# Genie Question



## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

I have not posted on this site in a long time. I've had DirecTV for quite a few years but the past couple of years I RARELY watch it.....My family members do. I called to ask CSR a question and they told me that I could upgrade to genie for FREE and if I upped my package I could get 25 dollars off my bill per month for the next 12 months, making my bill cheaper than it is now, at least for a year......

I haven't researched Genie until today and basically my question is: Are the mini genie's wireless? I know you have the main genie and then you have mini genie's. Do the mini genie's have to be physically connected to cable to the wall like the older DVRs?

Thanks


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

They have both wired and wireless, but we recommend wired wherever possible.

The Genie has 5 tuners, clients do not have any. When they are watching live TV, they use a Genie tuner. It's essentially an extension to the Genie. Non-Genie recievers and DVRs can playback recordings on the Genie.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

While the Genie with wired clients may be free, there could be a one time fee of $99 to go with the wireless minis. If you already have the cable and really want the minis, stay with the wired ones 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Gotcha -

Yea - I looked at my order and it's the main Genie and 3 mini genie's - I see wireless mini genie's on DTV's site, so I would assume that the installer will have the wired ones, which is fine..

There is a SWM with my 3 current HD DVRs.....Does this go away?


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## texasbrit (Aug 9, 2006)

No, the Genie system is SWM.
Are you planning to replace existing DVRs with genie minis? Most people here would say this is a mistake, unless you have very slow DVRs. Post back with your current config so we can comment....


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

What it really comes down to is how many live streams will be watched at once. The TS says he doesn't use it much, so that's one down.

Currenty he has 6 tuners, but may really only need 4 etc.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

It is possible to keep one or more of your current DVRs and add the Genie to the system. All units will be able to watch recordings from all other units. That way, you don't lose any current recordings you might have, and also you retain more recording capability (each DVR in addition to the 5 tuners in the Genie).

If you've got existing DVRs that are causing problems, then replace them with a mini. Otherwise, just pick one to replace with the Genie and keep the others.

If you end up with more than 8 tuners (very possible if you keep exiting DVRs), then you'll end up with either an SWM13 LNB, or a regular (non SWM) LNB and an external SWM16 multiswitch. The installer will do whatever is necessary to accommodate what you have in your system.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

I have 2 HR 24's (living room and master bedroom), and then an older DVR in the office I can't remember I think it's hr 21 (which is the one that has issues at times and loses connection with whole home we have to do a red reset. The other two DVR's are fine.

So what you're saying is - if I get rid of the DVR's, the only storage for recording is the MAIN GENIE?


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

mark40511 said:


> I have 2 HR 24's (living room and master bedroom), and then an older DVR in the office I can't remember I think it's hr 21 (which is the one that has issues at times and loses connection with whole home we have to do a red reset. The other two DVR's are fine.
> 
> So what you're saying is - if I get rid of the DVR's, the only storage for recording is the MAIN GENIE?


Correct. Clients don't have hard drives or tuners. They can set recordings but all recordings would go on the Genie itself.


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## n3vino (Oct 2, 2011)

mark40511 said:


> I have 2 HR 24's (living room and master bedroom), and then an older DVR in the office I can't remember I think it's hr 21 (which is the one that has issues at times and loses connection with whole home we have to do a red reset. The other two DVR's are fine.
> 
> So what you're saying is - if I get rid of the DVR's, the only storage for recording is the MAIN GENIE?


Correct. Another thing to consider is, if your Genie goes out, all the minis go out. In my case, I have a Genie, an HR24, and two H25's. They all access both DVR's. The drawback on the 25's, is that you can't rewind, unless you are watching a recorded show. The plus side is that they are independent from the Genie. Personally, I record my favorite shows. That way, I can FF through the commercials.


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

n3vino said:


> Correct. Another thing to consider is, if your Genie goes out, all the minis go out.


I don't think that is 100% accurate anymore.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

I'm not sure how many HD hours the HR24's are. I think it's 100 each (so that's 200 hours), and then HR21, I think it's 50 hours HD? I could be wrong...I'm debating on whether or not to keep the 2 HR 24s, then put the main genie in the office and then the ONE client in another room.......I'm not sure.....I'm guessing I can ask him to do that. This morning I get up at 6 am, shower, clean house up thinking installer would show up at 8 am (even though they say 8 am to noon) it's usually early...at 8:15 he calls and says it will not be until NOON and if it's going to be any later than that he will call back.........UGH! I was hoping for EARLY but oh well.....nothing I can do...and he's not from DirectTV, it's a contractor ...I was hoping it would be someone from Direct TV


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

n3vino said:


> Correct. Another thing to consider is, if your Genie goes out, all the minis go out.





trh said:


> I don't think that is 100% accurate anymore.


Well, yes and no and possibly depending on the specific model. If the hard drive fails, the genie can continue to function as a receiver only (still serving clients) but you will have no recording or "trick play" capability.


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

mark40511 said:


> .I'm debating on whether or not to keep the 2 HR 24s, then put the main genie in the office and then the ONE client in another room.......I'm not sure.....I'm guessing I can ask him to do that.


I would strongly suggest going with this plan. You'd have 9 recordable tuners and, should you have a problem with the Genie, you would still have two working TV's until the problem is resolved.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

mark40511 said:


> I'm not sure how many HD hours the HR24's are. I think it's 100 each (so that's 200 hours), and then HR21, I think it's 50 hours HD? I could be wrong...I'm debating on whether or not to keep the 2 HR 24s, then put the main genie in the office and then the ONE client in another room.......I'm not sure.....I'm guessing I can ask him to do that. This morning I get up at 6 am, shower, clean house up thinking installer would show up at 8 am (even though they say 8 am to noon) it's usually early...at 8:15 he calls and says it will not be until NOON and if it's going to be any later than that he will call back.........UGH! I was hoping for EARLY but oh well.....nothing I can do...and he's not from DirectTV, it's a contractor ...I was hoping it would be someone from Direct TV


I'm hoping he has an HR44 for you.

Other thing to consider, series link limits. HR2x units can each have 50 series links. The Genie has a limit of 100.

I believe your hours of HD are accurate. Genie would be 200 hours.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

OK......guy comes and is here for maybe 90 min's......Everything is working fine but I have some confusion going on. The remote controls SUCK so bad compared to the other ones.......You can't page up or down (but guess what, he left the remotes for the 3 DVR's he took away....I called DirecTV so they could put a notation on my acct that the guy left the remotes. I hope I don't have to send these back because the HR24 remotes are SO much better.....I don't see a place to put ethernet on the main genie client, unless I'm overlooking it.......I didn't bother to look well but he said it doesn't take ethernet, which I thought was ODD because how would you get on demand? (not that I ever do usually) but I have a couple of times....I absolutely LOVE the fact that the clients are so small....

Another thing that isn't so great is the fact that I was under the impression that I could setup all my favorite channels for the guide, name it, and it would show up on all clients (like Marks Favs) but it doesn't. You have to do your favs on each client.....


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Ok the new remotes do page up and page down. Use the channel up down like you do on the old remotes. I hate the old vs the new these days because it's just so much more responsive and easier to manipulate without moving your hand. 

And you don't have to set up favorites on each. Once you set it up on one go to settings and then Whole Home Service and manage clients I think it is and you can copy settings from one to another.


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

Did you give the tech your Wifi password? If so, he connected your Genie to the Internet via wifi. If not, he probably connected a broadband DECA to Ethernet which means that the Genie is getting Internet access via coax.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Good to know. The CSR told me you could not do this but I know sometimes they don't know all aspects of the system.....But I have already favorited all four rooms but at least I know you can do it for the next time.........

Right now, I'm in a room with a mini genie and I tried to access on demand and it worked. He did not ask for my wifi password but there was an ethernet cable connected to the hr 24 so he probably used that. I didn't watch him......I just tried and on demand show and it started playing immediately....

As far as paging up and down on new remote. I'm not talking about the arrows that move you through the guide....I'm talking about paging through entire pages, that's how I've always moved through the guide really fast without using the up/down arrows. Unless I'm totally missing something, you can arrow up and down with the new remotes, but you can not PAGE up and down


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Another thing - if someone can help - when you're scrolling through the guide or channels or favs or anything on the system, the background is grey, letters are white, but when you are on a certain area, it's just an EVER SO SLIGHTLY darker shade of grey.....it's almost like you can barely SEE whether or not you're on a certain area in the guide. It used to be blue highlight showing that you were here or there,but now it's barely noticeable. Another family member just came home and they were scrolling through the guide and wanted to hit select but wasn't sure they were even on the right thing. I had to go up to the TV and I could see the slightly darker grey shade. Is there a way to change this?

EDIT: just ran to another room and on one of the mini clients, it does highlight blue when scrolling through anything......I can't figure out how to change this on the other TV's....

EDIT: NVM - I had to reboot the main client and all rooms are showing blue highlite.

EDIT: OK, so family member is setting up recordings in another room on the main genie, meanwhile, I'm in another room watching live tv on one of the mini genie's......She set 3 shows that are recording at that moment. The genie said she could not watch live TV while 3 shows were recording and I was watching live TV on the mini genie....As soon as I turned the mini genie client off, she could now watch live TV while 3 shows were recording.........how is this 5 shows recording at a time?


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

The Genie has 5 tuners. But it is limited to THREE outgoing streams at any given time. Also, I think it is limited to 3 tuners for remote clients. It sounds like you might be running into multiple limits.

