[Bill Mullin]

I've been a "C-bander" for the last 8 years. Since my C-band system just went belly-up, I decided to change over to Dish Network and a 501 receiver. These were installed in my house a few days ago - this was a 1-antenna, 1-receiver installation, the software is version 1.54. I then spent a couple of days reading the documentation cover-to-cover and playing with the system until my fingers were sore!

After all this, there were a few things that weren't clear to me:

- Each time I press the Guide button on the remote, the upper-right of the display toggles between "All Sub", "All Channels", and "MyList". I see that there is also a little lock symbol there, which makes me think maybe there's a way to lock all but MyList from the Guide. Can this be done?

- When playing back a recorded movie, is there a quick way that I can see the View banner for the movie being played back? Pressing the View button on the remote simply returns me to the live presentation, which is NOT what I want.

- The lower left corner of page 24 of the manual says, "You MUST keep each receiver connected to an active phone line at ALL times". Is this true for someone like me who will never purchase a PPV movie?

- The upper right of page 59 says, "A once timer is keyed to a program, not a time. So even if the program comes on late, the timer works for the program". Assume I have an automatic event timer set for a movie which starts at 10:00. Assume also that there is a sporting event before the movie and this sporting event runs 1 hour late. Will my entire movie be recorded? If so, this is VERY spiffy!! Will there be an hour of sports before the movie?

- Page 80 gives me information on upgrading the receiver software. What I'd like is for the software to be automatically upgraded "Without my permission" as on the menu, but to receive a notification that this happened. Is this how the "Without my permission" menu item works? If not, then will "Without my permission" give me what I want?

Believe it or not, that is ALL that is unclear to me. I've tested the system thoroughly and have a very good understanding of everything except the above. Additionally, I'm very impressed with Dish software and hardware, and I'm very happy I've graduated from C-band, even if it took a dead system to get me to do so!

TIA, Bill

 

[cnsf]

- When playing back a recorded movie, is there a quick way that I can see the View banner for the movie being played back? Pressing the View button on the remote simply returns me to the live presentation, which is NOT what I want.

Info button.

- The lower left corner of page 24 of the manual says, "You MUST keep each receiver connected to an active phone line at ALL times". Is this true for someone like me who will never purchase a PPV movie?

No need, but the Caller ID feature is nice.

- The upper right of page 59 says, "A once timer is keyed to a program, not a time. So even if the program comes on late, the timer works for the program". Assume I have an automatic event timer set for a movie which starts at 10:00. Assume also that there is a sporting event before the movie and this sporting event runs 1 hour late. Will my entire movie be recorded? If so, this is VERY spiffy!! Will there be an hour of sports before the movie?

I believe the adjustment is related to Start Time, not duration. If a game goes over, it tends to get missed as the program guide is not dynamic by the minute/hour, only when programming times change in advance of your last download.

- Page 80 gives me information on upgrading the receiver software. What I'd like is for the software to be automatically upgraded "Without my permission" as on the menu, but to receive a notification that this happened. Is this how the "Without my permission" menu item works? If not, then will "Without my permission" give me what I want?

If it does it automatically, you'll never know it happened unless you check every day. Best to have it "Ask you."

Hope this helps.

 

[n0qcu]

Originally posted by Bill Mullin

- When playing back a recorded movie, is there a quick way that I can see the View banner for the movie being played back? Pressing the View button on the remote simply returns me to the live presentation, which is NOT what I want.

Press the CANCEL button on the remote.

 

[Bill Mullin]

Originally posted by cnsf


Info button.

Actually, what I wanted was the banner, which is the information block at the top of the screen. The info button does give me a lot of information about the movie being played back, with the exception that it does not tell me the time remaining. OTOH, the banner does gives me the time remaining.

I believe the adjustment is related to Start Time, not duration. If a game goes over, it tends to get missed as the program guide is not dynamic by the minute/hour, only when programming times change in advance of your last download.

That's what I was afraid of. No problem though as in the unlikely event this does happen, there's nothing that will kill me if I miss it!

If it does it automatically, you'll never know it happened unless you check every day. Best to have it "Ask you."

I've made the change in my menu!

Hope this helps.

It has, VERY much!

Thanks, Bill

 

[Bill Mullin]

Originally posted by n0qcu
Press the CANCEL button on the remote.

That worked perfectly - thanks Kevin!

73, Bill (AA4M)