[mythtv-users] DISH 722 receiver and "screen saver"

[Brian Wood]

On Apr 22, 2008, at 7:07 AM, Dan Wilga wrote:

> I don't know about the 722, but I do know that on the 322s I have,
> there is a setting to disable the screen saver. It's in the system
> menus somewhere. You might look around to see if there's something
> similar in yours.

There is such a function, and I have "enabled" it (ie: told it to not  
go into ss mode due to inactivity).

But it also goes into ss mode after its nightly data download. You can  
change the time of this download but you can't stop it from trying.  
You can prevent a successful data download, thereby preventing it  
going into ss mode,  by not allowing it a path to the mothership, but  
that results in nasty messages on-screen and an additional charge on  
your bill.

I'm using the ethernet port for communications with Party  
Headquarters, as connecting it to a phone line results in CallerID  
messages showing up in your recordings if anyone calls you during  
them. There's probably a way to disable that "feature" but I haven't  
bothered to look for it, as the ethernet is a better solution anyway.

All I can figure out right now is to set the call-home function for  
0500, and set an auto-tune reminder for 0530 (which brings it out of  
ss mode), then try not to record during that time. If I have to record  
during that period I re-set the download time. Not a very elegant  
solution, but the best I've come up with so far.

I tried calling "tech support" and wound up talking to someone on  the  
Indian sub-continent. This is ironic since EchoStar's primary uplink  
facility is about 5 miles east of here (Cheyenne). In any case they do  
not seem to have a solution any better than mine. At least they  
understood my problem and really did seem to look through their docs  
to try and find an answer, they were definitely NOT against my using  
an external DVR, though they seemed to keep assuming it was a ReplayTV.

My older 311 receiver didn't have this problem, but it won't do HD,  
and I understand all of the MPEG2 streams are going to go away  
eventually anyway. Even when the 311 went into ss mode it could be  
brought out of it by sending a select code, this works with the 722 as  
well, but if you are not in ss mode it results in going into  
"interactive" mode, thus ruining the recording. If there were some way  
for Myth to know if the receiver was in ss mode that would help, but I  
haven't found a way to do that.

All-in-all the 722 is not very external DVR friendly, but short of  
going with DirectTV, which might have a similar problem, I don't know  
of any alternative.

beww