There are many bars available which have remote control learning.... e.g Yamaha YAS-306. Its just 2-3 mins job and you dont have to do these hacks. I have one from early 2000s which works perfect.y
Not crapping on this project because it's hella awesome, but a more scalable solution (which might not be worth it at all) would be to make a HTTP interface to a remote control, then have the remote control beam IR signals at whatever. This would mean that for any new device you add, you just have to pair the remote instead of wiring up another Pi to it.
I think this was a comment on the fact that many stereo components were sold with remote receivers but no remotes.
I have memories a bunch of in the late 80s going to our electronics store so my brother could program our new programmable remote so we use it could use it with our cd player.. so sneaky we were.
Are there any bars available on the market that can learn how to pick up such wireless transmissions and respond to their requests?