Ah so sweet, another quality microsoft product. Sorry that you had to waste your time. Like I said previously, no substitution for quality engineering and execution.

Jack

PS. Thanks for doing the review. You seem very serious about having quality toys. Have you tried another Meridian remote? Could just have a bad(or 2) IR LED emitter. I've found the battery strength is very important also. How about Lithiums? Also, do you have other Meridian components so you could pick a master other than the 561 to verify it's not a bad sensor on the 561? Just some ideas.