Complete DVR mystery, need help -

[bbbacres]

I have a VIP211k we use in our summer home. Back in our regular home we have a master receiver/dvr with little receivers in several rooms. I've been using my VIP211k for a few years. Something very strange is going on. When I got the 211k I started using it as a DVR. I would push record and it would record. I would push pause and the current programming would pause. After a time I would push my master DVR button and find the movies I had recorded. I run the 211k from our living room and from a nearby room with a 2nd identical remote because I can still see the screen. Whenever I wanted to watch a movie I had recorded, there it was among my DVR collection.

So yesterday I altered the two remotes in the home. We brought in a new tv, so I changed the TV code in remote number 2 so it would control the 2nd tv. I did not change anything about our DVR.

Anyway, my DVR stopped working. The upper half of both remotes still works. Guide and all the other buttons. But the entire DVR section is now disabled. I called for help and was told my 211k does not have a DVR in it. At first I did not believe the tech rep, after all I have used the DVR for several years. I can even tell you what movies are stored, etc. But when I looked up the features of my receiver, sure enough, it can not be a DVR without an external hard drive. I don't have an external hard drive.

So what was happening before? I'm not crazy. I KNOW I had DVR capabilities. Why did I have them, and why did I lose them? Were the programs somehow being recorded on our home DVR (1,000 miles away?). This is a real mystery that is driving me nuts. I would like to undo things and have the same setup I woke up with yesterday morning, but all has changed. Where are my programs that I recorded?

B

 

[TheKrell]

Anyway, my DVR stopped working. The upper half of both remotes still works. Guide and all the other buttons. But the entire DVR section is now disabled. I called for help and was told my 211k does not have a DVR in it. At first I did not believe the tech rep, after all I have used the DVR for several years. I can even tell you what movies are stored, etc. But when I looked up the features of my receiver, sure enough, it can not be a DVR without an external hard drive. I don't have an external hard drive.

The change you made to your remote probably was a coincidence and had nothing to do with this issue.

The 211 series can be converted into a DVR with the addition of an external disk and paying a 1-time fee. So, without the fee, or without the external disk, the 211 will only do what you observe now. I believe you paid the fee and attached an external disk long ago and forgot (?) about it. That disk has either failed, lost power, or become disconnected from your 211. A more remote possibility is Dish lost track of the fee payment and removed the DVR capability from your account.

 

[The Fat Man]

The change you made to your remote probably was a coincidence and had nothing to do with this issue.

The 211 series can be converted into a DVR with the addition of an external disk and paying a 1-time fee. So, without the fee, or without the external disk, the 211 will only do what you observe now. I believe you paid the fee and attached an external disk long ago and forgot (?) about it. That disk has either failed, lost power, or become disconnected from your 211. A more remote possibility is Dish lost track of the fee payment and removed the DVR capability from your account.

Interesting. Would his programming still be on the expanded disk if the capability was to be restored? I assume it would be, but we never know. This is why I tell my parents on Fios to not pay the $20 for a movie, as if they cancel Fios, those movies are gone. I'll always pay for a physical copy or bootleg one if not available, just for that purpose. It's also why I stick to Linux and Windows computers and stay away from Apple. The idea of being held at the mercy of a company just annoys me.

 

[bbbacres]

Ah, so I AM crazy. I went behind my setup and there at the end of a long cable was an external hard drive. The poster above is right, I must have paid the $40 long ago and forgot. And the hard drive seems dead. So perhaps while I was doing all that I did in the past few days, the hard drive finally decided to die. It appears to be plugged into a USB port on the back of the 211k, mystery solved, but the problems with my memory have not been solved. My apologies.

 

[Bobby]

Ah, so I AM crazy. I went behind my setup and there at the end of a long cable was an external hard drive. The poster above is right, I must have paid the $40 long ago and forgot. And the hard drive seems dead. So perhaps while I was doing all that I did in the past few days, the hard drive finally decided to die. It appears to be plugged into a USB port on the back of the 211k, mystery solved, but the problems with my memory have not been solved. My apologies.

Thanks for updating. There had to be a hard drive plugged in to get DVR functions, it's the only way to get them with the 211 series....

 

[TheKrell]

And the hard drive seems dead.

Don't throw it out until you diagnose that for certain. I've had a number of wall warts go bad when the equipment it powered was just fine and dandy. I've even had USB cables go bad.

Would his programming still be on the expanded disk if the capability was to be restored?

Yes, the old programming should still be there unless the disk itself crashed.

 

[primestar31]

Don't throw it out until you diagnose that for certain. I've had a number of wall warts go bad when the equipment it powered was just fine and dandy. I've even had USB cables go bad.


Yes, the old programming should still be there unless the disk itself crashed.

I agree with this. I even had a Western Digital "My Book" external drive go bad once, and I transferred the internal drive to a docking base. Still works to this day.

So, perhaps just the power supply went bad.

 

[JerryDowning]

I agree with this. I even had a Western Digital "My Book" external drive go bad once, and I transferred the internal drive to a docking base. Still works to this day.

So, perhaps just the power supply went bad.

Or it became unplugged while all this other work was being done.