Re the 'Mystery Power On' question: Check that your VCR does NOT have the 'Auto Clock Set' feature set to 'on' AND 'AUTO TIME CHANNEL FIND' set to on! I have a VCR with that feature AND the 'Cable Box Channel Changing' feature and every time I used the VCR, then shut the VCR power off, it would constantly search through the cable channels for the channel that transmitted the time info (usually PBS)! This is VERY annoying when you're trying to watch a cable channel. I found that even if I told the VCR which channel to find the time signal at, it would go there shortly after shutting the power off on the VCR, again changing the cable channel for me! If you do have such a VCR, try covering the window that sprays IR signals all over the room so that it can find your cable box. If the problem goes away, you found the cause. Good luck!