# DBSTalk Exclusive Third Look: HR44-200 Genie Server



## Scott Kocourek (Jun 13, 2009)

DBSTalk is proud to release the exclusive Third Look of the newest Genie Server: HR44-200










*HR44-200 Third Look*​
_Please note that some DBSTalk.com testers and staff members may have received free equipment from DIRECTV or its partners for the purpose of evaluation and testing._


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Scott, this looks great!


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## Mike Bertelson (Jan 24, 2007)

Nice work, as always. 

Mike


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## say-what (Dec 14, 2006)

Looks great - the 44 line is expanding


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## Canis Lupus (Oct 16, 2006)

Nice job guys!


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## NR4P (Jan 16, 2007)

Congrats to the team for another fine Look. Wow, 3 different HR44's now.


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## adamson (Nov 9, 2007)

Well it is a Samsung...I detect out of the three HR44's this one has the highest failure rate.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Really? I've had an H21-200, HR21-200, HR24-200 and HR44-200, plus a samsung TV, BD player, 2 phones, washer and dryer and have been quite satisfied.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

adamson said:


> Well it is a Samsung...I detect out of the three HR44's this one has the highest failure rate.


I presume you mean "predict". What is this based upon?

I've yet to have a Sammy fail me, but I switched only three years ago. I have four Sammy HD TVs, (one Plasma, two LCD and one LED), two or three monitors, and a blu-ray player. All first class. Do you have statistics from a credible source, or your own experience to cite?


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## adamson (Nov 9, 2007)

Yes from my own experience with their products. Yes others swear by them but I do not. It really is not a choice what specific HR44 you receive on a truck roll so I will say this, I would be happy with that HR44-200 if thats what I got. Almost two years ago I scoured the country for an extra HR24...it had to be a HR24-500. Sticking with the first producer of a new receiver rollout is where I would sway. Was thrilled it was a HR44-700 this last upgrade so to speak.


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## NR4P (Jan 16, 2007)

adamson said:


> Well it is a Samsung...I detect out of the three HR44's this one has the highest failure rate.


Shhhh, don't tell the working H21-200 and HR24-200 in my house they are supposed to fail. They are doing great.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Mum's the word!


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

adamson said:


> Yes from my own experience with their products. Yes others swear by them but I do not. It really is not a choice what specific HR44 you receive on a truck roll so I will say this, I would be happy with that HR44-200 if thats what I got. Almost two years ago I scoured the country for an extra HR24...it had to be a HR24-500. Sticking with the first producer of a new receiver rollout is where I would sway. Was thrilled it was a HR44-700 this last upgrade so to speak.


Main thing is, I hope you get what you want. Thanks for the reply.


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## Go Beavs (Nov 18, 2008)

Great job to Scott and the testers on another professional writeup. Those are some good shots of the -200!


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Stuart Sweet said:


> Really? I've had an H21-200, HR21-200, HR24-200 and HR44-200, plus a samsung TV, BD player, 2 phones, washer and dryer and have been quite satisfied.


Did you read Crutchfield's review of the Sammy 4K TVs? The come with an upscaler (a seperate unit that can be upgraded) to 4K. Good review, read it in the latest Crutchfield catalog.

I still like my Sammy BD players and I do have a new Sony to compare them to. Have already experienced problems with the Sony, but I expected that when I bought it.

I've always had good luck with the HRxx-200s, except for the 21-200 that started burning one night.

Rich


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## Groundhog45 (Nov 10, 2005)

Third time's the charm. Looks good.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

So, Rich, you gonna be first here with a 4K set??


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## cypherx (Aug 27, 2010)

Wow a Samsung model, this is the one I want! I have an HR24-200 and H24-200 and they run fine. Comparatively to a friends HR24-500, my -200 ran much faster (scrolling, bringing up the guide, etc...).

Samsung has a long history with set top boxes. Time Warner Cable, the nations #2 cable operator in sheer size (right behind Comcast) uses a lot of Samsung set top boxes.

Samsung also makes my main Plasma TV. They seem to make good products and I would highly consider them for future TV's and other appliance purchases.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Laxguy said:


> So, Rich, you gonna be first here with a 4K set??


Nope, I keep looking at my 58" 720p Panny plasma that cost me ~ $2,500 and I'll never pay over 2 grand for another TV. Made that mistake once and learned from it (altho my heart filled with lust when I read the Crutchfield write up on the Sammy 4K sets).

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

cypherx said:


> Wow a Samsung model, this is the one I want! I have an HR24-200 and H24-200 and they run fine. Comparatively to a friends HR24-500, my -200 ran much faster (scrolling, bringing up the guide, etc...).
> 
> _*Samsung has a long history with set top boxes.*_ Time Warner Cable, the nations #2 cable operator in sheer size (right behind Comcast) uses a lot of Samsung set top boxes.
> 
> Samsung also makes my main Plasma TV. They seem to make good products and I would highly consider them for future TV's and other appliance purchases.


They also made the worst SD TiVos and cheated many people by using capacitors that were out of spec in their TVs. Let's not forget about that. Hopefully all that is behind them.

Rich


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## gio12 (Jul 31, 2006)

Nope, I keep looking at my 58" 720p Panny plasma that cost me ~ $2,500 and I'll never pay over 2 grand for another TV. Made that mistake once and learned from it (altho my heart filled with lust when I read the Crutchfield write up on the Sammy 4K sets).

Rich
I agree. I have 2) 42" Panny plasma TVs. First one I bought was in 2006 and cost me $2300 after a $1k plus drop and finally wanted a plasma. 2 years ago I ought eh same TV but a newer model for $529!

