I set the DVR to record Glee after the Superbowl and when we went to watch it on Monday, the Remote Control would not work. It has buttons that light up when you press them and nothing was lighting up. I changed the batteries and still the same. The remote was dead. It's been dropped on the hardwood floor a few times so I just figured that something inside must have broken.
I figured out how to open it up (not easy...Thanks Dad for the watchmaking equipment) and looked inside but everything looked OK. I closed it back up and proceeded to buy a used one on Ebay since our 90 day warranty ran out about a week ago.
When I got home on Tuesday I picked the broken remote up and gave it a try again and the DVR came on. Cool! It repaired itself. I turned on Glee that it had automatically recorded on Monday night and we watched the whole program without touching the remote. I was afraid it would break again which of course it did. I could not turn off the DVR after Glee was over so I just left it on overnight. In the morning I noticed the DVR had turned itself off. It must have a timer in it that shuts down after so many hours with no input.
The remote still did not work on Wednesday when I tried it.
When I got home on Thursday the used remote was in the mail. It had a different number on it but looked the same except for a couple of buttons that were different. It turns out that this remote is for a Dish Satellite Receiver and not a Dish DVR. It did not work on my DVR but the buttons on it did light up. It's number is 5.3 IR 148784. My DVR remote number is 5.3 IR 163959
Oh well. I only paid $8 for it.
I tried the broken remote again and guess what? It was working again. It worked all Thursday night and is still working on Friday.
In the meantime, I had done some research on Dish remotes and found out that you could change the remote code on any Dish Satellite Receiver remote so that they can be used on a Dish DVR.
Here is the procedure...
Open the DTVPal DVR's System Information screen by pressing the 'Sys Info' button on the DVR Remote.
Press and hold the PAL button until all the function lights flash.
Enter a two-digit number for the new address (02-15) and then press the '#' button. [Be sure you use 02 or higher.]
With the System Information screen on, press the 'Record' button.
The PAL button will blink three times, and you should see the new remote address at the bottom of the system information screen.
Next...
On the Dish Satellite remote press and hold the AUX button until all 4 mode buttons blink.
Press 3.
Enter the same remote address you did for the DVR remote above 02-15.
Press the # button.
Press the AUX button and it now controls the DVR.
Both remotes are now synched with the same code.
Thanks to bfdtv at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1099071 for the great deal of information on the DTVPal DVR
Both remotes are working now so I guess I have a spare one.
