There is no mistake with remote control unit (RCU) of any kind. Working fine here. I really do not see what the problem is with pointing RCU at the STB, quite frankly... Change the batteries... Better rechargeable ones (fully charged Eneloop by Panasonic) or non-rechargeable ones and peace.
Find my post re. flashing of various kinds (you're spoilt for choice, really!) in Zgemma H9 section. You can do whatever you want...
I always plug in HDD and USB stick. Why? See my post in this section "How to mount devices and structure PurE2". EPG, subtitles, picons etc. go to USB stick.
OpenVPN folder one restores from one's laptop (FileZilla Client FTP, drag-and-drop), just like config file for OSCam Emu Ccache or KUD file or YouTube.key file or fnc_olm_config.cfg file or....
Your PurE2 will purr...:rasta2bigsmoke0gf1::don-t_mention: