Here's the result of the empeg_ir thing:

After player startup:
Valid sequences: 0
Repeated sequences: 0
Unfulfilled repeats: 0
Malformed sequences: 0
Spurious transitions: 0
Missed interrupts: 0
Timings buffer hwm: 0

After a button press on the display (not the remote):
Valid sequences: 0
Repeated sequences: 0
Unfulfilled repeats: 0
Malformed sequences: 0
Spurious transitions: 0
Missed interrupts: 0
Timings buffer hwm: 12

After 10 minutes and lot of remote presses:
Valid sequences: 0
Repeated sequences: 0
Unfulfilled repeats: 0
Malformed sequences: 0
Spurious transitions: 0
Missed interrupts: 0
Timings buffer hwm: 12

Tony, I don't see any loose solder joints on the display. (At least around the ir sensor))