Remote controlling the Slink-e

I am trying to use my computer as the go-between a typical remote control (Sony RMT-V202A) and various A/V components (e.g., STR-DE805G receiver). The user experience I'm trying to provide is that the remonte control behaves just as a user expects it to except "smarter". For example, the pressing the power button turns on/off the receiver, TV, and VCR. Pressing the channel up/down buttons changes the channel on the VCR but pressing the volume up/down buttons changes the receiver's volume.

A couple "features" of the Slink-e software are keeping me from making the remote behave "as expected". First, when receiving an IR command, the Slink-e software (CSlinke::Receive) buffers input until it receives a PORT_DONE response from the Slink-e hardware. The end effect of this is that my remote now acts when buttons are released rather than when they're pressed which feels sluggish and unresponsive.

Second, is that repeated commands (i.e., holding down the volume up button) are effectively thrown out as the Slink-e software (CSlinkeDev::FindCodeName) discards all the data in a message beyond the first good match. This is compounded by the first problem since all the repeated instances of a command are buffered together in a single message. So, holding down the volume up button results in only a single volume up-tick rather than the continuous increase expected.

This leads me to ask a few questions:

1. Is anyone else trying to use the Slink-e this way and/or running into problems dealing with repeated IR commands?
2. Any solutions?
3. Assuming I have to modify the Slink-e software to get what I want, what should I watch out for while handling incoming IR commands on a real-time basis? (e.g., I can see that even non-repeat type commands like power are actually sent repeatedly by the remote as long as the button is held down)
4. What causes the Slink-e hardware to decide an IR command is DONE? A timeout? Loss of carrier?