508 Power Down Feature

[John_E]

Note: Sorry I'm not where my 508 is while posting, so may use some terms that are incorrect.

I think there's some kind of "power down" feature after no activity for a certain period of time during early morning? I remember setting a menu option for this to be active, but if it's what I'm thinking the feature has never worked, before or after the last software upgrade.

For example, watching live TV late night, go to bed about 11:30 and forget to turn off 508 via remote like I normally do. Next morning 508 is still on.

Could someone please clarify what it should do, if I might be doing something wrong, or just misunderstand the whole concept.

Everything else on mine has worked great 99.9% of the time since installed.

Thanks,
John

[AllieVi]

The "power down" feature on my 508 works as you suspect it should.

I can think of something that may cause one not to shut down, though. When you go to bed, are you normally watching "live" programming? If you paused or "rewound" the action, the 508 may be in a state that won't allow it to automatically hibernate.

[John_E]

AllieVi, thanks for responding.

I'll try it making sure I'm actually "caught up to live" without pauses, etc. However, suppose I am "caught up" and the 508 begins recording a timer. Go to bed with it recording from, say 10-11pm. Will it still hibernate at the appropriate time?

Thanks,
John

[AllieVi]

... However, suppose I am "caught up" and the 508 begins recording a timer. Go to bed with it recording from, say 10-11pm. Will it still hibernate at the appropriate time?
Yes, it should. The hibernation occurs in the wee hours of the morning, but even if it's recording at the normal hibernation time, I believe it will finish recording and then hibernate.

I sometimes schedule a late night recording, but mine is always hibernating the next morning.

[naqbrules]

Timers take precedence over the hibernate feature. hibernation is merely to keep the guide updated/defrag/and any possible sw update

[John_E]

OK, last nite I had one timer fire at 9pm till 10pm. No activity after that. DVR was on prior to the timer that was caught up to "live". This morning DVR was still on "green light on".

To me, seems like "hibernate is not working"?

John

[Bob Haller]

I checked one night ove a year ago. Hibernate is really reboot. Current consumption dripped to zero for a moment.

rebooting nightly appears to help keep the box more stable..

[John_E]

OK, I'm still kinda confused. Does that mean that the green power light does not turn off at nite then?

John

[AllieVi]

OK, last nite I had one timer fire at 9pm till 10pm. No activity after that. DVR was on prior to the timer that was caught up to "live". This morning DVR was still on "green light on".

To me, seems like "hibernate is not working"?

John
I'm not sure if the green light goes off or not when it hibernates.

When you turn on the TV in the morning, do you see a live picture or is there a "Press Select to Continue" (or some such thing) crawling screen saver? If you see it, hibernation was activated.

The receiver is still active during hibernation, but the hard disk stops spinning unless data needs to be recorded (such as when you're not watching "live" programming or when new schedule information is being delivered).

I'm sure you've done this properly, but just to make sure hibernation is set, the menu sequence is:

MENU
1 - Installation
9 - Inactivity Power Off
enable

[John_E]

You know, we usually don't watch TV until evening and when I see the green light on I just turn it off with the remote. I'll try it again tonight and turn the TV on first thing in the AM. If I understand correctly there should be a screen saver? I've never seen that at any time.

And yes, I had followed your instructions exactly.

Thanks to all for your help - I'll let you know what happens.

John

[AllieVi]

... If I understand correctly there should be a screen saver?
Yes. Since you've been turning the receiver off without first looking at the TV, you've just missed it.

By the way, in your situation there's little advantage to turning "off" the receiver (you DO save the electricity used to power that little green light :) ). Receiver circuitry is never really is totally off unless the plug is pulled or there's a power outage. If the receiver did actually power down, it would have to go through its time-consuming satellite acquisition process each time before you could watch programming, and you wouldn't appreciate waiting for that to happen.

[John_E]

Finally tried it last night, and sure enough, screen saver was present in the AM.

Thanks for your assistance and I'll just leave it on from now on with that feature activated.

John