I would love to incorporate the full LIRC database, and perhaps, in the fullness of time, I will accomplish that goal. Until then, though, some folks may not want to wait for their favorite device to get supported.

Good question! In fact, a couple months back, I started the project planning to use the same scheme QtIrreco does -- reading individual LIRC config files provided by the user. Even as I started creating my own internal database of keysets, I still intended to keep the ability to import LIRC config files.

But there are problems with using the LIRC system. LIRC was created for the purpose of allowing a PC to read data from any random remote control pointed at it. Receiving IR is its bread and butter, transmitting IR back out again is just a side-project. The LIRC config files are very poorly designed, if what you want is to create a universal remote control, not a universal IR receiver -- they don't provide much (if any) information about the original target device of the remote, they have no coordinated method for naming individual commands (most LIRC users don't even care what their remote buttons are labelled as, since they end up remapping them for their own purposes anyway), and they mostly just describe the raw IR pulse sequence, which is inefficient as many protocols use redundancy and checksums to improve reliability. So, as time has passed, Pierogi's internal system for managing keyset data has moved further and further away from the LIRC format; so much so that I no longer have an easy way for people to just import LIRC files.

There's no reason I couldn't come up with an alternative standard. Indeed, the file formats that the JP1 folks are using are much closer to what Pierogi would need (which only makes sense, as they are more interested in the transmission side of the equation than in the reception side). But yeah, this is all going to take more time to implement.

Absolutely! (And in fact, if you take a look at the Pierogi keyset code, you'll see that I've actually started to put device data into each keyset, where I have it. I just haven't set up an interface to access it yet...) My problem has always been that I just don't have enough data. The Wiki page with the Compatible Devices List should hopefully make this more useful...

Sony is quite nice in that they set up one protocol for all their TVs from way way back when, and they've stuck to it (for the most part) all the way up to today. So almost all Sony TVs should be supported directly from the Sony TV Keyset 1. I've checked, and the RM-887 keys fall into that keyset as well. If it doesn't work for you, please let me know!