I should have been more explicit when I asked what kind of cable you had, and explained that the question was important.

A parallel interface cable is designed to work with UEI remotes that use an EEPROM. Remotes designed in 2005 or later use Flash memory instead, with a serial protocol to communicate with the computer. See this link for more details.
So your parallel interface cable won't work with a 8820, as you found.

It is possible to cheaply build an interface cable which plugs into a serial port, but most people buy the $29 cable made by Tommy Tyler which plugs into a USB port.