Very short-sighted of Sony. They say they want their device to be "the box" hooked up to your TV, a central location for all your home entertainment needs... but then they go and make it as unfriendly to control as possible. I really thought they learned their lesson with the PS3, but then again, I guess all those hardware re-designs without the much-requsted IR being added shows they simply don't care.

Even Intel listened. First generation of the NUC had no infrared, but it was fairly ideal as a HTPC. People asked for IR, and guess what - 6 months later when the second generation comes out, there's a built-in CIR receiver. Even added the analog audio that was missing.