Philips SRP5107/27 universal remote control

[11/12/15] I was doing fine with my OneForAll remote which was programmed to control the TV, the Apple TV, the Sony Blu-Ray player, and the Roku.  But then a little over a week ago, some of the buttons stopped working.  Oddly after a while, it started working again.  Then stopped working again.

I was going to get another OneForAll remote, but looked up universal remotes for Roku and came across the Philips SRP107/27.  And bought one on ebay for only $5.99.

Well it arrived today.  No batteries.  No problem, I found a set of batteries in a bag for an Oceanic remote that I didn't use (the batteries I didn't use, the remote I used).  (Actually I found two sets, but the first bag was so old that the batteries are corroded.)

Pop in the batteries.  Test if it works.  Nope, not pre-programmed for the Panasonic (I assume it's pre-programmed for a Philips TV.)

Let's set it up.  Go to page 6 of the included manual.

Press and hold the TV button for five seconds.  The red setup button at the top blinks and stays lit.

Look up the 4-digit code.  There's a quick start guide with the code 2153 for Panasonic.  Light blinks twice after keying in the code.

Press and hold the power button.  Release it as soon as TV turns off.  OK, the TV turned off.

Let's see if it works now.  OK seems to work.

Press the TV button twice.  The red light blinks twice then turns off.

Checking some of the buttons on the Philips remote.  I don't see a button for Format (which changes the aspect ratio).  And Favorite which display favorite channels.  And Sub Menu where you can setup the favorite channels.

Let's see if I can learn those buttons.

OK, let's see if I can program the Guide button as Favorite.  Page 13.  Select the desired device button (TV).  Red light blinks.  Hold down the Learn button and the button I want to learn (Guide) for five seconds.  Red light blinks and stays on.  Press and hold the Favorite button on the original remote.  The red setup light blinks twice and goes off.

Cool, that works.  Now I have to decide which buttons to use for FORMAT and sub-menu.  I think I'll use the yellow-dash button for SUB MENU and the blue-dash button for FORMAT.

[The dash button not functioning on the Philips in TV mode, so I'll learn it from the Panasonic remote.]

[I'll also map the green button on the Philips to the yellow button on the Panasonic so I can delete while editing captions.  And the red button to the green button so I can change case for captions.]

[11/14/15 - problem when manually editing the programmed channels.  Red pages up and green pages down.  But I changed those to yellow and red for editing captions.  And I changed the yellow to SUB MENU and blue for FORMAT.  So now red on the Philips pages down, but I can't page up.  No biggie.  The other problem is exiting the edit.  Pressing exit aborts the whole process instead of going to the top menu.  On the Panasonic, the Return button is used.  So I'll map the Philips Exit to the Panasonic Return.  It's in the same place on the remote anyway.  I rarely (never) use the actual exit button on the Panasonic anyway.

On the Panasonic the order of the color buttons are R, G, B, Y.  On the Philips, the order is Y, B, R, G.  Y is used for Sub Menu, B is used for Format, R is used for G (changing case), G is used for Y (deleting when editing).  Confused enough?]

[11/14/15 - on the redo, I left the Y,B,R,G buttons alone.  Mapped the L1 button as the Sub Menu button.  And the 3D button as the Format button.]

Anyway it works!  Very cool.  And easier to program than the One For All.  Now we'll see how long it lasts.  Hopefully longer than the One For All (which lasted only a year).

OK how about the Apple TV?  The quick start guide doesn't include a code for the Apple TV.  I guess I could learn it, but there's supposed to be a code somewhere.

I found a more complete manual online.  Let's see.  There's a code for Apple: 0172.

Let's use the CBL button for the Apple TV.  Press and hold until setup light blinks.  Key in 0172.  Press and hold the Power button until device switches off.  The thing is that that the Apple TV doesn't switch off, so how do I know when to release it?  Anyway I pressed the power for about a second then released.

Test it.  That didn't work.  OK.  Let's try a shorter time.  Nope, let's try the AUX button.

