Philips SRP5107 / 27 Remote, Front View
We bought the Philips Universal Remote SRP5107 for use with my Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 DVR supplied by Atlantic Broadband cable company.
Spent numerous hours playing around with this remote, and found it to be simple to set up, and the buttons have a very easy-to-press feel. Yet pressing the wrong key happens rarely. So this Philips control indeed works as well as hoped, and it serves well as a replacement for the CLIKR-5 remote that our cable company provided originally.
This universal remote can control up to seven devices, including a television, digital video recorder (DVR), digital video disc player (DVD), cable set top box (CBL), satellite receiver (SAT), a high definition monitor (HD), and auxiliary device (AUX). That’s great, particularly since I only have three devices in my entire entertainment system. It’s always nice to have some extra room for expansion, and the SRP5107/27 certainly provides enough for any devices that a budget could afford.
These include Menu, T-central, channel guide, select / okay, info / display, exit / clear, volume, mute, input channel selector, thumbs up and thumbs down, live TV, enter, skip, CC, L1, L2, previous channel, subtitle, repeat, instant replay, and advance.
The number keys are big enough to read easily, with their bold white print on a glossy background.
The two AA batteries lasted over a year, probably because this control has no backlight to wear them out faster.
The buttons that specifically activate DVR functions have blue text labels while most of the rest of them are white. This is a neat feature especially for someone new to digital video recorders (DVRs).
Philips has rearranged the device and video control keys (forward, play, back, record, pause, and stop) into an ergonomically sensitive ring format that’s similar to the iPod Nano touch wheel. However unlike the Nano, this ring still has individual buttons. I find these bigger buttons in this ring arrangement easier to work without errors.
The battery access door comes off with little effort, but does not open unless you intentionally open it. So far, it’s remained in place throughout the few jolts and bumps to which we’ve subjected it.
Compared to my SRU4208WM/17 controller, this Philips SRP5107/27 appears to be a later and enhanced version. They made this newer model a bit thicker with more rounded corners. This helps in gripping the unit.
We paid just $13 for this at Walmart; perhaps $10 less than the earlier SRU4208WM/17 remote some years earlier. So Philips has lowered the price significantly with this improved version of their universal control.
The infrared transmitter appears about as strong as most other controllers I’ve tested. I’ve successfully operated my DVR from twelve feet with this, and while I’ve indeed seen more powerful remotes, this Philips one works well for my needs.
We like the command-learning feature here. But we worried that this learning remote did not include the LIST key, that our DVR needed to show its list of recorded programs. This button on the other hand, is found on the CLIKR-5.
But this is not an issue though, as this remote offers instead, lots of extra keys; buttons that we do not normally use. We can assign any of these the LIST function. Do this by setting this remote to “watch” as the key to be learned is pressed on the old remote. This per-key programming feature makes this remote truly universal.
So with the command learning feature, you may program one of these available keys to emit the LIST command. Plus, should a button fail, you can easily program its function to another key. Now that we’re used to this feature, we might never buy a remote that does not have key learning, unless of course, we were just buying it to review it.
We needed no device codes to program this portable remote. Why not? Because it includes a code search feature. Code search provides quick scanning through the entire library of device brands on board. Finding the correct codes took just over a minute. Simple stuff.
Philips added the new yellow, blue, red, and green generic function buttons that have recently appeared on state-of-the-art universal remotes, which handle HD TV functions. These are extra buttons that you may program as well, when you’re not controlling a smart HD TV with them. We programmed two of them already, to simplify control of the DVR.
So working it in the dark can be a challenge.
Though large enough to see fairly well, the print on the number buttons is smaller and less bold than we like. Not very low-vision friendly.
Our usual complaint about these remotes applies to the SRP5107WM/17 as well. It should have bigger buttons.
This control does not include the all-on and all-off features of the CLIKR-5. So you cannot press just one button to turn on or off all the devices in your home theater system. Instead, this remote makes you press the device button for each device you’re controlling in turn, and then press the power button to power up each device. To avoid these extra keystrokes, we want single power button to turn on and off all devices.
Basic setup instructions printed either on the unit’s back or on the battery compartment door, are not included. Thus, we might be unable to reprogram the this device, should we misplace the users guide.
The Philips SRP5107 universal remote control is nearly effortless to set up and operate. Plus, as cheap as it was, we’d certainly buy another. The SRP5107 is a decent remote. So we would rate it at 92 out of 100.
We got ours at Walmart. But many other larger stores and electronic shops carry it too.
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