Since there were fresh batteries in the remote, and the same Media Center was used later in the demo by Sean, the problem was likely that the IR receiver for Bill's remote was overwhelmed by the close proximity of many plasma displays the amount of flash photography.

This glitch was certainly embarassing, but not likely a problem that you, the average user, would encounter at home.

So contrary to popular belief, Ben, the photos PM, has not been fired because of this glitch :).

Update: Latest word is that there was a complicated IR repeater over Ethernet that failed.

Another udpate: Sean Alexander, the Media Center presenter at the keynote has a behind the scenes story of the IR receiver's failure and the team's recovery: Part II: Behind the Scenes at the CES Keynote
2:13:42 PM   []