Pressed the power button and saw the Apple TV blink.  So there's some kind of response.  The menu button works.  Exit button does something too.  The forward and rewind buttons are the left and right.  The play button is the Select button. Where's the up and down?  Press more buttons.  The channel up and down are also the left and right.  The INFO button is also the Menu button.  The stop and pause buttons are also the Select button.  I guess that's something, but not very functional with no up and down buttons.

Let's learn the Apple TV remote then.

OK, easy enough.  Learned the Apple TV remote in CBL mode.  Only seven buttons to learn.  Up, down, left, right, select, menu, play/pause.  And most people probably don't use the play/pause as you can play/pause using the select button.  Maybe it's more useful when used with a Mac.

[11/14/15 - on the redo, I see there is a use for the play/pause button.  If you hold down the OK key at the main menu, you get the message to press the play/pause button for more options.  Then if you do that, you have the option to hide the item from the menu.]

[11/1/16 - I had to restore settings on the Apple TV since it got locked up in the Computer Settings screen when it first started up.  And I lost the SAT mode.  Funny when I learned the Apple TV remote, the long press on the Menu button doesn't jump all the out to the menu.  So I guess I'll use have the Apple TV relearn the keys again from the Philips remote.  For some reason can't learn the page forward key to skip ahead, so I'll use the record button for now.]

OK, so far so good.

Now for the hard part.  The Roku, since my original Roku remote is no longer functioning.

Let's use the AUX button.  Press for five seconds until red light blinks.  Key in code 2407.  Press power button for various amounts of time.  Don't see any response from the Roku.

OK, let's try learn it.  Put the batteries in the original Roku remote.  Still broken.  Put the batteries back in the One For All.  Still not completely working.  The buttons not working (when you press it, nothing lights up) are: TV, Guide, right.  The other keys learned fine, but it's fairly useless if you have have a non-functioning right key.

I guess I'll wait to see if the One For All spontaneously starts working again.  It did before, but I'm not holding my breath.  Either that or I'll buy a generic Roku remote.  In the meantime, I guess I can use the iPad app if I need to.

OK, let's try the Sony Blu Ray player now.  Sony code is 2679.

That worked eventually.  For some reason the DVD button didn't respond at first when trying to get into program mode.

The main thing not working is there is no audio button (which changes the language track on the DVD/Blu-Ray if there is one) on the Philips.  No biggie.  But I decided to program the mute button as the audio button.  The mute button was still working on the TV while in DVD mode, so to mute I would have to just turn down the volume or switch to TV mode and press mute.  The Sony blu-ray remote signal is now weak.  I have to put the remote close to the player and point it at the right place to make it work.  So I was pleased that the Philips was able to learn it.

[Some buttons I want to re-program.  The Info button brings up the options menu.  I'll change it to learn Display.  And I'll map the GUIDE button to the Options menu.  For some reason the Input button is mapped to the options menu.  I think I'll map it to the TV input button.  Well, that worked but is of limited value as I still have to switch to TV mode to use the arrow keys on the Input menu.  I'll map INPUT to the TIME button instead.]

[On the redo, I mapped the 3D button as the audio button since it's on the same row as the subtitle button.  Interestingly the L1/Inst Replay button works to skip back 10 seconds even though that button isn't on the original remote.  And I don't what the Exit button on the Philips does.  It keeps saying Operation Prohibited.  Maybe it's the Top Menu button? If so I think I have the MENU button as the Pop Up Menu, the GUIDE button as the Options Menu, and the Exit button as the Top Menu button.  Nope.  Testing it out on my Matrix Blu Ray playing the movie.  Then I press Top Menu on the original remote, it says operation currently prohibited.  When I press exit on the Philips, it does nothing.]

