We replaced the infrared LED in our remote control with the LED found at the bottom of this web page:
http://www.rentron.com/remote_control/IRLED.htm
Now our remote is
reliable up to about 100ft away (it can go even farther), as long as you can aim with some degree of accuracy since the beam is only (plus or minus) 10 degrees wide. But at least it is easy to aim this beam and it helps minimize accidental blasting of somebody else's IR sensor.