If you set up 3 recordings, that is now tying up 3 of the Genies tuners. You are watching live on a client, so that is taking 4 tuners. I believe 1 tuner is reserved/mandated for the local output at the Genie itself. That's why she couldn't watch live until you stopped watching live, all the tuners were "used up".

Three outgoing streams - can be live viewing (which also takes away a tuner), or watching something recorded (which doesn't take away a tuner). So you could have 3 programs recording, and watch all 3 on clients leaving 2 tuners open on the main genie. Or, still with 3 recordings going on you could watch something live at the local Genie, something live on 1 client, and something recorded on 2 other clients.

If you have 3 clients, you really should think of the Genie as having 2 tuners, not 5. If you set more than 2 recordings at the same time, then one (or more) clients won't have access to live TV.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Actually, (and thanks for the response), I went into the living room and one of the mini clients was still ON (hadn't been powered off) so that was probably taking up ONE of the possibilities......But there is another thing I've noticed with my mini client in the bedroom that I am currently in......sometimes when I switch channels, the screen will stay grey. I have to turn the client off and back on and all seems well.....it doesn't happen every time..........Right now, in the bedroom I'm in, the client is powered off.......I'm watching something on my hard drive/media player.....no lights display at all on the client that is powered off. However, in the living room, where no one currently is at the moment, when I walked into the kitchen, I noticed there was a red light on the client in the living room (even though it's powered off)....not sure why there is a red light on the powered off client in the living room, but not a red light on my powered off client in the bedroom that I am in....This is all kinda new to me. I know the genie has been out quite a while, so these things have probably already been discussed.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

Red light indicates something is recording.

Also, keep in mind, the Genie itself is never actually "off" - like your prior DVRs it is always running (that's how it can record series links that you program, as well as service the clients you have). The on/off function does two things. First, it turns off the video/audio output, and secondly, it tells the unit it is in standby so it can give higher priority to some background tasks.

The main Genie (HR34/44/54) unit should have a blue power light when it is on. Don't recall what client's have, don't have one active at the moment.


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

BTW, which model of Genie did you get? (HR34, 44 or 54)


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

carl6 said:


> Red light indicates something is recording.
> 
> Also, keep in mind, the Genie itself is never actually "off" - like your prior DVRs it is always running (that's how it can record series links that you program, as well as service the clients you have). The on/off function does two things. First, it turns off the video/audio output, and secondly, it tells the unit it is in standby so it can give higher priority to some background tasks.
> 
> The main Genie (HR34/44/54) unit should have a blue power light when it is on. Don't recall what client's have, don't have one active at the moment.


I believe the c41 is the same, the DirecTV logo power button lights up.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

mark40511 said:


> Good to know. The CSR told me you could not do this but I know sometimes they don't know all aspects of the system.....But I have already favorited all four rooms but at least I know you can do it for the next time.........
> 
> Right now, I'm in a room with a mini genie and I tried to access on demand and it worked. He did not ask for my wifi password but there was an ethernet cable connected to the hr 24 so he probably used that. I didn't watch him......I just tried and on demand show and it started playing immediately....
> 
> As far as paging up and down on new remote. I'm not talking about the arrows that move you through the guide....I'm talking about paging through entire pages, that's how I've always moved through the guide really fast without using the up/down arrows. Unless I'm totally missing something, you can arrow up and down with the new remotes, but you can not PAGE up and down


Yeah you are missing it. It's the same channel up and channel down your old remote had. Hit the channel up button and you'll see. They are actually levers now for channel and volume but same thing. That's to move up and down a page at a time. It works identically to the old one. Same for forward and back in time using the ffwd and rewd buttons.

Nothing in terms of how you navigate was changed between the old and new remotes.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

inkahauts said:


> Yeah you are missing it. It's the same channel up and channel down your old remote had. Hit the channel up button and you'll see. They are actually levers now for channel and volume but same thing. That's to move up and down a page at a time. It works identically to the old one. Same for forward and back in time using the ffwd and rewd buttons.
> 
> Nothing in terms of how you navigate was changed between the old and new remotes.


OHHHHH!!! Yes, I see it, right beside the volume button....sorry, you're right I totally overlooked it. It seems strange that that volume is increased using left and decreased using right.

It took me a bit to figure out how to get it to do 30SKIP instead of 30SLIP. I knew you had to do a keyword search for it but I had forgotten to depress red button to actually preform a search for 30SKIP - why it's defaulted to 30SLIP I do not understand....

Additionally, I was wrong about the red light on the genie in the living room last night. It sits directly on top of the speaker bar and the speakerbar light turns red if nothing is on, it from the kitchen it looked exactly as if the red light was on the mini genie. At any rate, when my family member was in the room and 3 things were recording and she could not watch live tv.....I yelled in the other room and I said I will turn my client off to see what happens, as soon as I turned my client off, she could watch live tv, so I guess that is what made me think it does indeed matter if the client is off or on.


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

mark40511 said:


> ...
> 
> Right now, I'm in a room with a mini genie and I tried to access on demand and it worked. He did not ask for my wifi password but there was an ethernet cable connected to the hr 24 so he probably used that. I didn't watch him......I just tried and on demand show and it started playing immediately....


Don't see how the tech could have done that for internet access to the Genie and clients ...

Connecting an active ethernet cable to an HR24 will disable it's internal DECA and remove it from the coax network.

But anyway, however he did it glad everything is working and you're connected to the internet.

Sent from my SGH-M819N using Tapatalk


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

HoTat2 said:


> Don't see how the tech could have done that for internet access to the Genie and clients ...
> 
> Connecting an active ethernet cable to an HR24 will disable it's internal DECA and remove it from the coax network.
> 
> ...


I totally forgot to mention this. When he arrived and put the Main unit in the master bedroom, I told him I had been on the forums and was told that I no longer needed the SWM and power inserter which was behind the TV in the master bedroom. He said, yes you do. I'm a total clean freak so I keep everything pretty organized around my house with no clutter, but there is such a cluster blank of cords back there I haven't really taken the time to look closely at the setup yet. All I can say is internet is working and most all of my devices are ethernet connected except for smart phones since we have cat 5 throughout the house when the house was built and using ethernet switches......But it's definitely
working....So I don't know.

OH, and thanks to the person who told me about going to settings/whole home/manage clients and how you can choose to "COPY" settings from another client. I would have NEVER known to do this. This is so much less of a hassle than adding favorites manually...I'm assuming if I copy amada's fav's from the bedroom main unit to a client, and then in the future, If I'm in another room with a client and want to add or remove favs from amada's favs, if I do this from another room, that change will reflect on the main unit or all units it was copied to?. I haven't tried this yet.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

mark40511 said:


> assuming if I copy amada's fav's from the bedroom main unit to a client, and then in the future, If I'm in another room with a client and want to add or remove favs from amada's favs, if I do this from another room, that change will reflect on the main unit or all units it was copied to?. I haven't tried this yet.


no. Copying is a one time thing.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

I just looked and the model of the main genie is an HR34-700, so it's not an HR44 

but now that I've gotten a little used to it, everything seems to work fine (knock on wood). It is funny how when you turn a mini genie on, it takes longer for the pic to come up than it did a normal DVR, but once it's on, it seems OK.....I haven't seen the grey screen anymore when switching channels.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

mark40511 said:


> I just looked and the model of the main genie is an HR34-700, so it's not an HR44


This is quite unfortunate.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Yea but I'm not gonna complain - it's was all free and so far so good. I've been messing around with it today and the only thing that has happened is I was watching audience channel (not really watching it, just had it on that channel while surfing the net) suddenly, everything got quiet and the screen totally froze, but it came back on its own...I'm hoping that was a fluke and isn't typical of this system. Since 2008, my dish hasn't been touched and my signal strength is still great (mid 90s) same on all 5 tuners. Beautiful fall day here so not rain fade.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

mark40511 said:


> Yea but I'm not gonna complain - it's was all free and so far so good. I've been messing around with it today and the only thing that has happened is I was watching audience channel (not really watching it, just had it on that channel while surfing the net) suddenly, everything got quiet and the screen totally froze, but it came back on its own...I'm hoping that was a fluke and isn't typical of this system. Since 2008, my dish hasn't been touched and my signal strength is still great (mid 90s) same on all 5 tuners. Beautiful fall day here so not rain fade.


This is about the time for sun fade, which typically lasts a few minutes for about a week in March and October. I think it's generally early afternoon in this area. I haven't looked to see if it should still be going on though.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

dpeters11 said:


> This is about the time for sun fade, which typically lasts a few minutes for about a week in March and October. I think it's generally early afternoon in this area. I haven't looked to see if it should still be going on though.


Yea I think it was early afternoon when that happened. I have never heard of sun fade, or if I ever had, I forgot about it.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

mark40511 said:


> Yea I think it was early afternoon when that happened. I have never heard of sun fade, or if I ever had, I forgot about it.


Sun fade is wen the Sun is directly behind the satellites. The Sun over powers the satellite thus causing pixelation and/or signal outages. This only last a few minutes per satellite and only happens or early March and around this time for about a week


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

For most users, they never even know about it. They are either at work, or outside during the day in the Spring and Fall (at least around here some of the best weather). And if it only lasts 5-6 minutes or so, it's generally a non-event.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Well that must have been what it was because I haven't seen it do it since.....

