Join the club. I just got my T2 over the weekend and I had to go through some frustrating learning experience myself. I bought the T2, IRF-6, and SPS-1 to provide me with a remote that has LCD and hard buttons, IR and RF capabilities, design software on a PC, and power sensing capability. To answer your first question, if you want both IR and RF capabilities, you only need the T2 and IRF-6 units (and emitters that plug into the IRF-6 which are placed in front of your equipment IR sensor window(s)). The IRF-6 has six IR output ports. The ports can be setup as one zone or six zones. Further more if you need more the IRF-6 can be connected to more IRF-6 units and other Connecting Blocks like the Xantech. I doubt if you will need to do this. The RF works great, although I had trouble with IR transmission.
To answer your other question, I also have a Pioneer Elite RPTV (albeit an older version than your RPTV, you lucky devil :)). When I first set up my T2 to use as an IR remote (prior to setting up the IRF-6), I had problem xmitting IR signal to the RPTV. It seems like I need to be within an 8 ft range. Any further than that and it wouldn't take the signal. I also had the same problem trying to communicate with my TiVo unit, granted that I use a 3rd party IR sensor/re-transmitter to control my TiVo (my TiVo along with my other equipment are inside a closet in a separate room). Other people in this forum thought that I may have a defective T2 unit, so I'm not sure if its the T2 or it's just problems with the Elite and TiVo. You'll just have to try to find other Elite or Tivo users to confirm this. But again, once I set up the RF, everything works fine, so I'm going to keep it. Everything else works great and I'm begining to become more familiar with the software. Hope this helps.
