Next week I'm going to have Dish Network installed, and will be getting three 501 receivers (new house just finished - yippee!).

I suspect that these fall into the "TOAD" category - no discrete codes. But I wanted to see if anyone can confirm or deny.

If there are no discrete power codes I guess it's not really a big deal. If anyone has these receivers - any reason they shouldn't just be left on all the time?

Thanks,

SiD

SiD,

Well if you are like me and live on the wrong side of the county line and can't get local channels and still have to rely on basic cable for those, you might have to turn the receivers off to get cable. It all depends on how you have it all wired up. Mine was installed in a pre-existing house so the wiring options were minimal.

I've had pretty good luck with one of the PVR ccf files here on the site. I haven't tuned it to my taste yet but everything seems to work... except power. I haven't found a power button yet.

Here's a hint for you too. Once it's all hooked up and you start recording shows you might find yourself recording something just after it has started. Say it starts at midnight, you really dont' want to stay up until 2am to hit the stop button. Setup some generic timers on the macro side so you can set a timer to hit the 501's STOP button at the right time. (You can read a section on the Faq on how to setup the timers).

I sure hope somebody can find a discrete power command for this unit. But since my TV is a Toad I can learn to deal with it :-(

Have fun with your new Dish setup.
Garth.

There are no discrete codes for Dish Network receivers.

Dish Network recommends that the 501 be turned off periodically. This is so it can receive updates. I turn mine off every night.

There is also a technique called "bracketing" on the 501 that you can use to stop a manual recording at the end of a show, so timers aren't necessary, although that's a novel idea. Having an RC5000 (without timers), I never thought of that. You can read about bracketing on www.dbsforums.com.

Why can't you just learn the power off code?

Brad, there are no descrete power off codes for Echostar. Also, to record something you are currently watching: go into the guide and hit the record button on the program. It will shut off at the time the guide says it's over. This will only work properly if you have software version 135 or 136. These latest updates also added a 9 day guide.

Ummm... I don't know what you guys are dicussing but you're either very anal about how you do your remote or I just don't understand something. Like Brad said "Why don't you just learn the codes." I went into a demo booth for the 501 with my NEO and had all the code learned including power in a matter of minutes. I am no expert though. Is it that you have to have the dicrete codes to use pronto edit?

I think the problem is the following: assume someone leaves the 501 on, instead of turning it off. You have a macro to turn on the TV, switch it to the correct input, turn on the 501. Say this is programmed for the "watch Satellite" button. However, because the 501 is already on, your macro turns the 501 off. If you had a discrete turn on code, then this wouldn't happen.

You can learn the power toggle code, but no discrete power codes exist for any Echostar receivers.

If you don't know what discrete codes are, go here:

[Link: remotecentral.com]

And read the "What are discrete codes?" section.