I was reading the Directv FAQ on genie, and one question was can ethernet be used to connect to the internet and it was a NO if you have whole home......so I'm wondering what the he!! he did? I do know when I had 3 HRXX dvr's before I upgraded they were all connected to the internet via ethernet and that was whole home and it worked great. I'm not sure I'm loving ON DEMAND anyway though, because the few downloads I tested out, you can't fast forward through the commercials.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Not being able to fast forward through commercials is the "cost" of on demand and start over.


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## fleckrj (Sep 4, 2009)

Ethernet connection for WH is not supported by DirecTV, but it can work with the older DVRs. I am not sure about the HR34, HR44, or HR54. The only supported network connection is via coax, but that precludes you from using the same coax for both OTA and DirecTV. When you use coax for network connections, one receiver has to be connected to the router (which can be done wirelessly), and the others are connected through the coax.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

fleckrj said:


> Ethernet connection for WH is not supported by DirecTV, but it can work with the older DVRs. I am not sure about the HR34, HR44, or HR54. The only supported network connection is via coax, but that precludes you from using the same coax for both OTA and DirecTV. When you use coax for network connections, one receiver has to be connected to the router (which can be done wirelessly), and the others are connected through the coax.


you have it backwards. Ethernet connection works with the NEWER DVRs (the Genies) but not with the older DVRs (HR2X). Also using the same coax for OTA is not only possible if you are using DECA for the internet connection, but also if you are using whole home over coax, something that is not possible if you have minis in the set up.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

It's has been so beautiful the past few days I haven't been watching much tv. Using one of the Genie Clients in a room right now and I noticed something new, when I click menu, I see a "connected" and a green icon beside it. I'm guessing it's saying the system is connected to the net. I did not see this the last couple of nights.....Another thing I can confirm is the genie wired clients are slower than my other DVR's they replaced..I can deal with it because of their small footprint...It's not horribly slow, but it is slow. I just counted how long it took to change channels and each time is about 6.5 seconds.....but I've seen no pixilation, freezing or anything. When I have the guide up it pages pretty fast. It's just the initial loading of the guide that seems a little delayed..Overall I'm happy with it but thinking back I should have kept the 2 hr24's and just gotten the main h4340-700 and one wired client.......But I like having only one STB and 3 small clients because the STB's are so big and bulky....


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

The client speed is in large part due to the HR34.

Also keep in mind, the 34 is a huge box, the largest in physical size they've ever made. The HR44 is smaller than the HR24, though the power supply isn't internal. Though of course the c31/c41 are even smaller.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Yea, I noticed it was bigger than all the other DVR's I've ever had.......At the point he arrived to install, I really didn't know there were 2 Genie main DVR's. OF COURSE I'm gonna end up getting the old school one, haha. Maybe one day if this thing dies I'll end up with an HR44 - of course, by then, they will have a new better DVR...

I actually got behind my TV in the bedroom looking trying to figure out how the hell this thing is connected to the net, and I honestly have no idea. All I see is the cable coming out of the DVR, which I think goes into the power SWM power inserter and a cable comes out of that and goes into the wall...this pic probably doesn't help. I just didn't feel like tracing cords to see which goes where. Back there, there is an ethernet switch to which the bluray, smart tv, and the old HR 24 were ethernet connected.


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

mark40511 said:


> It's has been so beautiful the past few days I haven't been watching much tv. Using one of the Genie Clients in a room right now and I noticed something new, when I click menu, I see a "connected" and a green icon beside it. I'm guessing it's saying the system is connected to the net. I did not see this the last couple of nights.....Another thing I can confirm is the genie wired clients are slower than my other DVR's they replaced..I can deal with it because of their small footprint...It's not horribly slow, but it is slow. I just counted how long it took to change channels and each time is about 6.5 seconds.....but I've seen no pixilation, freezing or anything. When I have the guide up it pages pretty fast. It's just the initial loading of the guide that seems a little delayed..Overall I'm happy with it but thinking back I should have kept the 2 hr24's and just gotten the main h4340-700 and one wired client.......But I like having only one STB and 3 small clients because the STB's are so big and bulky....


HR44 dimensions are roughly 13" x 9 3/4" x 1 3/4".


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Yeah without question your speed issue is the HR34 not the clients. Clients are so much faster on a hr44.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

So do those of you who ended up with HR 44's just get lucky and get one? Or did you buy your own?


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

mark40511 said:


> So do those of you who ended up with HR 44's just get lucky and get one? Or did you buy your own?


When the Genie was introduced I upgraded to a HR34-700. Initially it worked great but developed non weather related pixilation issues. I have the Protection Plan and called DIRECTV. They scheduled a service call. When the tech arrived I showed him the recordings I made of the pixilation issues. He replaced my HR34-700 with a HR44-200. It's been a rock solid performer.


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

mark40511 said:


> So do those of you who ended up with HR 44's just get lucky and get one? Or did you buy your own?


From DIRECTV, .... luck of the draw unfortunately. Depending on what the tech happens to have on his truck at the install or what is in stock at their warehouse for a drop-ship.

The only sureshot method of getting the model you wish is via a third party seller like Solid Signal or Weaknees. But of course you then have to pay the lease fee which for a Genie (with a stock drive on Weaknees) is typically around $299.00.

There are BTW, 4 Genie models now installers my use. Not two.

HR34
HR44
HR54
H44 Genie Lite + HDD ordered from DIRECTV (equivalent to an HR44)

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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Though there isn't a speed difference between the 44 and 54, and you'll never get an h44 if you want a genie dvr from the start.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

Our advice to those scheduled to get a Genie is, first of all get a truck roll. When the installer calls to say he's on the way, ask specifically if he has an HR44 or HR54 on the truck. Tell him you will not accept an HR34 and will cancel the install if that is all he has. Most can come up with an HR44 even if they were planning to give you a 34 (but it truly depends on what the local warehouse has available). If you are unable to get an HR44 or HR54 by this method, then going to the third party vendor, like Solid Signal, might be your only option.

If you already have an HR34, then having an unacceptable condition, such as excessive pixelation, broken recordings, etc., can usually get you a replacement. Sadly, slow performance isn't a reason. Again, once you've managed to arrange a replacement, follow the advice in the above paragraph to get an HR44 or HR54.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

I'm not going to lie - none of us have seen pixilation other than that one day in the early afternoon last week, (which could have been explained by the sun fade that was brought up). There was a couple of times I noticed a slight skip where the pic paused for a split second. As for the slow response. I don't find it unacceptable it's just the initial engaging of something. Say you have been on a channel for 30 min's and you haven't touched the remote. It's then (but not always) that it takes a moment for the guide to come up.....Once you start doing things, like paging, etc, it's not nearly as slow as it was...Another REALLY slow thing is turning the client ON. OMG it takes twice as long (maybe even 3 times as long) before the picture comes on..Another thing I guess we are getting used to. At first I thought there was no connection or something was wrong it was taking so long....Changing channels has ALWAYS taken a few seconds, so that's NOTHING NEW (even with the HR21 and 24's, it's never been fast. We are all so used to that it doesn't bother us.......My friend has cable with Time Warner and she had DirecTV prior to that but switched but she called me the other day thinking she is going to come back to DirecTV. She mentioned that the one thing she liked better about TWC is the channel change is faster, almost instant....but overall she liked directv better (other than that)


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## CTJon (Feb 5, 2007)

I can understand not upgrading all the HR34's automatically but why DirecTv is still sending out the HR34 is a mystery to me. It isn't as if there has been only an HR44 for a couple of months. If DirecTv has that much old HR34 old inventory send them to AT&T as anchors. What company gives new customers or customers who are upgrading old equipment that doesn't run very well. Very, very bad DirecTv.
Similar with the issue of not more than 1 Genie - what if a new customer needs more capability than 1 Genie can provide - do they tell them to go to DISH?


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

CTJon said:


> Similar with the issue of not more than 1 Genie - what if a new customer needs more capability than 1 Genie can provide - do they tell them to go to DISH?


No, they load them up on minis or more DVRs....but for a price.


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

CTJon said:


> I can understand not upgrading all the HR34's automatically but why DirecTv is still sending out the HR34 is a mystery to me. It isn't as if there has been only an HR44 for a couple of months. If DirecTv has that much old HR34 old inventory send them to AT&T as anchors. What company gives new customers or customers who are upgrading old equipment that doesn't run very well. Very, very bad DirecTv.
> Similar with the issue of not more than 1 Genie - what if a new customer needs more capability than 1 Genie can provide - do they tell them to go to DISH?


My guess is that there are still a lot of HR34s out there and the majority of customers which have them don't read boards like this and don't mind and/or realize it's very sub-par performance.

On multiple Genies, you're right. DIRECTV needs to allow it and fix the problem of any clients staying connected to their parrent Genie after a reboot.

DIRECTV is in need of a better 6+ tuner HD-DVR solution . As the latest HD-DVR to add on after the Genie, the HR24, is getting long in the tooth.

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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

CTJon said:


> I can understand not upgrading all the HR34's automatically but why DirecTv is still sending out the HR34 is a mystery to me.


Looking this for a shareholder perspective, (BTW I am not one of them) it makes very good sense. If I were the owner of this company, I am surely not throwing away thousands (millions?) of these units just because they run slower than the newer models.

Now from a customer perspective, they are a piece of [email protected]!


