Okay, here are the bugs i discovered after watching your video and messing around with settings:

• The lirc.conf file doesn't appear until i choose "Defaults" in "Advanced Settings". Before i do that, there are only two entries in the "Advanced Settings" list (remoteMfg and remoteName), but i can use the downloaded remotes fine.
• After restoring defaults, lirc.conf exists and all the other entries are in "Advanced Settings", but now the remote doesn't work, even if i load either of two remotes that were working before.

Also, from a UI perspective, It's a bit confusing to exit the widget settings by tapping outside the window. This is normally a "Cancel", so it's not clear that it's going to keep whatever changes are made. A "Done" button would be more clear.

Edit: Even removing irwi widget from the desktop, deleting the contents of .config/irwi, re-adding irwi widget, downloading the remote doesn't fix the remote. Irwi has been completely broken since i "restored defaults".

If it's helpful for diagnosis, i'm using either the LCD or VX33L remotes for Vizio. They both worked before i tried "Defaults".