301 New Feature?

[Guest]

I was just channel surfing, then suddenly I got a yello text message on the screen around where the rating shows on the top bar that read "Remote battery low". I guess its really nice of EchoStar to do little nifty things like that, really adds to the customer experience.

 

[Gentleman]

I agree, I noticed this a while back, I first started getting the message in yellow, then the color changed to red, wonder how they do that

BOB

 

[gpflepsen]

It's the product of a joint venture with Eveready. After 1500 clicks of the remote, you get the yellow warning. Another 650 clicks brings the red warning.

What's funny is that this isn't driven by the real concern of battery condition, but rather the sales opportunity of AAA Eveready batteries. Echostar found a side benefit is that customers are changing their batteries instead of calling and plugging the Tech Help lines with problems traced to weak batteries.

That's just Gerry's FYI for the day. TIOLI

 

[AppliedAggression]

Ha. I knew it had to be something along those lines. Still pretty cool, although I'd think I would reach 1500 clicks a lot sooner. I always have the remote in my hand. What would be nice is if the remote had a little tester inside then sent the weak signal to the receiver and displayed it. Cool feature nontheless.

 

[gpflepsen]

Actually I was just being goofy. They have to have a way to see the quality of the remote signal.

 

[AppliedAggression]

Oh. Well that changes things. If it was just added to the 301 then i find it hard to believe that the remote has some sort of tester in it. Maybe it shows up when a signal is missed, or it takes longer. I'm not exactly sure.

 

[gpflepsen]

I think it'smore along the lines of the receiver can quantify the quality of the remote's signal. It could be the power received or the power drop during the signal transmision.

 

[Stargazer]

I have noticed a red warning on some of the receivers but it would only show up once then you would not see it for a while.

 

[Fat Tony]

the remote battery indicator has been there for a while. it uses the strength of the ir signal that gets to the rec. although it is only a once in a whil pop up