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

mark40511 said:


> Changing channels has ALWAYS taken a few seconds, so that's NOTHING NEW (even with the HR21 and 24's, it's never been fast. We are all so used to that it doesn't bother us.......My friend has cable with Time Warner and she had DirecTV prior to that but switched but she called me the other day thinking she is going to come back to DirecTV. She mentioned that the one thing she liked better about TWC is the channel change is faster, almost instant....but overall she liked directv better (other than that)


Thing about channel changes are that many users don't notice or really care if it takes a few seconds. I rarely actually change a channel, pretty much live in the playlist.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

This is off topic but I just noticed something and not sure how long this has been in the guide, but going into settings/favorites and editing my list, I notice that the HD local channels that I have show A3 beside them (never have been sure what that meant) but I knew those were HD, so I always chose them. For a long time "the cw" was not HD, so I had to choose SD. OTA CW is HD. But now, I notice A3 beside CW. It says (A3 Lexington 14 WKYTDT CW), and the regular channel just says (Lexington, CW 14 CW).....They both look the EXACT same crappy old SD! I see absolutely ZERO difference between the two. Again, OTA is definitely HD and looks so much freaking better. I'm confused as to why the favorites selection is indicating there is an HD and SD option, when they are both full on SD?


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

mark40511 said:


> This is off topic but I just noticed something and not sure how long this has been in the guide, but going into settings/favorites and editing my list, I notice that the HD local channels that I have show A3 beside them (never have been sure what that meant) but I knew those were HD, so I always chose them. For a long time "the cw" was not HD, so I had to choose SD. OTA CW is HD. But now, I notice A3 beside CW. It says (A3 Lexington 14 WKYTDT CW), and the regular channel just says (Lexington, CW 14 CW).....They both look the EXACT same crappy old SD! I see absolutely ZERO difference between the two. Again, OTA is definitely HD and looks so much freaking better. I'm confused as to why the favorites selection is indicating there is an HD and SD option, when they are both full on SD?


The "A3" is the same CW SD channel, but in MPEG-4 format placed on 99W.

You're in a market where the local MPEG-2 SD channels come from the 119W satellite (D7S). But the problem is many in the east like your market have LOS issues to 119W as it is quite low on the horizon. And since the CW outlet there has no HD version on 99 or 103W, DIRECTV some time back began mirroring any SD channels without HD versions in MPEG-4 format on 99 and/or 103W.

That's what the code "A3" means. MPEG-4 compression format, which is usually reserved for HD channels, but is used for SD channels as well sometimes.

This method allows those with LOS problems to 119W to forget about it and use Slimline-3 LNBs and still receive all local channels carried by DIRECTV in your market.

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## CTJon (Feb 5, 2007)

peds48 said:


> Looking this for a shareholder perspective, (BTW I am not one of them) it makes very good sense. If I were the owner of this company, I am surely not throwing away thousands (millions?) of these units just because they run slower than the newer models.
> 
> Now from a customer perspective, they are a piece of [email protected]!


Understand that and not expecting they would replace all but it has been more than a year for HR44 - how much did they stock? If too much not good from stockholder either. But if new customers are getting 34. That is a big mistake. Tech is changing and you have to be prepared to provide the best and latest


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## CTJon (Feb 5, 2007)

trh said:


> No, they load them up on minis or more DVRs....but for a price.


Was sort of a joke. They give them a Genie and 24's. Or whatever if only 1 genie

Anyway be new with that experience?


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

CTJon said:


> Understand that and not expecting they would replace all but it has been more than a year for HR44 - how much did they stock? If too much not good from stockholder either. But if new customers are getting 34. That is a big mistake. Tech is changing and you have to be prepared to provide the best and latest


In this case it is, but higher number hasn't always meant better. Sometimes it's basically a wash (44 to 54), historically sometimes a downgrade by all accounts. Some may even consider a H24 to H25 a downgrade.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

HoTat2 said:


> The "A3" is the same CW SD channel, but in MPEG-4 format placed on 99W.
> 
> You're in a market where the local MPEG-2 SD channels come from the 119W satellite (D7S). But the problem is many in the east like your market have LOS issues to 119W as it is quite low on the horizon. And since the CW outlet there has no HD version on 99 or 103W, DIRECTV some time back began mirroring any SD channels without HD versions in MPEG-4 format on 99 and/or 103W.
> 
> ...


Thanks and this shows my lack of knowledge. I did not realize A3 means MPEG-4. I know I only see A3 for local, so I assumed that meant HD. I did not realize it means MPEG-4. I do know that in Lexington OTA the CW is in fact HD, but it's a sub channel from WKYT (CBS) local affiliate. I was not sure how this worked as far as DirecTV carrying that HD sub channel or if that was even possible. I assumed it was. I wish we could somehow get COZI TV. It's an awesome OTA channel in some markets, and I think it's on some cable channels and even dish network. We don't even have it OTA


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

mark40511 said:


> Thanks and this shows my lack of knowledge. I did not realize A3 means MPEG-4. I know I only see A3 for local, so I assumed that meant HD. I did not realize it means MPEG-4. I do know that in Lexington OTA the CW is in fact HD, but it's a sub channel from WKYT (CBS) local affiliate. I was not sure how this worked as far as DirecTV carrying that HD sub channel or if that was even possible. I assumed it was. I wish we could somehow get COZI TV. It's an awesome OTA channel in some markets, and I think it's on some cable channels and even dish network. We don't even have it OTA


In Cincinnati, our CW is a CBS subchannel also, and SD on DirecTV. When my CW show is on the air, I just record the OTA version on a DVR I have been making an OTA backup.


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

mark40511 said:


> ... I wish we could somehow get COZI TV. It's an awesome OTA channel in some markets, and I think it's on some cable channels and even dish network. We don't even have it OTA


Yeah ... have it here in the LA market for a long time now OTA on KNBC (an NBC O&O) 4-2.

A 16:9 SD sub-channel. Well managed channel with a lot of great classic programming I must say ...

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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Couple of questions. With the older directv remotes which I have been using with all my clients -Today, someone was in a room beside me watching the client while I was watching my client. I paused my show, ran to kitchen for like 10 min's, came back, hit play and it just stayed paused where I left it.....nothing would happen, so I had to change channels and go back to that channel. This happened twice. RARELY is anyone in that room beside the room I was in, but they had walked in asking if the TV was out and that their client stopped working at the same time what I described above happened to me......So I took my remote in the room they were in, and it works with their client and TV, so I was wondering if it's a remote conflict? I haven't seen this happen at all until they were in there watching TV......at the same time I was across the wall in another room watching mine......I tried to program each remote following online instructions, but each remote STILL works with the other tv...both client and TV (they are both vizio, but different models).......so I thought I would get one of the remotes that actually CAME with my genie....and this leads me to another question.....I have hdmi 1 and 2 and TV antenna under inputs........What I always did before, is I would turn the receiver off then change inputs and watch either the hard drive or OTA....But with this new remote, when I hit power, it turns the tv and receiver completely off...How can I turn only the client off without turning the TV off using this new genie remote?


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

mark40511 said:


> .How can I turn only the client off without turning the TV off using this new genie remote?


There is no "proper" way. Only way is to set the remote to RF and cover the IR window of the Genie (front of the remote) remote with hand before sending command to TV


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

If you've hooked up everything with HDMI cables, you might be able to use your TV remote and change the input from Sat to OTA (or other devices). When we do that with our TV and shift to the SmartTV (e.g Netflix) or a gaming system, the HR44 shuts off and the AVR changes to the appropriate input. If we select Sat input, the DVR powers up and the AVR changes to that input.

But that is with the TV (and AVR) remote(s). Can't do it with the Genie remote.

On the old/white DIRECTV remotes, you slide the switch to the proper position and could use the PWR button to turn that device off.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Thanks, yes everything is HDMI - I can easily use my TV remote to change inputs, but it still leaves the client ON. I'm kind of shocked frankly - I mean, if the client is powered ON, and you're not watching it, doesn't that take up a tuner? I mean, I realize that a powered OFF DVR or client isn't really "OFF" per se...but from what I understand, if it's on, the main DVR thinks that tuner is being used, no? If it's powered off it frees up a tuner of someone else is watching live TV and/or things are being recorded. I wonder why there isn't a proper way to power off the client only?


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

When I use my TV or AVR remote to switch to a different input, my Genie and Mini shut off. And automatically turn on when I go back to my Sat input.


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

trh said:


> When I use my TV or AVR remote to switch to a different input, my Genie and Mini shut off. And automatically turn on when I go back to my Sat input.


I think *some* (key word) TVs and AVRs can control the DIRECTV Genies and clients power on/off via CEC over the HDMI cable.

Is "Settings & Help ----->Settings ------>Display ----->Video -----> HDMI Control:" set to "On" at the Genie and client per chance?

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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

mark40511 said:


> . I wonder why there isn't a proper way to power off the client only?


easy. The genie remotes is not what you would find in a home theater set up. The genie remote is a starter remote that is very basic. Those looking for advanced features are encourage to look into the harmony remote series by Logitech

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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

peds48 said:


> easy. The genie remotes is not what you would find in a home theater set up. The genie remote is a starter remote that is very basic. Those looking for advanced features are encourage to look into the harmony remote series by Logitech
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Quite honestly that is completely true of every single DirecTV remote they've ever had. None of them are complete remote controls for a true home theater.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

inkahauts said:


> Quite honestly that is completely true of every single DirecTV remote they've ever had. None of them are complete remote controls for a true home theater.


yes, but the older white remotes gave you a few other options that the genie remote lacks. And those options were enough to get you by.

