IMO, it would make sense for us to select a remote, as a group, and develop a keymap file. I will throw in and help with whatever the group decides but I suggest either MCE or FLIRC. Personally, I'd select MCE.
I'm familiar with neither, but I am very in favor of this idea. The Kodi, Harmony, and Raspberry PI 4 with IR sensor newb guide is using a Mecool DVR device, but I don't think we need as many keys if we simply want to use basic on/off, left/right/up/down and volume control commands.