By further trial and error and using the remote in notepad, I found that the problem was actually touched on in some other posts.
The remote sends a different code each time you press the same button (is an HP Windows MC remote)
You have to keep recording until you can no longer get it to save that key, so for "end" which takes you home on Kodi, I had to record 7 times.
Recorded Keys:
Index hash key
----- --------- ---
0 2B6BFCFF 1
1 73BCF418 2
2 4A924C72 3
3 733A9098 4
4 1BC7534B 5
5 574CE74C 0
6 3DBAFD71 6
7 733E673F 7
8 403758 8
9 BCD5958B 9
10 10907D18 end
11 58E192D8 end
12 F015183E end
13 7AC296B1 end
14 381F57D end
15 560C34F2 end
16 864396A5 end
Most keys took two presses, a few took up to 7, a rare couple only needed 1.
It might be good to have some kind of list of remotes and links to solutions for common problems or "challenges" when you first engage with the flirc.
Most people will buy one, go to the URL provided, download software, and expect it to work.
Some homepage text and also on the packaging to say "check how to set up your remote at URL" would be much better. I actually thought there was a problem with the flicr, rather than anything to do with the remote.
As it is the simple XBMC/Kodi remote took up 74% of memory, so a full MCE keyboard could be out of the question.