It's a good project for the electronics newbie. Some soldering skills are required. The hardware can be assembled in under 15 minutes. But depending on how many buttons on your remote or how many remotes your programming. It may take up to a hour to bind all the keys to different programs. Of coarse if you have a small remote (eg. car stereo remote) it may only take a few minutes.  

It took a couple of days research to find out exactly what parts I will need to make a working unit. There are a few sites out there that show how to make a receiver. But a major problem was finding a compatible IR module, because all IR modules are NOT created equal, and some are just impossible for me to find.

All in all, to make a long story short, I couldn't find an IR module used in any of the web diagrams. But I didn't let that stop me. So, i went down to the local Radio Shack to see what they had in stock. All the parts you will need for this project can be found there, I'll even give you the RS part numbers to make it easier for you.

Part list:
IR Detector Module ......................276-137B...............$3.79
+5VDC Voltage Regulator...........276-1770A............$1.49
10μF Electrolytic Capacitor.........272-1025...............$.79
1N4148 Switching Diodes (10) ..276-1122..............$1.19
4.7kOhm Resistors (5)..................271-1124..............$.79
9 Pin Male (Serial Port)..........solder type or
 .....non-solder type........276-1428A or 276-1538C.......$1.49
Solder and a soldering Iron
18-22 gauge wire (amount depends on where you are going to mount IR module)
Optional Parts:
9 Pin Metalized Hood..................276-1513...............$1.99
Small project box 1"x1" or smaller
Internal sound card audio cable