Hey Jeff,
What do you mean when you say "The unit plays and does not do anything else. " Have you found a device code where the only working button is PLAY? If so, what's the device code? There's a very good chance that the rest of the functions can be found in that same device code but you may need advanced codes to program them. Remember that the learning feature of the Prod 8's is pretty useless, you can only learn to the 6 dedicated learning buttons.
I may have a list of advanced codes for this device onmy site (I need the device code to know for sure), but if I don't, you could use one of my worksheets to find the adv codes you need.
Rob.
http://www.hifi-remote.com/