[9/14/21 - Now I notice there is a replay button on the original Sony RMT-B104A remote.  And an advance button too.  So I'll program the L1 button for Replay and the L2 button for Advance and the Prev Ch button for Audio.  For some reason, the other Philips remote (the one with 3D button) is not working when I try to program it.  I'll reset it to Sony code 2679 and see how far I get with it.  OK, now I can program the Prev Ch button to be Audio.  The L1 and 3D buttons don't do anything and can't seem to program them.  OK, I'll leave well enough along for now.  At least one of the remotes is working.]

Noticed the remote has a pretty good range as I can control the TV / players while sitting at the computer at the other end of the room.

Last would be my Toshiba DVD-recorder.  But since I'm not using it now, I guess I'll fiddle with it later.

[As you might have predicted, I couldn't resist.  Let's try the Toshiba DVD-recorder.]  Put in the batteries into the replacement Anderic RMC 10339.  The second button at the top, between the power and open/close starts blinking.  The remote is on the blink :(  When did I buy this thing?  In February.  The damn thing lasted 9 months.  Wait, it settled down and the light stop blinking.  Maybe there's some life in this baby yet.

OK, the code for Toshiba is 3021.  Nope.  The Apex TV turned off, but not the DVD recorder.  OK, finally it took.  Had to hold down the button about 40 seconds.

It mostly works.  But I don't see a button for eject.  And no setup button.  And while the Anderic is now (mostly) working, the setup button is no longer working.  And that's the main reason I bought the Anderic because I could get the other buttons working on the One For All remotes.

Let's see.  Apparently there's a one-year warranty.

Just when I was about the contact them, the setup button starts working.  WTH?  I guess I'm not complaining.

OK, quickly map the SETUP button to the Philips GUIDE button, before it is lost again.

Another oddity is that the page forward and page back buttons are mapped to forward and back.  While the rewind and fast forward buttons are mapped to skip back and skip ahead.  I'll learn to reverse that.

For some strange reason, I can't program the page back button to skip back.  But I can program it to rewind.  Strange.  How about using the channel up and channel down button?  I can program channel up to skip forward, but can't program the channel down to skip back.  Another strange quirk.

Wait, somehow I got it.  I noticed that when it didn't work, the red light would stay lit.  So maybe I was programming a macro or something?  So I saved the current setting by pressing the DVR button twice.  Then did a fresh learn.  I dunno.  As long as it's working now.

Also programmed the red button to act as the open/close button.

I remember there was actually an eject button on the Sony Blu-Ray even though it's not on the remote.  Let me see that still works on the One For All.  Nope don't see an eject on the One For All.  I think it was on that Sony remote that I gave to Donna.  (yeah)

[11/14/15 - On the redo, I mapped the (-) to eject and the 3D/Advance to skip ahead 30 seconds.  I'll leave the skip forward/back and rewind/fast forward buttons alone for now.  Couldn't leave well enough along and tried to swap the skip buttons with the rewind/fast forward buttons.  For some reason, it's refusing to learn the skip back button from the Anderic.]

[11/14/15 - Wait, I was programming the DVD button instead of the DVR button.  For some reason, I was able to learn the skip back button, but was having problems learning the skip forward button.  But after a number of tries, it finally took.  I better quit while I'm ahead.]

***

All in all, I'll give this a thumbs up as a learning remote, especially for the price.

*** [11/14/15]

Yeah, it was only a matter time, but I figured I might as well add the Apex TV to Philips remote.  After all, it has seven function buttons and I was only using five. I think I'll use the SAT button for the Apex.  No code in the quick start guide.  Look it up in the manual that I found online.  The code is 3691.

Tried it.  Help power button down for at least a minutes.  Didn't work.  Let's try the code for Apex Digital which is 0172.  Nope.  How about 3021 which was the Toshiba code but I remember it turned off the TV.  Nope.

OK let's use learn mode.  Was going OK, but for some reason couldn't learn the 1 and 3 keys.

Let's try the TV mode.  Try code 3021 (which I thought was the Apex, but was the Toshiba).  The TV turned off.  And the volume and channel buttons worked.  But not the setup and arrow keys.