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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Not IMHO. It was only better in that it could control three receivers instead of just one. Otherwise they are the same IMHO for what they can control with the only exception being able to power a avr on and off. But if you can't change inputs who cares?


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Well today, on the new genie remote, I held down the "enter" button and it brought up where I could change the input. Genie/DirecTV is HDMI-1, My 2 tb hard drive with dvd ripped stuff over the past few years is HDMI-2, and then OTA/Atenna. This is all I have on this particular TV. When I changed from HDMI-1 to HDMI-2 or Antenna using the genie remote, unfortunately the client stayed on.....Can someone send a link to this AVR remote?


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Don't worry about the genie being it uses the same power on or off. As long as you turn it off when the entire system is off that's good so it will give higher priority to background processes. 

And I was talking about changing inputs on my avr not the tv. The rc71 works great on changing inputs for the tv.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Thanks but not talking about the client power consumption, I thought if my client was ON and I'm NOT watching it, it takes up a tuner. For example, 3 things recording on main DVR, one person watching live tv in other room, and my client is ON but I'm not watching it......wouldn't the main genie think that I'm watching live tv, so it can't record a 4th program if it wants? I could be wrong, but that's what I think because when we first got this, someone was recording 3 shows on main genie at one time, I was watching live tv in my room, and they were watching live tv, but couldn't start another recording until I powered off my client, then they could record 4 shows while watching live tv.....we were just testing it at that moment......

Another BUG I've found.....When watching client in living room or my bedroom, this does not happen often, but it's happened to me 3 times and to someone else 1 time: Say you're watching live tv, and you're scrolling through the guide, you see a channel you want to watch so you go to that channel, you see a total black screen waiting for the channel to come on, but it doesn't....and the tv will say "no resolution". You have to turn client off/back on, then it works again.....

all clients and main genie have been rebooted but I still notice this from time to time. Thank God it's not that often


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

I think Inky was thinking of the DVR. You're right, if the client is on Live TV (or in the buffer), it uses a tuner.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

inkahauts said:


> Not IMHO. It was only better in that it could control three receivers instead of just one. Otherwise they are the same IMHO for what they can control with the only exception being able to power a avr on and off. But if you can't change inputs who cares?


 you can definately change inputs using the older white remotes. The fact that you can program up to two additional devices on top of a TV makes it that much better. Also being able to control those devices independently is a big plus.

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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

For those who have multiple clients I have to ask, does the genie behaves the same when I comes to conflicts like a dual tuner DVR? When you ah have a conflict with a dual tuner DVR, the DVR will pop a screen asking for permission to change the channel if two tuners are require to record two shows at the same time. I would think the genie would do the same if all 5 tuners are being used. 


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Awh, in that case, the genie will send a pop up letting you know it needs to change tuners to record something, and if you don't answer and cancel the recording, ti will just change the tuner for you without any response,. (the default is to change the tuner) so that's not an issue either. 

What happened to you only happens if you are trying to start a recording right then. If its been in your series manager all along then you get the pop up and it'll change stations. The idea is that it wasn't set up previously, so maybe you will do a simple other showing search and find another time to record it if you are setting up the recording then. Just one more reason to set up to record everything you watch, then you never have this issue.

The other issue, do you have your units set to native on or off? Sounds like it may be a hdmi handshake issue, what happens if you go back tot he last channel?


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

peds48 said:


> you can definately change inputs using the older white remotes. The fact that you can program up to two additional devices on top of a TV makes it that much better. Also being able to control those devices independently is a big plus.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


The old remote will not change to all the inputs on my high end dennon receiver. And it has no ability to change sound fields etc on any, so its useless to control anything other than volume and mute on a sound system, therefor its not acceptable as the sole remote for a home theater system for anyone IMHO.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

MMMM KKK - back again because something REALLY WEIRD just happened. I have 24MBPS/ uncapped DSL which works awesomely. I get my advertised speeds and then some usually 24/7, so my internet works great! This said: Remember earlier when I had said I the tech installed the DVR not using wireless, but he used the ethernet cable behind my TV in the master bedroom where the main genie DVR is, yet I wasn't really watching him while he did it? There is an ethernet switch back there for additional ethernet connected devices such as blueray player, smart TV....The DSL gateway is in my laundry room and the entire house is CAT5 wired, and there is a patch panel in the laundry room, (I HATE WIRELESS)....So I decided to do a red button reset on the main genie DVR, since I've never done that (nothing was really wrong) ,but at that moment I was bored and nothing was recording so I decided to do it since I had never done a red button reset since I've had it! I go back in my room on my laptop while the DVR was rebooting, and get back on my laptop which is also ethernet connected, but it LOST connection the entire time the DVR was rebooting, but if I unplugged ethernet from my laptop, wireless worked fine, but not ethernet! As soon as I plugged my ethernet cable back into laptop, I could not load webpages (dvr still rebooting).....unplug, and wireless worked fine......as soon as the DVR rebooted, the ethernet on my laptop starts working again.......how in the hell could the main ethernet connected genie cause anything ethernet connected to stop working while it's rebooting?


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Well, I can think of one way, but Id be pissed if he did that, but Ill bet I know what he did... Luckily an easy fix if he did what I think.


Can you sneak a peak back there and see what he did?

What he should have done was one of two things.. He should have either plugged an Ethernet cord directly from your network switch into the genie receiver, OR put a splitter on the coax line, and then connected the genie to one coax and the other coax should have had a BBdeca unit on it, and that would be plugged into the Ethernet port on your network switch.

What he might have done is.. use a splitter on the coax and connect the bbdeca directly to the Ethernet cable form the wall, then connected a Ethernet cable from the genie to the switch, forcing the signal to go through the genie to get to the network switch. Or vice versa, line from wall directly to genie, and then connected the bbdeca to the network switch.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

No clue, the cords are a mess back there, but I'll look and try to figure it out perhaps tomorrow.....will report back


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Good luck!

About once every year or two I pull my entire system apart and rebuild It because of small adds or removals over time and it just becomes a big mess so fast.


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

Yeah....

About the only thing I can figure is the notebook is somehow connected to the same switch the Genie is. Then the entire switch connects through the Genie to it's coax connection on through to a splitter and CCK. Then to the wall which connects back to the patch panel in the laundry room and the main switch which then connects to the DSL gateway.

I this is correct then yes, the tech. screwed up royally.

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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

So basically, all I need to do is find where he has it ethernet connected, take that out of the current setup and plug the ethernet directly into the hr 34, right? Leave everything else as is?

I don't remember seeing an ethernet port on the hr 34-700. I looked twice for it and did not see it unless I overlooked it..

EDIT: figured out why I didn't see the ethernet port. It was difficult to turn the hr 34 to the side so you have to strain to get behind it and see the back panel, but I found the ethernet port! It had this black stopper in it making it almost look flush with back which almost made it look invisible....

Talking with a family member. He says he doesn't see how the genie could affect my ethernet connection in the other room (no matter how the main hr34 is connected), because it's a totally separate line cat 5 line that goes from my bedroom to the patch panel......Later, I'm going to trace the ethernet behind the tv where the hr 34 is from the ethernet switch to see where the hell it's connected...


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Wait I thought all this was happening in that room? Are you saying it was in another room that had the issue? That's an entirely new ball of confusion to figure out. Maybe best way to start is by tracing all wires and posting a schematic here before you try changing anything.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

no .....the small bedroom I sometimes stay in where the client is was where I lost ethernet connection on my laptop the other day when I rebooted the main genie......Anyway, this morning, I go into the master bedroom where the main HR34 is and traced ethernet cables......This is what I see.......a panel on the wall that has a coax connection and an ethernet connection.....from that panel on the wall, the coax cable looks like it goes from the wall to a grey box power inserter, and from that power inserter another cable goes to the back of the HR 34......As far as ethernet, from the panel in the wall there is an ethernet cable that connects to the ethernet switch, from the ethernet switch there is a connection to the smart tv and bluray player....there is NOTHING else........so I have no freaking clue how the hell this thing is connected to the net.......I mean, it's not possible for it to be connected in another room where the clients are, is it? None of the clients have ethernet ports, or if they do, they are not connected via ethernet either....I mean, everything is working fine........it's just that incident with my lan connected laptop when the hr 34 was rebooting that day and it went out during the reboot that I started to wonder how he set this up.....so I don't know, I'm so confused


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Ok then somewhere is a bbdec which looks a little like that power inserter but probably a bit smaller. It has power and a coax on one side and an Ethernet on the other and injects Internet into the coax. So yeah that can be anywhere there is coax and Ethernet. So you'll have to look around for that one.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

OK thanks - I will look in other rooms for this.......but here's my question, if I do spot the bbdec, do I simply unplug the ethernet from the bbdec and then plug ethernet directly into the hr 34?

EDIT: I think I may have found this: This is in the living room with one of the mini genie clients..


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

That's an older version of a broadband deca. They are just as good as the newer version (I think that the newer ones are just less expensive for DirecTV to produce). I wouldn't touch a thing if I were you. This is the same unit that I have in my house.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Yeah and the way it appears it's hooked up it would not have been the cause for your issues. 

I assume that one of those Ethernet cables is plugged into the wall right?


