additional note - to test i mapped some buttons to explicit power on/power off (vs toggle) and i can get the receiver to turn on and off. i can usually - but not always - get volume working as well.
when i have tried the power toggle (which maps to three actions - turning on/off a TV, setting a Roku to home, and turning on/off the receiver) it's been hit or miss. if anything it feels like there is a long action queue being slowly processed since after attempting a toggle a few times, i cannot seem to immediately execute the previously-working explicit power on/off buttons. eventually i can, but not immediately
also, my TV (it's an oldie but goodie) is not functioning at all with the remote that i can tell . should i start a separate thread for that?