. After I have gotten the EPG up and running and had the chance to really live with the product I will post the long winded version. In a nutshell, I like this product. I wish it had a little bit of the Prontos customability, even if it was limited to what you could do on the remote. The ability to rename the 6 or so custom feature buttons and maybe a database of icons to use with macros would be nice. All and all…. I’d give this product 8 out of 10. If Phillips were to move this form factor to the Pronto series (I love the physical aspects of this remote) I think they would have a winner. Can anyone say, iPronto Junior? Oh and Phillips, if you need a Beta tester, give me a call.