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Yes, from what I understand, the ethernet goes to each room in the house to the patch panel.....so each one is a separate ethernet cable.......In the pic, the ethernet goes from the wall in the living room, to the ethernet switch....then from there it goes into the bb deca....and then another goes to the TV itself. It works GREAT! But the issue the other day when I'm in a spare bedroom with a mini client, and decided to reboot the genie in the master bedroom and while waiting for it to do it's thing, I came back in the spare bedroom and got back on my ethernet connected laptop which showed connected, but no web pages would load.. So I unplugged ethernet from laptop which went straight to my wifi, and viola, web pages loaded.....It was only until the genie finished booting up, the ethernet started working again. I was like WTH? I have NO clue why that would happen....But it does make me feel better than everything is connected correctly......even though it doesn't explain that weirdness.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Maybe the weirdness is a coincidence or your router being weird... What router do you use?


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

It's a comtrend. I have to use that specific router due to Windstream DSL being bonded...I don't think it was windstream (I know they suck overall as an ISP) but here in Lexington, they don't because they have competition...so they are a really good ISP (at least here)..

at any rate, - you think I should leave the ethernet connect at the BB deca instead of connecting it direction into the hr34? If so, why? 

Thanks


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

mark40511 said:


> ...
> at any rate, - you think I should leave the ethernet connect at the BB deca instead of connecting it direction into the hr34? If so, why?
> 
> Thanks


Shouldn't make any difference, in fact the way it is presently wired is better when there are other DVRs in the setup as they or any other IP device on the coax network would still retain their internet connection whenever the Genie reboots.

Sent from my SGH-M819N using Tapatalk


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

mark40511 said:


> OK thanks - I will look in other rooms for this.......but here's my question, if I do spot the bbdec, do I simply unplug the ethernet from the bbdec and then plug ethernet directly into the hr 34?
> 
> EDIT: I think I may have found this: This is in the living room with one of the mini genie clients..


Not being sarcastic but some cable/wire management is in order.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

OK, I will leave it as is..I would have examined the other rooms to see if it was internet connected before, but I was under the impression the connection had to be at the genie, so that's where I was focusing on looking....I really wish I had KNOWN about the HR34 issues before I upgraded to try to get a 44 instead......I was examining the HR34 that I have and it looks brand new, like shiny new.....is that even possible to get a brand new hr34 I wonder? They are kind of old so I doubt it......maybe they just did a really good job refurbishing it or something - This is such a cool system! It's too bad about not being able to fast forward through on demand....so I doubt we will hardly ever use internet with Directv.. It's interesting that some installers do not know about 30SLIP or 30SKIP. I learned this on one of the forums a LONG time ago. I HATE the slip so I always change it....and none of them know what the hell I'm talking about until I show them.....LOL

I think all of my questions have been answered, so thanks very much all - if something else comes up I'll post. 

OH - and yea, those cables need to be managed big time!


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

I was hoping not to have to come back this soon but perhaps someone would know? Family member has "Last Man Standing" set to record all episodes (to save no more than 10 episodes on the DVR at a time). Earlier, it was on LIVE TV and it wasn't recording, even though it was scheduled. They had deleted all the episodes off the DVR because they had watched them.....and they came in my room and asked me why it's on now and not recording? I don't know. They mentioned this same thing happened back when we had the hr 24 with another show but they didn't bother to mention that until now....I've never noticed this happening personally....What could this be? Thanks


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## texasbrit (Aug 9, 2006)

The series link won't record "duplicates", that means any episode that has been on the disk in the last 28 days, even if you have deleted it.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Is this new? I'm only asking because I notice since I have upgraded, for TV show, I notice in the guide it displays the season # and episode #, where it did not on the h4 24 or 21 before I upgraded. Thanks


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

The recording of duplicates has been around since day one of the hr2xa over seven years ago. 

The series and episode info is maybe a year old. And only on genies.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

I never really paid attention all these years I suppose - For me personally, I've always scheduled first run in a series, but then if I notice that series has had already aired episodes I haven't seen, I search for those and schedule those for record once for each already aired episode... But over the years, I have seen things happen and I just never came on the forum to ask........I remember Ghost Hunters recording both the new episode and the episode that airs 3 hrs later, even though it was set to first run, I've seen this happen with Ghost adventures......And Family Feud on GSN, there's no info available for each episode (it just gives the year) and they air several episodes per day...So with the family feud being an example, if it is set to record all episodes, if GSN airs the same episode multiple times, will the h4 34 know this, even though there is no info about each show?


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

In the past, I've had shows where repeats didn't have specific data and had a generic description. It would record those as well, so I started using a boolean for that, excluding recordings that had a specific word in the generic description, like ttitle feud nnot word cchans ###


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

OK, so there were 3 episodes of Last Man Standing airing tonight. Each of these episodes were NOT going to record, even though it's set. One was on live. She said I just recorded that episode and watched and deleted it the other day...so that's why it's not taping. So you were right! I can't believe I never knew this....

I remember reading about the boolean a long time ago, and I think I did it once or twice but never used it enough to memorize the terms.

I still see a bug or two in this system (at least for me) but it's not that horrible. I was watching a mini genie today - I was deleting a recording I had just watched, and it should go back to the list, which it did, and the live TV usually starts playing after the recording is deleted, but live tv was blank and silent.....so I changed channels and all channels were just blank.....(at least the ones I tried), so I turned the mini genie off/on and back working.....


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Here's the issue with some shows you mentioned that record everything even if the info is the same. There's an additional part of information we do not ever see. Think of it as a "serial number" for every episode. But there's also a "serial number" that is just for a series and not specific episode. The eleven o'clock news for example is like the latter. Sometimes stations are lazy and use that for episodes too in the guide data and never actually differentiate the specific episodes and that's why DVRs record every episode even repeats three hours latter. Because all it gets is that it's in the series but no info on which actual episode it is so it defaults to recording it


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Gotcha - another thing just happened - I set GSN to record Fam Feud all episodes since they are all reruns anyway - it recorded almost all of the ones that aired today except 2......I watched like 4 episodes, then when I got to the 5th one, 2 min's into it the keep / delete popped up, but when paused the duration said 30 min.....


EDIT: after deleting that one and trying to watch the next one, that one played, but the next 2 were complete blank recordings......so I went to the main hr 34 to see if it would play there,.... SAME... I wondered if it could have been a tuner problem since at that point I think all tuners were being used when that show was being recorded.....but I checked signal strength on all 5 tuners are the same on all satellite's I checked. there was no rain today or clouds or wind.

EDIT: after rebooting normally the HR 34, when it came back up, my mini wouldn't connect. So I did a red button reset on the hr34 and then I went around and unplugged all the clients so that they could reboot as well.....then everything connected, but this made me want to ask yet ANOTHER question and I'm so sorry - is there a particular sequence this system should be rebooted in? That bugs me about the blank recordings though. It wasn't anything I really cared to lose or not devastated because I couldn't watch them but the fact that something might be wrong somewhere to cause that it what is bugging me.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

mark40511 said:


> Gotcha - another thing just happened - I


you are spending way too much time trying to find bugs instead of what you should ne doing, enjoying your system., watching TV. My 2 cents.

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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

peds48 said:


> you are spending way too much time trying to find bugs instead of what you should ne doing, enjoying your system., watching TV. My 2 cents.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


If only we still had threads to report bugs that DirecTV monitored...


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

And for FWIW, based on me and my family's personal experience and taste as 20 year subs., your system is really unstable rooted in a combination of two problems. 1) The HR34's piss-poor performance nowadays goes without saying. Many customer complaints about them. DIRECTV (AT&T) needs to recall all of them to be honest 2) Combine that with the problem of using clients. To me RVU clients are a nice in concept, but we just don't like them. They're slower and behavior is flakely to us, particularly with the HR34 as the server. And we regularly turn them down flat when offered by DIRECTV as upgrades.

So while I know it going to be a real PITA to go through at this point, you really need to get started along the path of getting rid of the HR34 for a 44 or 54. And exchange all clients except for the 4K one for receivers or DVRs (that is HR24s)

Be a much more stable and flexible setup.

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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Yea, I should have listened and kept the 2 hr 24's, dumped the hr 21 for ONE client, but then I still would have ended up with an hr34.....Anyway, I'm NOT spending time trying to find bugs...I was simply watching a recording/then another and they weren't there, or partially there, so I rebooted, then client wouldn't connect, so then red button reset to try to get the client to connect......which it did....how is that looking for bugs? Not sure how I can enjoy watching tv when the client wont connect or some of the recordings aren't there........but you're right about the HR34, so I called the 5000 # tonight and talked to tech who was awesome..I told her everything that I have done so far which was everything they would have asked me to do anyway.....I told her everything was working now but brought up the slowness/lag of the clients and she had me time some things: Like how long it took to bring up the guide......or if watching a recording, how long it took when I stopped the recording for the list to come up, or going from live tv to menu.......She was shocked when a channel change took 15 seconds.....and the fact that after you're finished watching a recording, you stop/delete it or keep it, how the channel may NOT come back on, but stay blank, until you change channels.....She looked and said there IS a problem with the HR34's in her system that engineering is working on, and that she would like to use my account so that they may do some testing.....whatever that means! From what I've read, it's next to impossible to get an hr 44 unless you're just lucky or go through hoops, so I'm not counting on it.......but I guess I will see..now here's a couple of pics I snapped with weird blue lines on the guide, the other pic is when you go to do reset the screen gets really funky, but the thing has been red buttoned reset twice. Anyway, I tend to ramble and I'm sorry


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## studechip (Apr 16, 2012)

peds48 said:


> you have it backwards. *Ethernet connection works with the NEWER DVRs (the Genies) but not with the older DVRs (HR2X)*. Also using the same coax for OTA is not only possible if you are using DECA for the internet connection, but also if you are using whole home over coax, something that is not possible if you have minis in the set up.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Is this function now disabled on the HR2x series because that's how whole home worked when it was first introduced. I know it's unsupported by Directv now, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't work.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Each day, something else happens! I'm not even watching DirecTV and a family member comes into my room asking if DirecTV is out (just now). I didn't even have it on in my room and I turned my client on and it was working fine....It tuned right to the channel. She was in the room with the HR34 and tried to simply turn the DVR on, but it would not come on.....pointing remote and trying to power it up, nothing, nada.......so we're doing a red button reset on it now, and I just did one on it yesterday. I'm starting to HATE this HR 34! I'm gonna try my best not to post anymore.......but I will update to what happens with directv resolutions dept.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

studechip said:


> Is this function now disabled on the HR2x series because that's how whole home worked when it was first introduced. I know it's unsupported by Directv now, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't work.


