The best analogy I can think of related to yours is touchscreen controls in cars - a few years ago, most manufacturers switched to using touch screens to control the AC, stereo volume, etc. It seemed like a logical thing, and tested well - people liked the idea. It was only after launch that customers started complaining that it was awkward to use when driving. The cars weren't recalled - later models just switched back to using buttons and dials.
For the automated pairing, it worked well in our environments, and it tested very well in trials. It was only when it reached a much larger audience that we started finding TVs reporting a different manufacturer than they were (due to shared manufacturing), and manufacturers not being consistent with their codes.
For the TV Box remote, I can picture at least 6 different variations we've had over the years. They each had their pros and cons. For the current one, the lack of manual TV pairing is a pain, I miss the skip forward/back buttons, and I think the back button is in a stupid place, but I still prefer it for every day use and use it in preference to the other remotes I have.
