# Forced Recordings



## SixtiesDude (Sep 13, 2007)

Last night, not the first of these events, my tuner recorded a program on channel 101 DNFYI. The program, "Awesome Movies on DISH!", only lasted 5 minutes but I lost the cache on the tuner I wasn't watching. One tuner had the Leno show, and one had Letterman on hold, I switch back and forth between them. 

Last month when this happened, the program (commercial) was called "99 Cent Movies" or something like that. It's been doing this since the Holidays when we got a Seasons Greetings type of commercial. I spoke to a CS rep and for about the first 30 minutes of the call, he tried to convince me that it was impossible for them to put recordings on my 622 box. He was sure someone in my home accidentally presses a button on the remote. Or perhaps a neighbor's remote did it.

After I asked to escalate to a supervisor he did some "research" and found out it is being done by "corporate" and it's system wide. There is NO way for me to opt out apparently. 

Yes it's easy to delete it, but my issue is that I lost whatever is in the cache of the tuner I had on hold (frozen). Shouldn't *WE* have the option to receive the ads, or at least they could schedule them for like 4 in the morning, or some time that would affect the least number of customers.

Also, I tried to lock out both 101 and 101HD, it can't be done, you try


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

This issue sounds vaguely familiar.


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

I check my scheduled recordings once or twice a week just to make sure there's no conflicts that'll end up skipping something. Most the time there's no problems however when I do this i'll also notice when those Dish recordings are coming up and sometimes if I don't want them to record i'll tell the dvr to skip them. Most the time though mine are scheduled at 3 am and don't conflict with anything anyway.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Instead of live buffer - record the shows, then delete.


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## n0qcu (Mar 23, 2002)

Rather than use the buffer you should just record the programs and you wouldn't have a problem.


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

You may have to change the priority of the informercial or choose 'Skip'.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

WAAAAAAAA!!!


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

The special recordings are placed at lowest priority in the list and will not record if there is some other recording going on. The only potential conflict with recordings is if you add a recording after the "infomercial" recording is added and leave it as a lower priority. (The receiver will give you the option to change the priority on the new timer or "resolve conflict by priority" if setting such a timer.

I agree with the suggestion of setting timers for important shows. I have one set at a near last priority for my late local news at 11pm ... with a "keep # of recordings" set at one so last night's news is there but the hard drive isn't filled with stuff like that. It also helps if for some reason you have to step away and are not there to manually watch the shows.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

SixtiesDude said:


> Last night, not the first of these events, my tuner recorded a program on channel 101 DNFYI. The program, "Awesome Movies on DISH!", only lasted 5 minutes but I lost the cache on the tuner I wasn't watching. One tuner had the Leno show, and one had Letterman on hold, I switch back and forth between them.
> 
> Last month when this happened, the program (commercial) was called "99 Cent Movies" or something like that. It's been doing this since the Holidays when we got a Seasons Greetings type of commercial. I spoke to a CS rep and for about the first 30 minutes of the call, he tried to convince me that it was impossible for them to put recordings on my 622 box. He was sure someone in my home accidentally presses a button on the remote. Or perhaps a neighbor's remote did it.
> 
> ...


These happen all the time. You can skip them pretty easily, by checking your weekly schedule, and skip the event. I think you can even delete the timer, but you can skip it none the less.


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## bnborg (Jun 3, 2005)

I check the recording schedule daily, sometimes several times.

I do it mainly to see what "windows" I have available to record additional shows. But when crap like last nights event show up it really irritates me.

Just for fun, I tried deleting the obnoxious timer. I knew from previous experience that it probably wouldn't "take". So I wasn't surprised when it showed up again. I deleted it again, but when I checked later, it was back.

But after I deleted it the third time, I succeeded! The timer did not show up again and I did not get the forced recording. I don't know if it will always work, or even if it is worth the effort. But it did give me some satisfaction.

Forcing skip, or resetting its priority are probably better options.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

bnborg said:


> I check the recording schedule daily, sometimes several times.
> 
> I do it mainly to see what "windows" I have available to record additional shows. But when crap like last nights event show up it really irritates me.
> 
> ...


Skip seems to always work. Seems like as long as the timer is thier its fine. If during a guide update or something and the timer isn't there, they give you the timer back again.


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## ShapeShifter (Apr 21, 2008)

I find the forced recordings annoying, and really wish there was a way to opt out of them.



James Long said:


> The special recordings are placed at lowest priority in the list and will not record if there is some other recording going on.


At least they finally changed that. When they first started shoving recordings down our disks, they were at the highest priority. Even though scheduled for the wee hours of the mornings, I had lost recordings because they conflicted with something scheduled then. (Several networks repeat prime time shows in the early morning hours, and I usually schedule them at that time as it's a good way to prevent conflicts with other recordings or with live watching.)