I was referring to using the genie as the bridge for the internet connection. The Genies can use Ethernet and coax at the same time while the dual tuners DVRs can be either or but never both at the same time.

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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

mark40511 said:


> Each day, something else happens! I'm not even watching DirecTV and a family member comes into my room asking if DirecTV is out (just now). I didn't even have it on in my room and I turned my client on and it was working fine....It tuned right to the channel. She was in the room with the HR34 and tried to simply turn the DVR on, but it would not come on.....pointing remote and trying to power it up, nothing, nada.......so we're doing a red button reset on it now, and I just did one on it yesterday. I'm starting to HATE this HR 34! I'm gonna try my best not to post anymore.......but I will update to what happens with directv resolutions dept.


Ok, handle it as you see fit;

But personally I strongly suggest you ignore all that about them wanting use your account for testing the HR34 ....

That's really a bunch of baloney. STB engineering does not interact with subscribers that way to my knowledge. While you are still well within the 90 day installation warranty you should demand they come back out and redo the installation to support and exchange the HR34 for a 44 or 54. And ditch the two mini clients for HR24s, keeping just the 4K one.

If you can get no resolution by going through a case manager or whatever (forget about any frontline CSRs).
Contact the Office of the President.

Sent from my SGH-M819N using Tapatalk


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

mark40511 said:


> Each day, something else happens! I'm not even watching DirecTV and a family member comes into my room asking if DirecTV is out (just now). I didn't even have it on in my room and I turned my client on and it was working fine....It tuned right to the channel. She was in the room with the HR34 and tried to simply turn the DVR on, but it would not come on.....pointing remote and trying to power it up, nothing, nada.......so we're doing a red button reset on it now, and I just did one on it yesterday. I'm starting to HATE this HR 34! I'm gonna try my best not to post anymore.......but I will update to what happens with directv resolutions dept.


Call in and complain and demand a hr44.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

HoTat2 said:


> Ok, handle it as you see fit;
> 
> But personally I strongly suggest you ignore all that about them wanting use your account for testing the HR34 ....
> 
> ...


getting the 24s back might be a stretch as that would be considered an upgrade. I do agree to request a 44/54

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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

As Peds notes, getting the 24s back probably isn't going to happen. You can't undo the swap for the mini's, so to go from mini's to HR24s would be an upgrade at a cost of probably $200 each. Doubt it is worth that.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Yea, I'm going to call them back, but I'm NOT going to be nasty about it......even though this is all crazy ridiculous even some of the things that have happened today......Total blank live tv when the guide is up, having to turn off/back on to get live tv to come on, pixelation on recordings even though signal is great and there is no rain......remote stopped responding and had to be reprogrammed......recordings will stutter briefly sometimes as will live tv....The guide sometimes looks funky (pictured above) with the weird blue specks.....Back with an HR24, a RBR would fix everything, but with the HR34, you might have to do a RBR 2 to 3 times before everything seems right...


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Rebooting a receiver twice within 30 minutes flushes the guide data and such. Doing a keyword search for clearmybox does the same thing. Nothing is deleted, but it will need to rebuild the playlist.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

I called DirecTV tech support tonight because there was something I wanted to ask and I figured since I had them on the phone, I would tell him about the other issues in addition to my original question. Family member was watching recording on HR34 (Big Bang Theory), but when the recording ends and you want to delete it, a countdown pops up saying on demand will play the NEXT episode and we wanted to know how to STOP that because it doesn't give you enough time to always cancel it and it starts downloading. This doesn't do this on my client. He said unfortunately there is no way to disable that and it only is a feature on the main genie and not the client.....with the HR34 being so laggy, you can almost never cancel it before the countdown is over.....I then proceeded to tell him about the horrible lag and freaky things that have been happening. He ended up putting in a specific model request for a 44 or 54. He said he was confident that it would get approved and the last 2 he did got approved and that he would send an empty box and I should get an email with the status and that he would call me back Friday to follow up. Anyway, is he correct in that you can't stop the on demand countdown that will auto download the next episode if you don't hit cancel?


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

mark40511 said:


> is he correct in that you can't stop the on demand countdown that will auto download the next episode if you don't hit cancel?


he was spot on, surprisingly! There is no way disable the auto play feature.

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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

That's unfortunate because it's annoying.....Maybe it wouldn't be so bad with little lag if the remote would actually respond immediately in the 2 seconds it gives you to cancel. I never knew this because I haven't watched hardly anything on the HR34 itself, only the clients, and it doesn't do it on the clients......


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Try *rewind*ing first _instead_ of responding to the keep/delete prompt. Should give you at least a few more seconds to think about it before it eventually times out. Then you can simply exit normally, or back out to the play list and pick a different recording if you don't want to go back to live TV right away.

It might take a while to get used to pressing the rewind button first, but this always seemed to work even on the older DVRs if you don't want to exit to live TV by responding to the prompt.

Hopefully the HR34 isn't so slow that it won't respond to the rewind command before it times out. Give it a try.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

OMG - I just got home late, but there was an HR-44 at my door.


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

mark40511 said:


> OMG - I just got home late, but there was an HR-44 at my door.


That's great. Big difference between the HR34 and HR44. You won't be disappointed. Did it come with a RC71 remote?


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

I think so - I've got everything hooked up, the access card is in, and the info on receiver says to call to activate, which I can't do until 8 am. The remote looks like the same ones that are shaped like a peanut (newer types) and I also notice the blue highlite is in spanish, bottom right where you press next..This thing is even smaller than I thought it was.....I'm not sure if it's brand new. It smells new, but the front panel looks like it has a little wear, so it must be a refurb, which I do not care as long as it works.....


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Wow!!!!!

It's all connected, authorized, wifi setup, fav's added, and this thing is blazing fast! I'm not noticing lag with the clients.....The clients are faster than the HR34 itself was now, and the HR44 itself, I can't even.....it's so much faster...

The CSR lady I talked to was nasty! I was never so glad to get off the phone with her after having been on for so long going through all the steps to connect each client. She's like "You know you are going to have to send that hr34 back within 7 days or you will be charged one hundred something dollars", almost like she enjoyed saying it. I said what if the HR34 won't fit in the box the HR44 came in? "Then you'll HAVE to get another box because it must be here within 7 days...The only way it will fit is if you rip out that foam, and she said that's OK.......and during silent moments on the phone while we were waiting, she kept breathing heavily into the phone almost like she was having trouble breathing or something.......It was just a weird call and she was not friendly at all, so I was just matter of fact throughout the entire call......but it's over and everything is working GREAT

Oh, it's an HR44-500


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

mark40511 said:


> Wow!!!!!
> 
> It's all connected, authorized, wifi setup, fav's added, and this thing is blazing fast! I'm not noticing lag with the clients.....The clients are faster than the HR34 itself was now, and the HR44 itself, I can't even.....it's so much faster...
> 
> ...


CSR's are a luck of the draw. Glad you are satisfied with your HR44-500. Enjoy!


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

mark40511 said:


> I said what if the HR34 won't fit in the box the HR44 came in? "Then you'll HAVE to get another box because it must be here within 7 days...The only way it will fit is if you rip out that foam, and she said that's OK.......


If the HR34 really doesn't fit in the box that the HR44 came in, call DirecTV back, explain that to the CSR and ask that they send you a recovery kit for the HR34.


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

What instructions came with the 44 with regards to the 34?


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

mark40511 said:


> I think so - I've got everything hooked up, the access card is in, and the info on receiver says to call to activate, which I can't do until 8 am. The remote looks like the same ones that are shaped like a peanut (newer types) and I also notice the blue highlite is in spanish, bottom right where you press next..This thing is even smaller than I thought it was.....I'm not sure if it's brand new. It smells new, *but the front panel looks like it has a little wear*, so it must be a refurb, which I do not care as long as it works.....


Check the front panel to see if there's maybe some peel-away clear tape. I thought the HR44 I received had a "beat-up" front panel, too until I discovered that tape that protects it. The scuff marks were on the tape and not the panel itself.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

A recovery kit was supposedly sent BEFORE the HR44 got approved and shipped, yet the 44 showed up first. I did call back and he said give it a few more days because it looks like it's in transit.

I got a flashlight and it did have peel away tape on it, but it was on there so good I could BARELY see it, so I doubt previous users (if it is used) would have even known it was there. The tape itself had a worn look to it....so I don't know if it's used or not.

