Why is the remote setup is so confusing and difficult to make it work?

[getstarted]

I still couldnot setup my remote control.
I have HVR-1600 card, it came with 45 button remote. I also bought "Black Multimedia MCE Remote Controller with USB IR Receiver". And I am using Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse.

Now my problems are:

1. Whatever I do, sage is not responding to hauppauge remote at all
2. Microsoft MCE remote is responding for few commands, probably just "OK" is working.
3. Currently I chose Hauppage as remote, but still sage is responding to only MCE remote(few commands)
4. When I select MCE as a remote in sagetv, I couldn't go anywhere in the sage menu. It keeps coming back to main menu. If i disconnect the wireless keyboard receiver, then it is responding to few buttons in MCE remote.
5. When I try to change channels through Sage Program guide, it only works few times. What are the best channel delay options?

Please suggest the simple way to configure either one of these remotes. Once i setup atleast one remote, then i will configure harmony 880 remote.

Yes, I read so many threads about MCE, hauppauge remote setup in this forum. but got confused for so many alternatives and not sure which is latest and which one is outdated.

I tried few of the suggestions, and didnt work.

My environment:
SageTV (latest version)
HVR-1600 with hauppauge 45 button remote
Windows MCE remote
Dishnetwork 311 receiver
Vista Ultimate 64 bit
AMD 6000+ processor
4GB RAM

Thank you for your help.