I have had this problem for about 6 weeks and it has been drving me nuts. The remote worked fine in the morning, but in the evening, I would have to click a dozen times before getting an STB response. Based on another posting, I was checking out an Amazon listing of a remote IR extender. Someone who posted a review of that product mentioned that they had been told some kinds of lighting could interfere with the remote IR signal. Out of curiosity, I tried turning off the room lights and voila, the remote started working fine! I then realized that, in the morning, I typically do not have the lights turned on, but in the evening I do. I also realized that the problem had started when I had replaced some recessed incandescent lights with CFLs. My TV is in a room with multiple sets of recessed lights and so as long as the ones nearest the TV are off, my remote works.
Being curious about some of the other postings, I wondered if the reason why placing a yellow Post It note over the STB IR receiver worked for some people is because it was filtering the light. For me, the yellow Post It note did NOT help. The remote worked fine with the CFLs turned off but not with them on. However, I then tried pieces of paper of other colors and found that covering the STB receiver with a red Netflix envelope allowed the remote to work just fine even when the CFLs were turned on.
So, at least for now, my remote is working fine and I have an understanding of what is causing the problem. However, I do wonder why the remote ever works when the CFLs are on. Is it possible that small fluctuations in line voltage cause some variation in amount of interfering light from the CFLs? (Just curious now!) Very happy to have a remote that works now. Hope this helps at least a few people because I know how incredibly frustrating this problem is!
