jp,
I hate to ask you to undo what you've done, but could you try something out?

All previous DirecTV remotes could not be set to control an A/V device until first being set to control a TV. In fact, the On button and Off button at the top right of the older remotes (all models) did not operate until you programmed to run a TV. And it didn't even have to be the TV you have; the remote just needed to be set to run a TV.

The lack of clarity about this fact led me to wonder for several actual years why sometimes I could program the remote to control an amp, and sometimes not.

So... taking your instructions literally, I see no requirement that one programs the remote to control a TV before attempting to program the remote to operate an A/V device. You even list audio before you list TV, but that might have been an oversight resulting from not knowing that the TV had to be programmed first.

Please let us know. And thanks for working this out.