The instructions I did not really read because I disconnected the 34, and reconnected the 44 the same way, only I used the power supply that came with the 44 since it's different. Then I plugged it in, inserted the card and then called DirecTV......The installer installed the 34 so I saw no instructions for that....It was a single piece of paper. Instructions say you need to swap out receiver and disconnect any adapters that were previously there and plug in power cord last - then the card goes in. At that point it said to call to activate so I didn't read the rest.

It was interesting the CSR said the DECA in the living room needed to be taken out of the equation. I double checked that she was sure about that and she said 100 percent....so behind TV in living room, I disconnected deca and splitter, from one of the clients, and just put coax from wall to mini genie, the hr44 connected wirelessly. I don't really care as we don't use internet on directv that much. I was able to free up some wire clutter back there thanks to taking that off. Everything works on all clients perfectly, Internet apps, downloading on demand, no lag at all. The difference is amazing even using the older remotes vs the new remotes....there is no difference in remote response time, so we continue to use the older remotes.....


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

Don't get rid of that Broadband DECA. You may regret the decision to go wireless and want to put it back the old way. I don't think that anyone here would recommend going wireless when a wired solution is available to you.


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## WestDC (Feb 9, 2008)

Bill Broderick said:


> Don't get rid of that Broadband DECA. You may regret the decision to go wireless and want to put it back the old way. I don't think that anyone here would recommend going wireless when a wired solution is available to you.


Not to argue - But Depending on (each users Home) as to where the wireless router is located- if the location is close enoung for a good signal then wireless will work just fine.


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

WestDC said:


> Not to argue - But Depending on (each users Home) as to where the wireless router is located- if the location is close enoung for a good signal then wireless will work just fine.


Will Wireless ever be as good as wired? Will it ever be as fast? Are the chances of connectivity problems as low with Wireless as they are with wired?

"Works just fine" is perfect for installations where wireless is impossible or requires a significant effort. But, IMO, it makes no sense to go wireless in installations where wired is just as easy. It makes even less sense to disconnect an existing wired connection in order to go wireless.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

Bill Broderick said:


> Will Wireless ever be as good as wired? Will it ever be as fast? Are the chances of connectivity problems as low with Wireless as they are with wired?
> 
> "Works just fine" is perfect for installations where wireless is impossible or requires a significant effort. But, IMO, it makes no sense to go wireless in installations where wired is just as easy. It makes even less sense to disconnect an existing wired connection in order to go wireless.


I agree 100%.....


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Why put more wireless stuff out there that can cause more conflicts if you don't need to. Just sayin...


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

I HATE wireless! The only thing in my house that was wireless is our smart phones, everything else is ethernet. I have an ethernet cable that runs from an ethernet switch behind the sofa in the living room and I hide it in the crack of the sofa when not being used. Same in all bedrooms and behind TV's. I should have known she was crazy when she said that because immediately when she answered I didn't have a very good vibe about her. I should have hung up and called back....I lost some of my recordings so I was searching for Paranormal Witness on Sci Fi to re record some of the reruns of first airings that I had recorded on the HR34, but not yet watched.....and I'm having to use ON Demand Sci Fi to watch them. I can't fast forward through commercials but I can pause....But it's interesting that when there is a commercial, it's very short and the program is back on almost before you know it. The program started immediately and within 5 min it was fully downloaded.

I'm honestly still kind of in shock at the difference every time I turn on my TV. Everything is immediate. I knew it would be faster but not this much faster. Can you imagine if all DirecTV genie customers that have HR-34's knew this? Had it not been for this forum, I wouldn't have had a clue and just dealt with it I guess, which is probably what most do.


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

You should learn from the past and ask here before you actually do the things that DirecTV CSR's tell you to do. More often than not, they will give you bad advice.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

mark40511 said:


> I HATE wireless! The only thing in my house that was wireless is our smart phones, everything else is ethernet. I have an ethernet cable that runs from an ethernet switch behind the sofa in the living room and I hide it in the crack of the sofa when not being used. Same in all bedrooms and behind TV's. I should have known she was crazy when she said that because immediately when she answered I didn't have a very good vibe about her. I should have hung up and called back....I lost some of my recordings so I was searching for Paranormal Witness on Sci Fi to re record some of the reruns of first airings that I had recorded on the HR34, but not yet watched.....and I'm having to use ON Demand Sci Fi to watch them. I can't fast forward through commercials but I can pause....But it's interesting that when there is a commercial, it's very short and the program is back on almost before you know it. The program started immediately and within 5 min it was fully downloaded.
> 
> I'm honestly still kind of in shock at the difference every time I turn on my TV. Everything is immediate. I knew it would be faster but not this much faster. Can you imagine if all DirecTV genie customers that have HR-34's knew this? Had it not been for this forum, I wouldn't have had a clue and just dealt with it I guess, which is probably what most do.


I have a friend that I've told to replace his 34 with a 44, he won't as he'd have to redo his series links. So some know, but still stay with it. I have one, but I use it more as an OTA backup.


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Yea - it's funny how much you can setup and record in one or two weeks, only to have to do it all over again, but it was so worth it!

Anyway - I think we talked about this earlier but in the living room where one of my wired clients is located where I ended up taking off the deca and splitter and connecting coax straight from wall to genie - if in the future, if I ever want to connect the genie to wired can't I just simply connect the genie itself to ethernet using my ethernet switch behind the tv where the genie is located? That would be super easy to do, but I do not know if you MUST have deca and splitter in order to have wired internet.....It doesn't really matter at this point as the wireless is working great the little I've used it, but it just occurred to me that when I installed the HR44, I thought I remembered seeing an ethernet port. It's also interesting that spellcheck says I'm spelling ethernet wrong.


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

mark40511 said:


> Yea - it's funny how much you can setup and record in one or two weeks, only to have to do it all over again, but it was so worth it!
> 
> Anyway - I think we talked about this earlier but in the living room where one of my wired clients is located where I ended up taking off the deca and splitter and connecting coax straight from wall to genie - if in the future, if I ever want to connect the genie to wired can't I just simply connect the genie itself to ethernet using my ethernet switch behind the tv where the genie is located? That would be super easy to do, but I do not know if you MUST have deca and splitter in order to have wired internet.....It doesn't really matter at this point as the wireless is working great the little I've used it, but it just occurred to me that when I installed the HR44, I thought I remembered seeing an ethernet port. It's also interesting that spellcheck says I'm spelling ethernet wrong.


Yes, you can simply connect the Genie by ethernet. All Genies except the H44 Genie Lite have an internal MoCA to ethernet crossover bridge (or a DECA). Make sure to reboot the Genie after making the connection to make the Genie switchover to wired.

Also, while it is true most CSRs are clueless and not technical people, but simply following a script. Even if they were technically minded they still are obligated to follow the script which probably just says to use the built in WiFi for the internet connection on all Genies above the HR34.

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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Interesting - Remember when on the HR34 before I got the recent HR44 when you delete an episode of a series, there is a countdown that will download the next episode on demand and you have a short window to cancel? But it ONLY happened on the HR34, not the clients, and since the 34 was slow to respond to remote commands, you often wouldn't get it canceled before it started downloading.....Now that the HR44 is so freaking fast, this isn't a big deal to get it canceled. ........Now that I have the HR44, it happens on the clients as well when deleting a series that is offered on demand.


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

mark40511 said:


> Interesting - Remember when on the HR34 before I got the recent HR44 when you delete an episode of a series, there is a countdown that will download the next episode on demand and you have a short window to cancel? But it ONLY happened on the HR34, not the clients, and since the 34 was slow to respond to remote commands, you often wouldn't get it canceled before it started downloading.....Now that the HR44 is so freaking fast, this isn't a big deal to get it canceled. ........Now that I have the HR44, it happens on the clients as well when deleting a series that is offered on demand.





Delroy E Walleye said:


> Try *rewind*ing first _instead_ of responding to the keep/delete prompt. Should give you at least a few more seconds to think about it before it eventually times out. Then you can simply exit normally, or back out to the play list and pick a different recording if you don't want to go back to live TV right away.
> 
> It might take a while to get used to pressing the rewind button first, but this always seemed to work even on the older DVRs if you don't want to exit to live TV by responding to the prompt.
> 
> Hopefully the HR34 isn't so slow that it won't respond to the rewind command before it times out. Give it a try.


This still works for me (HR44) but I don't have clients. Good to know this stupid feature applies to clients too though, in case I ever get any (not likely until they can have their own recording management - to-do and play lists).


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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

So far with the new HR44 so good! We had heavy rain and I only briefly saw rain fade. Everything is super fast and the ONLY thing I notice is occasional audio dropouts.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

In the past when I had dropouts it was Dolby related. It was worst when I had an Onkyo receiver, as it would click every time it happened. My Denon doesn't do that. 

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## mark40511 (Jul 18, 2008)

Are u saying it might help if I turn dolby off in audio settings ? I just looked and on my client it was off, but on the HR44 it was ON.


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

mark40511 said:


> Are u saying it might help if I turn dolby off in audio settings ? I just looked and on my client it was off, but on the HR44 it was ON.


In your setup, not unless the audio dropouts are occurring only when veiwing on the HR44, you could try turning DD off which would then switch the audio on the HDMI connection to two channel PCM. This may work better particularly if an A/V receiver is in the mix.

But if the dropouts are on the client, then no this won't help as DD is already off.

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