Now that they've gone to lowest priority, that's not such a worry any more. But I still find it intrusive that they can place recordings on my unit. Some people say it's just whining, and doesn't cause any problems, but would they put up with their phone company forcing recorded ads into their voicemail? Or iTunes forcing advertisements onto their iPod? When will they decide that not enough people are watching these forced recordings, and they take the lead of many on-line video sites and make it so that you have to watch the recording before the playback of one of your other shows?

No, it's not a real big deal, at least not now. But it's still annoying.


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

GrumpyBear said:


> Skip seems to always work.


I'll try that next time.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

ShapeShifter said:


> Some people say it's just whining, and doesn't cause any problems, but would they put up with their phone company forcing recorded ads into their voicemail? Or iTunes forcing advertisements onto their iPod? When will they decide that not enough people are watching these forced recordings, and they take the lead of many on-line video sites and make it so that you have to watch the recording before the playback of one of your other shows?
> 
> No, it's not a real big deal, at least not now. But it's still annoying.


I prefer to approach this from the perspective of what they have done and not what they could do but have not done. Unless, of course, the what they have not done is used as a defense.

I don't get many voicemails. If the phone company were to put an advertisement in my voicemail box it would take more time to delete it than the DISH recordings. On the receiver it can be deleted without viewing ... in voicemail you have to hear a portion to know what you're deleting.

These are internal ads for stuff DISH is doing ... we see complaints here occasionally about free previews and why DISH doesn't do a better job of promoting previews and specials. These recordings are DISH doing a better job of promoting the previews and specials.

The recordings do seem to be becoming more frequent this summer ... and with increased frequency they are going to annoy those who are annoyed more often. I agree that it would be good to have the ability to opt out.


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

GrumpyBear said:


> Skip seems to always work. Seems like as long as the timer is thier its fine. If during a guide update or something and the timer isn't there, they give you the timer back again.


Yep "skip" has always worked for me too.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I sometimes delete the timer instead of skipping the event.


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

I deleted the last one twice and still got the recording. Of course, I promptly archived it to my EHD.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

ShapeShifter said:


> No, it's not a real big deal, at least not now. But it's still annoying.


I don't think anybody will argue that at all. Annoying they are. A big deal they aren't.


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## ShapeShifter (Apr 21, 2008)

GrumpyBear said:


> Annoying they are. A big deal they aren't.


Who are you? Yoda?  :lol:


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

ShapeShifter said:


> Who are you? Yoda?  :lol:


I almost put the little alien after that.
Glad somebody noticed, it just sounded right.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

It's only annoying if you allow yourself to be annoyed.


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

This happened while you were watching live TV? You apparently allowed it to happen. When you see the 2:00 countdown timer, press INFO to see what is about to record and be given the option to stop it.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

BobaBird said:


> This happened while you were watching live TV? You apparently allowed it to happen. When you see the 2:00 countdown timer, press INFO to see what is about to record and be given the option to stop it.


I never see a Countdown for a DVR event, unless I have 2 going on at the sametime. If I am watching live TV, the 2nd tuner, is NOT already recording something, I don't see a 2 minute countdown. Now Autotunes will count down on the tuner you are watching to let you know its switching, but unless both tuners are busy, I don't see a countdown for a DVR event.


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

I see the timer countdown occasionally. I've wondered why the countdown is displayed when it isn't going to affect the tuner I'm viewing. I've not paid enough attention to figure out when or why it happens.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

Kent Taylor said:


> I see the timer countdown occasionally. I've wondered why the countdown is displayed when it isn't going to affect the tuner I'm viewing. I've not paid enough attention to figure out when or why it happens.


I get caught in this trap myself on Saturday nights. Kids record, Bleach, and Inuyasha. I will buffer two shows, and then find out the tuner I wasn't watching, has switched over to record the show, with no warning. 
Now on the 2nd episode of the night, I get a count down, as I have the tuner I am watching buffered, and the tuner that is recording, busy, so you get that warning that push is coming to shove. Granted the background tuner, stops recording just prior to the 2nd episode, so it all happens in the background. Autotunes always give you a count down, as they are going to change the channel of the active tuner, instead of the background tuner. 
If I am watching something buffered and it wont be done before the timer goes off with a Autotune, I will pause the current show, swap over and change the channel to the upcoming show, pause that, and swap back. When the warning comes up asking you to go live before it can change the channel, I just press cancel, finish what I am watching and then swap over to the other paused show. I normally have at least one tuner always in a buffer, sometimes both, and just swap along, skipping commericals, watching TV my way.


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## jerry downing (Mar 7, 2004)

Kent Taylor said:


> I see the timer countdown occasionally. I've wondered why the countdown is displayed when it isn't going to affect the tuner I'm viewing. I've not paid enough attention to figure out when or why it happens.


I have noticed this on my 625 but only when I am already tuned to the station to be recorded.


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## SixtiesDude (Sep 13, 2007)

There were some very helpful suggestions, and I now know how to treat these DishNetwork impediments. Most everybody submitted some great ideas and I appreciate the feedback.


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