[FreddieD]

Thanks for the idea, I should be able to add another button press as a workaround. I've read on these and other forums that the Harmony's raw IR input only allows a maximum of 5 commands so i'll probably just use a straight menu_hold (i.e. "menu_hold, <3 button menu_h universal key>, play button", with the understanding that the first menu_hole and last play button will fail).

About the "Unknown button for cookie string":
We're extracting raw ir cookies when in MultiFinder mode and if the remote sends something which isn't understood by xbmchelper it logs those errors. This happens e.g. with paired as well as learned remotes.
With Launcher 3.0beta, Universal-Mode is fixed inside, so no need for external xbmchelper. In that case we rely on IR-cookie decoding from the ATV, and this, ofc, supports learned remotes etc.

Just wanted to get quick clarification. When you say learned remotes, are you speaking of physical universal remotes such as the Harmony, or are you referring to the remote learning feature that is new to AppleTV v2.3? I'm assuming it is the former, but if it is the latter then I would probably just upgrade Launcher and AppleTV to those versions so I can completely sidestep these menu_hold timing workaround techniques, because I could make use of the buttons like play, pause and stop directly through AppleTV's built in feature.

Thanks again!