[IEEE1394]

Just brought home my new $19.99 Philips SRU4208WM/17 universal remote.


The copy on the outer packaging says it runs on 2 AA's. This surprised me as AA's have become rare in small CE items. But it seemed like a good thing as this remote has backlighting and AA's generally have quite a lot more milliamp-hours than AAA's.


This was not just a little typo. Both the english and spanish copy detailed 2AA's.


Arrival at home, unwrapping the product, and opening its battery case revealed none other than two slots for AAA batts.

Wondering what Philips might have to say about this, I check for the customer service number. And it's a regular toll call to North Carolina. Hey, Philips. That's not a way to show you appreciate my business.


Well, that and putting the wrong size battery on the packaging of a remote.


There is still a Philips company in the Netherlands. But you get the impression that they sold the name to an outfit from Fujian Province. Something like what RCA, Emerson, and many other once-proud companies have done.


Well, at least I'm not in the Gaza Strip. Happy New Year to all.


-- IEEE1394

 

[IEEE1394]

I know people have mentioned on this remote that it will not control some Philips products. Well, to the list of products/functions not supported, we can add the Pause function on the Philips DVP 5960 DVD player. Some of the codes will support most functions on the player, but even these result in an "Invalid Input" message when Pause is pressed.