thanks so much for the tip- i did that but i also found what the cause of the delay was. while i made the above changes on the delay settings i never looked at the activity itself - only the device. however, i just looked over the activity settings and realized i previously had set up a sequence for the directionals - using L/R for both directv and my television itself. i removed the sequence and now it works fine! this was driving me crazy!! i appreciate you jumping in!