Technically speaking, it's never actually off unless the power cord is unplugged. Just in a sort of standby mode. It's still running for four main purposes.bcshields said:Doesn't the 522 timers fire when the rcvr is shut off? I know the 721 does. Shutting things off when you aren't using them tend to make them last longer.
1. to generate the screensaver images
2. get downloads from the satellite
3. launch any timers that occur
4. generate lots of heat.
Speaking of the #4 purpose, the case design on the 721 and 522 does seem like it could stand some improvement. Unless the fan is running all the time, seems like the heat would just hover there around the hard drive. I wonder if a big hole in the top with a standard pc fan (a quiet one!) connected to the hard drive power connector would help with that. Of course the amount of heat you can feel on the outside of the heavy metal case might just be an indicator that it's doing its job as a heat sink.