Now that I'm living in the wilds of New Hampshire, I've been required to turn to satellite for my television reception requirements. My housemates and I ordered the DISH Network and opted for the DISH player with DVR (receiver model 522). After only a few days, we decided that the DVR feature wasn't as user-friendly as TiVo and I purchased a new TiVo. Soon we discovered that more often than not, when we went to watch a taped program, all that TiVo had recorded was a floating DISH Network logo. It appeared that the DISH receiver had (unbeknownst to TiVo) turned off.
I called DISH to report the problem with the receiver, only to find out that the DISH receiver is programmed to go into "sleep mode" after four hours of inactivity. Which means that every night it turns off (and most times it does so during the day as well), making it nearly impossible for TiVo to tape anything. The DISH representative suggested I program the DISH DVR to record the same event as TiVo, thereby guaranteeing that the receiver would be active when TiVo began to record, but that seems like a ridiculous solution to a problem that shouldn't exist.
(Never mind the fact that with TiVo season passes and wish lists, you don't even know when something you want will be broadcast unless you are constantly checking your "To-Do" list. I pointed out how time consuming it would be to have to do this double-step for each and every show one wanted to tape, but he claimed once I learned how to do it, it would take me only a minute or two at most per program.)
I asked the DISH support person if there were someway to turn off the sleep mode, or lengthen the amount of time before the sleep mode became active, but he said that wasn't possible. According to him, the receiver, "is complicated and needs downtime for updates and maintenance." Also according to the support person, I'm the only person who's reported this problem and found the "solution" to double-record unsatisfactory. "DISH Networks has over 10 million satisfied customers," according the support rep. My 1 in 10 million "luck" makes me think I should enter the lottery more often.
So my question for you is: Do you have a DISH receiver? And if so, have you experienced this problem? Do you know of any way to hack the DISH receiver so it doesn't go into a standby or sleep mode? And do DirecTV receivers do this? Because if they don't, I'm very willing to change my service. Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions you may have.