Let's try code 3691 in TV mode.  That worked similarly.  Power button works.  Volume and channel works.  But not the menu or arrow keys.

Maybe it ran out of memory.  Let's try reset the remote (section 3.5 of manual).  I thought it might reset just the particular device, but apparently it reset everything.

Square one.  But at least I wrote everything down.

For now, I'll forget about the Apex TV since I hardly watch TV anyway and use the TV function for the Panasonic.

[Actually tried the CBL button from the Apex and that didn't work either.]

Redo.

*** [4/22/16]

bought another Philips remote on ebay for my mom's new TV at Aiea.  Can't really use it yet because the TV hasn't been mounted yet.  Hopefully the TV will be mounted soon so I can test it out.  Because if it doesn't work within two weeks than I'll return it.  Maybe I should take the TV home and set it up at my house.  Actually that's not a bad idea.

Anyway. I wanted to try out the remote anyway, so I tested  it on my Panasonic TV at home.  The included manual is a little different than the previous one as it actually contains the list of codes.

OK press and hold the TV button.  The light blinks.  Enter the code 2153.  OK, that seemed to work.  But volume works.  Channel up/down works.  But then the cursor pad also changes the volume and channel.instead of navigating the menu.  Strange.

Then I notice that this is not the model SRP5107/27 but SRP5107WM/17.  The remote looks virtually the same, but the 3D button at the bottom is now labelled L2.  Apparently this new remote is the older model.  Luckily this is a learning remote, so I was able to teach the keys from the old remote to the new remote.  I guess it'll be OK.

Looking further for the model number on the remote, you can check the label inside the battery case.  The old remote model is SRP5107/27 3D UP DB1 followed the number 3139 238 21262.  The new remote model is SRP5107/27 UP followed by the number 3139 238 21261.  OK I guess maybe it wasn't false advertising.  But odd that the manual has a different number.  I'm guessing it's the same electronics in the remote but maybe an older software flash.  I suppose one advantage is that I can tell apart the remotes by checking whether the third button on the bottom says 3D or L2.  Another advantage is that if one remote doesn't work, maybe the other one would since they're not 100% identical.

Whatever, it was only $5.99..

*** [5/17/16]

OK, got it to work with the Insignia Roku TV at my mom's new place. Just used the code for the Insignia TV and everything seemed to work.  Even the replay key worked, which isn't on the Insignia remote.

But decided to add the sleep button which isn't on the Philips remote, but on the Insignia remote.  Learned/programmed the red record button as the sleep button (that's what I used for my Philips remote at home for my Panasonic TV).  Also decided to program the Guide button as the Home button.  And the Menu button as the Back button since that's how they're physically arranged on the Insignia remote.  (The default was the Menu button as the Home button and the Exit button as the Back button.)  I left the exit button as the back button.

*** [9/9/16]

Brought the second Philips remote home about a month ago, but wasn't using it.  I actually took it to Gung Gung Wong's house to troubleshoot their TV remote problems.  Sure enough, their Vizio remote was partially broken.  I programmed the Philips for their Vizio TV and Go DVD/VCR player, but wound up leaving an old RCA remote instead.

Anyway, decided to use it on the Apex TV in the back.  Unlike the first remote, the Apex seemed to take fine on the first crack.

Next was the Toshiba DVD-R.  Once again, the Anderic remote was on the blink (the second light on the top row starts blinking and the remote isn't functional.  Pressing the up volume button sometimes stops it and it works for one key press).  I got thrown off because when programming it and waiting for the device to turn off, the TV turned off and I released the power button.  But what you have to do is ignore the TV and look at the DVD-recorder to see if the front display goes off.  Then you release the power button.

So that worked.  Mostly.  Still needed to learn the setup button.  And reverse the fast forward/rewind buttons with the skip forward/skip back buttons.  Luckily it was able to learn from the first Philips remote, so I wouldn't have to rely on the flaky Anderic.

