I use IR with my non commercial Panny Plasma (58"). Got the discrete codes from Remote Central for power and input selection and it has been flawless.
Dale
You bring up a good point about DISCRETE codes.
My 50" Vizio has a toggle on/off remote button. Also, many of the inputs (HDMI, Component, S-Vid) have two sets of inputs; the remote button for each input type toggles the inputs (say between HDMI-1 and HDMI-2). If I could find DISCRETE remote codes to go DIRECTLY to HDMI-2, I could use IR (and never be "lost" due to lack of TV status feedback).
Did Remote Central give you more remote IR codes than what you could capture from the original remote control that was supplied with the TV? If so, I need to do some looking there.