I think the OP may have a failing unit or a buggy firmware. Basically the R22 was just a HR21 that was firmware-neutered into an SD box, but then it was re-enabled last year. They are not supposed to 'default' back to 480 when turned off. Like the Ronco Rotisserie, you set it and forget it. And they definitely do not downconvert everything to 480 as the norm. The output resolution is determined by the settings. If I understand correctly, the box may be set to NATIVE resolution, which automatically changes the output resolution based on what the original program format is. So an HD program would output 720 or 1080, but an SD program would switch to 480. But it definitely should not be losing settings when it is in standby (turned 'off'). You also shouldn't need 'another' HD receiver to get HD on that. You would just have to have the HD on your account.