I was kinda bummed learning I could not do an alphanum search without the remote because I wanted to keep the remote in my house, but remembered i have one of those fancy Sony learning remotes! It is all programmed now and works great!

I need to wired up one of those IR transmitters(mounted right next to the Rio) hooked to a wired controller so I can control the Rio without using the IR remote.. I guess one of many possible solutions to using something other than the standard remote..