PHILIPS HEADPHONES SBC hc 8440

red usually means its not charged or connected properly there should be a matching led green light that comes on with the manual im reading this is what its stating

you also have to sync the head. with the base unit

Hi there!
OK I know it is little late to response but if someone will google it, might find the solution, they are still selling it though. I just got my set as a xmas present so here is the way it works..
First plug the batteries into the headset, there is gonna be small power in it, however you have to charge it. So connect the small charging cable into the base unit and the headset and make sure the switch on the head set is off. Green LED light will appear on the base unit. Let it charge for 16 hours. After is charged you can unplug the small charging cable.
OK now how it works.
The base unit needs to be always plugged-in to the electricity supply. Connect the audio connector from the base to the e.g. TV, PC, DVD player, mp3 player... After you plug-in the audio connector red LED light will automatically light on the base unit.
There is is two channels what you can use, that's in case if you have two of the same wireless sets. So if on the base is set to # 1 the headset needs to be also on # 1. Then if you have second headset choose channel # 2 on the base and also on the headset # 2, so they are not crossing each other.
Now press switch on button on the headset and red LED light will appear. There is nothing wrong with the red light. That's just the way it is..
OK that's it. Adjust the volume on the headset and you should be able to listen to the music.. :)

Hope it was helpful.

Michal Bohucky