Would a Flirc be the solution to my issues?!

[Finchy]

Hi guys

I've had both a 2015 Shield TV and a Sonos Playbar for years but I've never been able to get a remote control to both act as the remote for the Shield TV and also do the volume controls for the Sonos Playbar. In between the Shield and Sonos is a Samsung TV with it set so the TV speakers are disabled and the sound is passed through the TV to the Sonos, but because the Playbar needs an IR signal for the volume and the Shield needs a remote that wireless I just can't seem to find a one remote solution that's will manage the Shield and also do the volume on the Playbar. 

Any ideas how I can do it? I don't have the original Shield remote (broken) and have been using an Amazon Fire stick remote for the last few years, which does everything we need on the Shield, but we just cannot get it to do the Playbar audio, and it would be so nice to not have to also have a second TV remote for that; it's a pain having two remotes all the time.

We also have a Humax Aura Android TV box which does work with the Sonos. However, despite being only two years old it's way slower and more buggy than the 2015 Shield and I want to ditch it and go back to the Shield for our main TV, but my wife and daughter get fed up with multiple remotes and I need to get one remote working that will do all the Shield stuff and also the Sonos Playbar volume!

From what I recall the Humax Aura remote did let me change that remote to work as Bluetooth or IR and I was able to put it in IR mode, which was why I could set that up  and use the IR extender that came with it (the remote is probably the best thing about the Humax Aura!)

I have tried a Logitech Harmony in the past, but they're way over complicated and a real faff to use, we much prefer a simple remote like most of the media players come with, so don't want to dig out my old Harmony either!

What I'm wondering is if the FLirc USB is the answer to my problems? From what I understand, it uses IR, so if it's plugged into the Shield TV it'll let me use any standard IR remote and teach it the commands it needs? And then being an IR remote the Sonos Playbar would also receive them to program it for the volume up/down/mute? 

Am I understanding this correctly? 

I do actually have an old Flirc gen 1 (the see through one) that I never got round to using, but I think it's faulty as when I install the software on my laptop it doesn't recognise anything (although my laptop doodelydoop's when I connect it, so it's not completely dead!) 

Would it be worth trying a Flirc USB? 

Thanks!