The Official AVS Dish DTVPal DVR Topic! - Page 323

LED, Mode, Power Consumption:

* 'Green', 'ON' (Not recording), ~22.5 W / ~37 VA
* 'Green & Red', 'ON' while also 'Recording' , ~22.5 W / ~37 VA
* 'Red', 'Recording' while in 'Standby', ~22.5 W / ~37 VA
* 'Off', 'Standby' without any other activity, ~19.5 W / ~32 VA (see Note 1 below)
* 'Off', 'Standby' with background activity, ~22.0 W / ~36 VA (see Note 2 below)

Notes:

1. With a Western Digital model WD10EVDS 1 TB HDD installed in place of the factory supplied 250 GB
(WD2500AAVS) HDD, the Standby (without any other activity) power consumption is ~18.5 W / ~30VA.
The ~ 1 W power savings is due to the drive's IntelliPower mode when it reduces the drive's
rotational speed from 7200 RPM to 5400 RPM.

2. The background activity in Standby can be due to downloading TV Guide 'TVGOS' data (but not PSIP
data downloads), scanning for new channels (yes, this occurs in Standby), etc.

Note: With background HDD activity the power consumption is also ~22 Watts with the 1 TB drive.

3. The only way for the DVR to be fully OFF (Not drawing AC power) is for it to be unplugged.

Caution! Before un-plugging the DTVPal DVR, the DVR should be in Standby (Power Indicator OFF,
Not Recording) for at least 1 minute. Then pull the AC power plug straight out quickly
in single motion (to limit power transients into the DVR due to intermittent arcing at
the plug). Then wait 30 seconds (for Read/Write Head to Park) before moving the DVR.

4. The DTVPal DVR's AC input Power Factor is ~ 0.61 PF.

Thanks for info. Out of curiosity, where did you get the PF? Did you find data on it or do you have a meter that can measure phase difference between voltage and current?

Thanks again.

If there's anyone on this thread in the Springfield Missouri area that owns a Pal DVR I have a question.

http://www.p3international.com/produ.../P4400-CE.html

I just got my Pal hooked up today. Boy it sure does go off and on alot to update guide. I "know" it is set up for Dolby Digital not the pcm but all I get on my Pioneer 1018 is stereo when I go to auto surround. My old Sony dvr worked for DD and my Sony BR does DD. What is set up wrong? Nothing changed on my receiver..HELP ?

Disable Updates in the options menu.

It still goes off then on for updates guide. Is it because I've only had it on for 3 hours? Still only audio is stereo, no DD....

The off/on cycle is not normal. Maybe double check the power cord that its not loose.

Power cord good and tight. No DD5.1 yet either.

What, exactly is the DVR doing? With it on, is it rebooting frequently?
If so, how often?
Also, when it reboots, do you see both the red and green lights on while it restarts?

How do you have the audio connected? optical? Their is a dolby digital setup in the system setup menus for that. I don't remember what the options are exactly but it let's you select DD 5.1 or stereo to be output from the optical connection.

Regards the on - off cycling, have you updated to the latest F208 firmware? It has greatly reduced or eliminated that issue.

I see both red and green. Then sometimes just the green. I can't find anywhere what the red or green lights are for. Maybe it's just rebooting on/off about every few {5}min.

See dvdchance's post above.

Green on - unit is on and sending output
Red on - unit is recording
Both off - unit is in standby if plugged in with no output and not recording.

It's only HDMI,nothing else. I did not try a firmware up date yet. But this is a new Channelmaster dvr. I'll check what firmware update it is.It won't stay on long enough after reboot to tell what update it has...

And if both on when its not recording the unit is rebooting.

As an experiment I would try hooking up the DVR via RF, composite or component connections to rule out the HDMI connection as causing your reboots. If you try another connection and your reboots disappear, you have some sort of incompatibility issue with your HDMI connection (and the connected device) that the DVR doesn't like and it is causing it to reboot.

You said you have the Channel Master version so you should have the latest firmware already. If updates are disabled (like already suggested) and the HDMI connection is ruled out by the experiment above, I would contact Channel Master for support. Let us know what they do for you if you do need to contact them.

Still nothing. Now it turned off with no lights on but a frozen screen of the nightly news. Should I return it? Get tivo? Or try another from amazonn. I paid 1 day delivery too at $18,boy ....

Try turning it on.

Have you tried unplugging it for a few minutes and then plugging it back in and starting over that way? That sometimes helps with clearing up many problems. If that doesn't help I would contact Channel Master and see how well they stand behind this brand-new product. Please report back as I'm sure others on this thread would like to hear the results of any contact that you have with Channel Master.

I've tried all of the above. Emailed adam long @channelmaster and I told him all of the above too. His advice is the same as all here. He says might have a problem if it reboots every 3-4 min. Is that help?

Now he said he will pass it along to engineering.. hope it helps. If I only didn't pay for 1 day shipping.

Sounds like its time to get a replacement.

What is your antenna situation like? A weak antenna signal "MAY" cause problems like this.

Wow this is the CM box? Looks like nothing was changed from DISH.

I would RETURN IT. imo

Wanab, to add to jrn23's comment, have you tried the solution to known issue #5 from the first post on page one: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...p?t=1099071#A6

One more thing to try. with early Firmware there was a problem with some week channels, that caused this type problem when it tried to load the guide info. to see if this is your problem, unplug the antenna. if this stops the rebooting you can get to the menu. then plug in the antenna, and disable any week channels. if you get a reboot while checking channels take note of that channel, and repeat the process of unplugging antenna, and disable that channel before selecting that channel again.

My signal strength is 98%-100% when it is on ,not too often. I left it off over night and this AM still acting the same.

Walmart.com has added Customer Product Reviews of the Channel Master CM-7000PAL DVR to their website. Their price remains at $348 with either free shipping to the store or $3.97 for standard shipping directly to you.

I did that to no avail. Also deleted weak channels. I kept the ones in the 97%-100% reception. K... has dish pal on line for about what I paid for this CM but have to wait ANOTHER 6 days.Are these pals worth it? Or do I have to come to the reality that the cable monopoly has gotcha..?