Looking to get a new tv in the 55-60" range. But it has to be energy efficient, 1080p, 240hz or faster for sports, no 3D and under $1000. Plasma preferred, but LED and OLED will work when their blacks and refresh rates for sports improve.


Sent from my iPad using DBSTalk mobile app


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

Rich said:


> They also made the worst SD TiVos and cheated many people by using capacitors that were out of spec in their TVs. Let's not forget about that. Hopefully all that is behind them.
> 
> Rich


I was going to bring up their TV track record, You beat me to it!

I just can not bring myself to trust their TV division based on past performance.

Cheers


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

TBoneit said:


> I was going to bring up their TV track record, You beat me to it!
> 
> I just can not bring myself to trust their TV division based on past performance.
> 
> Cheers


I really didn't mean to go off topic, sorry.

Rich


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## cypherx (Aug 27, 2010)

I have a 6 year old Samsung 720p Plasma TV (1024x768 retangular pixels) that still looks great today. I guess like anything it's luck of the draw.

If it breaks well yeah that sucks but my credit card company will love me for charging a newer, bigger, better TV on it.


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## TheJackal (Sep 24, 2008)

HR44 form factor is smaller than an HR22, correct?


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Absolutely. It's their smallest DVR. The first first look has a comparison. HR22 is HR20 size.
http://www.hr20.dbstalk.com/HR44-700%20First%20Look.pdf

As for Samsung and capacitors, wasn't that at the time of the capacitor plague that affected many companies?


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## Guitar Hero (Dec 13, 2005)

Samsung once had the title of 'Samsuck' and it was well earned. However, in the past few years, they've turned this company around. They actually make pretty reliable prducts, now. Better than Sony, IMO.


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## Jason Whiddon (Aug 17, 2006)

Great pics. I just ordered a directv install for next weekend, tired of Dish disputes, so Im coming back. I had the HR34 from release, like the size of the HR44 plus it seems its faster. One question, what in the world is that copper tubing thingy? Is it liquid cooled


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## spec1alk (Sep 6, 2008)

Sorry to revive an old topic, but what is the only difference in the last 3 digits of the model (HR44-XXX) the manufacturer? Are there any other differences?

I just had DTV installed and received the HR44-200.

My first impression is mixed. I came from Dish and there are some things I miss. The new remote is too thick and the button placement is strange. It doesn't have a PIP on/off command that I can find. I am not as enamored with the speed as others. Mine still feels a bit sluggish at times. Changing channels has a longer delay than I was accustomed too and is very annoying.


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## spec1alk (Sep 6, 2008)

Jason Whiddon said:


> Great pics. I just ordered a directv install for next weekend, tired of Dish disputes, so Im coming back. I had the HR34 from release, like the size of the HR44 plus it seems its faster. One question, what in the world is that copper tubing thingy? Is it liquid cooled


The copper tube is a heat pipe for transferring heat away from the processor. No liquid. The idea is that the copper conducts the heat efficiently from the processor over to a heat sink. By doing this, you have more flexibility in the design, namely that you can make it thinner. They started doing this with laptops and high-end video cards several years ago.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

spec1alk said:


> Sorry to revive an old topic, but what is the only difference in the last 3 digits of the model (HR44-XXX) the manufacturer? Are there any other differences?
> 
> I just had DTV installed and received the HR44-200.
> 
> My first impression is mixed. I came from Dish and there are some things I miss. The new remote is too thick and the button placement is strange. It doesn't have a PIP on/off command that I can find. I am not as enamored with the speed as others. Mine still feels a bit sluggish at times. Changing channels has a longer delay than I was accustomed too and is very annoying.


Yes, the remote is not a favorite with a lot of high-end folks. The good news is that you can use a universal or one of many smartphone-based control apps (including DIRECTV's free choice.) None have a PIP button, that's a choice DIRECTV made that's not likely to change for whatever reason.

Insofar as speed is concerned, I'm surprised to see you're getting worse performance than you had before with DISH (unless you only had SD service with them.) Comparing the HR44 to Dish's 722 I find the HR44 has much better performance; comparing it to Hopper I see it overall being the same, a little faster.
I will say with any DVR it does seem to take a few days to settle in. If you're still having really slow channel changes, the installer may have done a less-than-perfect job with aiming or the power inserter to the dish may be on the weak side.

The other tip, I just thought of, is make sure you press the {ENTER} button (not {SELECT}, {ENTER}) after typing the channel number and the channel change will be 1-2 seconds faster.


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

spec1alk said:


> Sorry to revive an old topic, but what is the only difference in the last 3 digits of the model (HR44-XXX) the manufacturer? Are there any other differences?
> 
> I just had DTV installed and received the HR44-200.
> 
> My first impression is mixed. I came from Dish and there are some things I miss. The new remote is too thick and the button placement is strange. It doesn't have a PIP on/off command that I can find. I am not as enamored with the speed as others. Mine still feels a bit sluggish at times. Changing channels has a longer delay than I was accustomed too and is very annoying.


Based on the questions that you asked in your other post, I believe that the channel change delay that you are experiencing is due to a slow HDMI handshake when the picture resolution is being changed. Try changing your available resolutions to your TV's native display resolution and turning "Native" off on the DVR. I think that should take care of the delay that you are experiencing.

Often this delay is caused by an intermediate component, such as an AVR, rather than the TV. If you don't want to turn off the Native resolution feature on your DVR, another option is to connect your HR44 with your AVR via optical or coax digital audio and connect the HDMI directly to the TV. You won't lose any sound quality because DirecTV uses Dolby Digital which can be transported via coax or optical at the same quality as it's transported via HDMI.


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