Home Theater Lighting Control

[JJ]

I was talking with Joe (legit) about this the other day and I wanted to know what you chaps thought - two questions.

I'm interested in IR controllable lighting options that I can control with my Marantz universal remote.

One - are there such things as simple plug-in wall units that you can connect say, my lamp to that can be controlled via remote? For that matter, reliable ones that rely on IR and not RF? The IR ones are mad unreliable and my remote does not control RF.

Two - this is where my current switch for my rack lighting in my living room. It is located ALL the way over here:



Out of line of sight! If I were to get, say a Lutron wall-dimmer, it would be as simple as making a hole in the drywall on the other end of that wall and rewiring that switch - correct?