# New Dish Customer with some questions



## christy552005 (May 14, 2012)

Hi everybody, 
We just switched from Directv last week to Dish. We have a 1 hopper/3 joey setup. I have a couple of questions...I have looked through the forum and did not find a definitive answer, so forgive me if this is a repeat question. 
First thing, in the morning when I "wake up" the hopper, I get the "please wait while we check your switch configuration". This is not a big deal, except that it seems to kill the other tv's and anything that is recording. Is this normal? Is there any way to stop this from happening other than to set the inactivity timer to never? Is it true that the hopper will not get updates if it isn't allowed to go into inactivity mode?
My other question is about the number of timers we can have. I have read 96 timers. Mine seems to stop at 30. I should clarify that when I say timers I mean scheduling repeating DVR Timers. It seems I can go through the guide and tell it to record multiple shows individually...I haven't hit a limit on that yet. I'm totally bummed that 30 is the limit for series recordings. We are a household of 5, so 1 hopper is a bit of a stretch, but we figured we could just DVR plenty of stuff for the kids and it not be an issue. Can anyone confirm how many series timers we can have? If it is 30, is there an update coming to give us more?
Thanks for your help!


----------



## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

It shouldn't be doing a check switch daily. That's a cold boot process (or post-signal loss). That's not normal.

I haven't hit a limit on my timers, so I don't know what the deal is with that.


----------



## oldengineer (May 25, 2008)

As noted the daily check switch is abnormal.

The 30 timer limit was a bug in early software versions. I currently have s211 in the hoppers and s263 in the joeys and have no problems. 96 timers and 576 total scheduled recordings is what you should have.


----------



## domingos35 (Jan 12, 2006)

u either have a low signal ,bad wiring or a bad hopper call dish


----------



## christy552005 (May 14, 2012)

i guess i have S211. In the diagonostics menu i see "hopper software :S211 NACB"

So you are saying that you can set 96 Series timers?


----------



## patmurphey (Dec 21, 2006)

What's your satellite configuration? If you are Eastern arc and are looking at satellites 61.5 and 72.7 without 77, the check switch is a known software issue that's being worked on. Most people don't need 77, except for certain locals. It's a minor nuisance and does no harm.


----------



## [email protected] Network (Jan 6, 2011)

christy552005 said:


> Hi everybody,
> We just switched from Directv last week to Dish. We have a 1 hopper/3 joey setup. I have a couple of questions...I have looked through the forum and did not find a definitive answer, so forgive me if this is a repeat question.
> First thing, in the morning when I "wake up" the hopper, I get the "please wait while we check your switch configuration". This is not a big deal, except that it seems to kill the other tv's and anything that is recording. Is this normal? Is there any way to stop this from happening other than to set the inactivity timer to never? Is it true that the hopper will not get updates if it isn't allowed to go into inactivity mode?
> My other question is about the number of timers we can have. I have read 96 timers. Mine seems to stop at 30. I should clarify that when I say timers I mean scheduling repeating DVR Timers. It seems I can go through the guide and tell it to record multiple shows individually...I haven't hit a limit on that yet. I'm totally bummed that 30 is the limit for series recordings. We are a household of 5, so 1 hopper is a bit of a stretch, but we figured we could just DVR plenty of stuff for the kids and it not be an issue. Can anyone confirm how many series timers we can have? If it is 30, is there an update coming to give us more?
> Thanks for your help!


It is not normal for the Hopper to do a check switch test every morning. Will you please send me a PM with your phone number or account number?

For the timers issue, this is a software bug that will be corrected in a future update. The actual limit should be 96 timers, or 576 events (whichever comes first).


----------



## fuzzface (Feb 2, 2011)

I have maxed out of "event" timers because it counts all the ones that are skipped in there as well (a quick count had 520 or so after I removed a couple). Any plans on upping the 576 events #? I know I can do some work arounds, but it would be nice to not have to worry about it. Another 50-100 would do it for me.


----------



## christy552005 (May 14, 2012)

patmurphey said:


> What's your satellite configuration? If you are Eastern arc and are looking at satellites 61.5 and 72.7 without 77, the check switch is a known software issue that's being worked on. Most people don't need 77, except for certain locals. It's a minor nuisance and does no harm.


Excuse the ignorance, but I have no idea which satellites i'm looking at.  The check switch wouldn't bother me at all if it didn't stop the other tv's in the house from playing. I get to hear my kids every morning "Mom! My tv is broken!" :nono2:


----------



## christy552005 (May 14, 2012)

I think that my timer limit issue has been fixed. I don't know if it is because of a software update or what....After you made this post yesterday, I check the timers...I was at 30, I added about 4 more with no issues. I haven't had time to sit down yet to see if I have 96 now, but I'm guessing I do since it is going past 30 now. Thanks for all the help. 



oldengineer said:


> As noted the daily check switch is abnormal.
> 
> The 30 timer limit was a bug in early software versions. I currently have s211 in the hoppers and s263 in the joeys and have no problems. 96 timers and 576 total scheduled recordings is what you should have.


----------



## patmurphey (Dec 21, 2006)

christy552005 said:


> Excuse the ignorance, but I have no idea which satellites i'm looking at.  The check switch wouldn't bother me at all if it didn't stop the other tv's in the house from playing. I get to hear my kids every morning "Mom! My tv is broken!" :nono2:


Don't shoot the messenger! I have the same problem and saw on another forum, a message from a DIRT member explaining the issue. The explanation fits my circumstance, no 77 satellite on Eastern arc. If you are in the same boat, they are working on a fix. That's why I asked. You can see what satellites you are connected to by doing a check switch from the menu.

I'm a fellow customer offering help, not an employee of Dish. Understand?


----------



## domingos35 (Jan 12, 2006)

can someone explain what a timer and a event is?
what if u use all 96 timers and 576 events?
how do i check?


----------



## christy552005 (May 14, 2012)

I wasn't trying to insult you in any way. I'm the ignorant one, you were talking way over my head- I started to say " I don't know what satellites I'm looking at, the dish is on a pole, pointed at the sky." :lol: I appreciate your help. I'm sorry if I came across insulting you.



patmurphey said:


> Don't shoot the messenger! I have the same problem and saw on another forum, a message from a DIRT member explaining the issue. The explanation fits my circumstance, no 77 satellite on Eastern arc. If you are in the same boat, they are working on a fix. That's why I asked. You can see what satellites you are connected to by doing a check switch from the menu.
> 
> I'm a fellow customer offering help, not an employee of Dish. Understand?


----------



## Ray [email protected] Network (Dec 28, 2010)

If you are creating timers set to record New and Reruns, these count against the event totals. Changing the timer to Once or Weekly would give you more events. Thanks.



fuzzface said:


> I have maxed out of "event" timers because it counts all the ones that are skipped in there as well (a quick count had 520 or so after I removed a couple). Any plans on upping the 576 events #? I know I can do some work arounds, but it would be nice to not have to worry about it. Another 50-100 would do it for me.


----------



## Ray [email protected] Network (Dec 28, 2010)

A timer is any instructions to the receiver to record a program. This also counts as an event. If you create a timer and select New and Rerun, each time that program is in the Guide, counts as an event.

VIP receivers have 576 events so if that program appears 100 times, that is 100 events plus any other timers, folders, and skipped events, or actual recordings. If you have further questions, please let me know. Thanks.



domingos35 said:


> can someone explain what a timer and a event is?
> what if u use all 96 timers and 576 events?
> how do i check?


----------

