[mythtv-users] Power off STB: a new twist from our local cable provider

[Brian Wood]

On Saturday 09 January 2010 04:55:29 pm Ronald Frazier wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 4:40 PM, Christian Szpilfogel
> 
> <chrisznews4 at rogers.com> wrote:
> > If my STB has been on for a while they start displaying "Press any key to
> > watch TV".
> 
> Please don't "bump" your post (especially after just an hour).
> 
> Are you sure this problem happens based on how long the box has been
> on? The typical thing I see is that it's based on how long it's been
> since a button was pressed...as long as you press a button every hour
> or two, it's fine. If my suspicion is correct, then the best course of
> action would be to see if there is a button you can press which won't
> actually do anything (cancel or escape may be the best bet) and cron
> it up to run automatically at set intervals (and pick an odd time,
> like 12 minutes after the hour, just so you aren't likely to activate
> it at the same time a channel change happens.
> 

It sounds similar to the DISH receivers when they get into the "Press Select" 
mode, so I just send a select code before each channel change, so no possible 
conflict with channel changes.

If they want you to press a button every now and then it sounds like they may 
be getting ratings information and want to make sure you haven't just turned 
on PBS or CSPAN and gone out to dinner.

DISH does it so the receiver can check for updates, and the unit has to stop 
watching TV to do this. You can change the time of day when this happens, but 
you can't stop it.