Now for the Roku.  Looking at my programming efforts above, I'll just learn it from the replacement Roku remote.  OK, that went well.  Just had to learn twelve buttons: back, home, left, right, up, down, OK, instant replay, * (asterisk), back, forward, play.

And now my Anderic seems to have settled down and the setup key is working.

*** [12/25/16]

Brought home Donna and Alvin's Toshiba TV.  They were getting rid of it because the sound went out.  And got Cheryl's TV to replace it.

Hooked it up to the Sony receiver that I got from Sue (which she got from Howard) years ago.  After a little fiddling around (hooked up the Roku and the DVD-R audio to the Video and CD inputs).  It more or less works, though the sound doesn't seem completely balanced.  And I have to manually press the buttons on the Sony.

So I took home the Philips (the new one) I had taken to Aiea.  (I had brought it there to see if I could adjust the small TV that BJ was using to play his XBox games.  We had used it for the PlayStation, but the screen was zoomed so we couldn't see the bottom of the maze.  Anyway, I think it worked, but was never able to try it out because we never hooked up the Playstation to it again.)

So I programmed the Philips remote for the Toshiba TV.  The only think I customized (so far) is the sleep button which I learned from the original remote.  [OK, I have now learned the L2 button as the PIC SIZE button.]

The DVD-R button still works on the Toshiba DVD recorder.  But trying out that generic remote I bought, I see that the play button doesn't work.  Good thing I have the two Philips programmed, so I don't really need that glitchy remote (I'd say it's not very good quality).

Then I decided to see if I could program the Sony receiver.  It used to have a remote, but it stopped working years ago.  I think I tossed it because I don't see it anymore.  I put in the Sony code.  Pressed the power button and somewhat amazingly it turned off.  So now I can power on/off the Sony.  Luckily, because just before that I had trouble turning it on with the power button.  Unfortunately that's the only thing that I think it's working.  I would have liked to have the volume control work too.  But I'll take it.

I used the AUX button for the Sony receiver.  So I programmed the CBL button for the Roku.  I believe it had been used for the Apple TV.  But the Apple TV also was programmed (or learned) with the SAT button.  So the only button left unused is the HD button.

Hmm.  I wonder if I can program the Toshiba remote to control the Toshiba DVD-R player.  Maybe it works out of the box?  Apparently not, since it doesn't have DVD labelled on the Mode Select switch.  Just TV, CABLE/SAT, AUX1, AUX2.

Looking at page 23 of the Toshiba manual I downloaded, it says to use AUX2 for the DVD player. Nope, power button doesn't work.  OK, let's try put in the codes.

Hold down recall button and enter the code.  The codes for Toshiba DVD player are 000, 013, 076, 077, 078.  Nope, none of them work.  Which is odd since it's a Toshiba product.

I wonder if it works at all?  Let's try it on the Sony Blu-ray player using the Sony DVD codes.  Nope, nothing.

[12/26/16]  I like the Philips remote, but today it's giving me problems.  I'm programming the old Philips CBL button to work on the Roku (it has been on AUX).  So I learned it from the replacement Roku remote.

Then I tried to program the AUX for the Sony receiver.  It didn't take.  But I learned it from the new Philips remote.

Then I tried to program the HD button for the Toshiba TV.  That didn't work either.  I was beginning the suspect that the auto-program function is no longer working on the old Philips remote.  I tried to auto-program the TV button for the Toshiba, but that didn't take either.  Thankfully, it didn't wipe out the Panasonic TV settings.

To check if I was doing something wrong, I programmed the Toshiba TV again with the new Philips remote and it worked.

But then I tried to test the new remote on the Sony Blu-ray player.  Nothing.  OK, let's auto-program it.  And that didn't work either.  Not sure what gives.

Hmm.  Tried again and the Sony Blu-ray player went off.  So I guess it worked this time.

Then tried to program the HD button of the newer remote for the Panasonic TV.  Nope.  Then to see if the code worked, I tried programming the TV button.  Yep, that worked.

OK, now to reprogram it back to the Toshiba TV.  I better leave well enough alone -- for now..