DVR 501: Inactivity Power Off Not Working

[Tony S]

My 501 has recently downloaded new software that has an option for Inactivity Power Off and I have this option enabled in the setup menu.

As far as I can tell, this new feature does not work at all. Has anyone seen this feature work on a 501? How is this feature supposed to work? What conditions does E* consider to be inactivity?

 

[Filip]

Yes, I've seen it work on several of my machines, including my 501. I find a screensaver if i leave them on unattended for more than 4 hrs.

 

[Tony S]

Wow, I have never seen a screensaver on my 501. I have mistakenly left it on all night. In the morning, the 501 is still on, and still is displaying the current channel. I have done this several times with the same result.

Has anyone else seen the same behavior that Filip has described?

 

[DenR]

I have seen two different things. I have seen the screen saver on. I also on ocasion had my 501 turn totaly off. I'm not sure how its really working.

 

[cicijay]

My 501 makes a terrible noise coming from the Hard Drive. If I turn it off, the hard drive still spins for about 3 minutes or so until it is completely shut down.
After the upgraded software I left it on all night and the next morning there was no hard drive sound but the green power light was on, when I pressed guide the hard drive began whinning and displayed "...hard drive spinning up" or whatever it says when you turn it on. seems to work like I expected but I wouldn't know it was working if it wasn't for my jet engine sounding hard drive.

 

[Stargazer]

I think they should give the option to shut down the hard drive in less or more than four hours by the user indicating the number of hours.

 

[Tony S]

After the upgraded software I left it on all night and the next morning there was no hard drive sound but the green power light was on, when I pressed guide the hard drive began whinning and displayed "...hard drive spinning up" or whatever it says when you turn it on. seems to work like I expected but I wouldn't know it was working if it wasn't for my jet engine sounding hard drive.

I assumed that since it was called "Inactivity Power Off" that it would shut off the receiver. However, according to what cicijay said, the power light stays on, yet the hard drive shuts off. Is this how this feature is supposed to work? Seems a little odd, even for E*

 

[YuriLuzr]

This is how mine works too, green light on, harddrive has spun down. If I just turn on the TV without touching the remote I see a screen saver, dishnetwork logo with text saying "press SELECT to start". Doing this will spin up the HD and show the channel I was last on.

 

[AppliedAggression]

Yuri is right, I saw it on mine the other day when I had to leave it on the other night. I really hate not being able to turn the 508 "off" when it's recording. Wake up techies.

 

[AllieVi]

Just a thought...

If your unit isn't automatically going into standby even though you've chosen that option, maybe it isn't in "live" mode. For example, if you've paused the last show and didn't return to "live", it may not do the automatic off.

 

[Stargazer]

I remember the 7100 I had that would give you an icon on the screen of a hard drive spinning up telling you it was doing so and that they gave the 7100's this functionality a good while back.