I find it puzzling that Escient designed a custom
installation product with such a balky IR interface,
but I guess most applications call for serial
comm with a high-end control system (Crestron,
AMX, etc.), and IR compatibility was not a priority.
I've told Escient as much, as I'm sure many others have. I'm guessing that the large majority of Fireballs installed in the field use IR, not RS-232.
The off-the-shelf computer IR codes explain a lot, but a company with as much experience in custom installation as Escient has should know that most of their units go in with learning remotes of some type or another. An amazing oversight, in my view.