Best player or brands for use with projector

[Eibon]

Forgive me if this is a silly question or the wrong place to post but I use a projector which is positioned behind the viewer(s) and for convenience the player is beside it. Only my Sony blu ray allows me to operate it 100% of the time by pointing the remote at my screen. Whatever technology is used on the Sony, the remote signal effortlessly bounces from the screen to the player over my shoulder. I wanted to get a better deck now but when I tried LG and Philips decks, the remote would only work if I point it directly at the player which is painful in every sense of the word. Anyone got any experience of particular players or brands that could resolve this?