Thanks Simon,
I just talked to the dish tech again and they explained it about the same way.
so i "get" it now
Turns out my 522 is looking at the wrong transponder number. it should be looking at 10 and not 7. he said it must be getting the wrong info from the satellite. he said to turn it off tonight and maybe it would correct itself by morning. otherwise i'd have to wait a week for them to get someone out here to look at it.
The 522 is the first dvr i've had and i did really like it, (sound bug aside) but i'm not waiting a week to get my receiver fixed. i'd rather switch back to cable and maybe pickup a tivo.