I'm sorry to say this, but I think I may have found another problem with autotimer. I wonder if it is related.
Using the remote control, if I edit the new timer defaults to choose override found with alternative service to "yes", then press green button to OK, the setting sticks. I can go back into the new timer defaults and "yes" is still selected.
If I then press green again (save and search now) to leave autotimer, and then go back into autotimer, then the timer default setting has reverted to "no".
My feeling is there is a problem with writing to autotimer.xml properly.