# Mixing Genie and HR24



## catocony (Oct 15, 2009)

Apologies if this has been asked and answered before, but can you mix and match a Genie and an HR24 in a whole-home setup?

My current setup is two HR24s linked via Ethernet for whole home. I had a lightning strke outside my house this afternoon - it sucked - and the DVR in the living room was still operational. However, the 55" TV would not turn on, so I pulled the UPS to check for damage. Aftwards, the HR24 would not power back up. The TV won't power up either, just clicks ever 10 seconds as what I assume a capacitor or internal circuit breaking keeps resetting. This sucks too.

I called DTV to see about hardware options. I can get a Genie and a mini for free, but I don't really want to swap out the working HR24 at this point. It's in the office, running composite to an old Trinitron TV. The HDMI interface crapped out on that HR24 about 2 years ago, but since it's on an old TV, it's not a big deal.

So, question one is, can a Genie and HR24 work together in a whole home setup? I generally know the pros and cons of the Genie client/mini, and personally, I would prefer to have two full DVRs, more for redundancy than anything else. It sounds like the minis are pretty much dumb clients that can only stream content from a full Genie. As an old switch and router techie, single points of failure are not my thing.

By the way, the TV and DVR that got hit, were both on battery outlets on a fairly new 850v UPS. A lightning bolt to a tree just ouside the window of that room seems to have trumped the UPS.


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

A Genie is just a larger HR24 - screw the mini.

Good luck on get your television. You probably right about the capacitor. But you might be better off replacing the whole board.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

Yes the Genie and HR24 work together exactly the same as both HR24 have for you in the past.

The client however can view and set recordings to the Genie as well as manage series lists.
But a client uses a tuner from the genie while in use.
I have 1 client, and I would never add another.


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## NR4P (Jan 16, 2007)

If all the equipment was on a UPS, you may have lost the equipment due to a hit on the phone lines, ethernet or sat lines.
But in any case, some UPS manufacturers offers some sort of insurance as part of the sale.

If you can find a receipt and the warranty you may be able to file a claim with them, as well as your own insurance company.

And I agree, replace the HR24 with another HR24 or change it to a Genie and keep the other HR24.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

I agree with the others. No reason to downgrade to a client from an HR24


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## catocony (Oct 15, 2009)

Guys, thanks for the clarification. This was my first lightning strike, and assuming I don't lose the tree - an 85 foot oak - I'll consider the damage minimal. It looks like the wireless bridge that was also attached to that UPS is toast as well, so the culprit is clear. 

I believe the 'warranty" offered by the UPS guys is worth about zero, especially if it's due to a lightning strike. I called my insurance company just to inquire about maybe opening a claim, and afer 1.5 hours of being bounced around, I said screw it and will just replace everything out of pocket. To find out if opening a claim would be worthwhile, as in is it cheaper to pay for everything myself vs. having insurance pay for it but then raise my rates, I need to first talk to a claims rep. To talk to a claims rep, I need to file a claim. Just to find out if I should file a claim :blackeye:

It's less than $1,000 damage, since a new DVR is effectively free and TVs are cheap. The TV is a bit over three years old, but I will make a few inquiries as to getting it fixed vs scrapping it. A new 50" 1080p is fairly cheap, although it looks like plasmas are pretty much gone from the market. It was a sweet TV 

I have/had about 80 hours of content on the DVR, so I'll miss that. My fault for not watching the full season of "Fargo" as they were broadcast. 

I've had DirecTV since the late 90s, and DVRs since 2002. It's not the first DVR that's bombed out on me, though the first due to a power surge. I have a stack of DirecTivos and an R15 in the basement, so this one will probably join them unless DirecTV wants it back.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

damondlt said:


> Yes the Genie and HR24 work together exactly the same as both HR24 have for you in the past.
> 
> The client however can view and set recordings to the Genie as well as manage series lists.
> But a client uses a tuner from the genie while in use.
> I have 1 client, and I would never add another.


In his setup.please explain how he'd lose anything with a genie and a client over what he has now? Made actually have more than he has now, and it would simply all his conflicts, series managers, etc, and make the system the exact same at both TV locations and there fore easier to operate overall.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

catocony said:


> Apologies if this has been asked and answered before, but can you mix and match a Genie and an HR24 in a whole-home setup?
> 
> My current setup is two HR24s linked via Ethernet for whole home. I had a lightning strke outside my house this afternoon - it sucked - and the DVR in the living room was still operational. However, the 55" TV would not turn on, so I pulled the UPS to check for damage. Aftwards, the HR24 would not power back up. The TV won't power up either, just clicks ever 10 seconds as what I assume a capacitor or internal circuit breaking keeps resetting. This sucks too.
> 
> ...


You already have a lot of single points of failure in your system...

Nothing stops lightning really. Not a big enough hit.

A genie simply replacing a a HR24 will not change how your system works one bit. But do know, a client can pull shows from any HR24 in the system as well, if you are thinking of adding a third TV with just a client...


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

inkahauts said:


> You already have a lot of single points of failure in your system...


But not for recordings.... For recordings a Genie a client gives a loss all if the Genie goes south


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

inkahauts said:


> In his setup.please explain how he'd lose anything with a genie and a client over what he has now? Made actually have more than he has now, and it would simply all his conflicts, series managers, etc, and make the system the exact same at both TV locations and there fore easier to operate overall.


They aren't going to Give him a Genie and a Client, first off, unless he is dropping both of the HR24s

I would Never go for that swap in a million years.

He should Keep one of the HR24's and Add a Genie.
The Clients are not that great, any Hiccup the Genie has effects the Clients operation, so when your dealing with software 870 random unresponses and brief freeze ups, the client does the same crap.


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## catocony (Oct 15, 2009)

damondlt said:


> They aren't going to Give him a Genie and a Client, first off, unless he is dropping both of the HR24s
> 
> I would Never go for that swap in a million years.
> 
> ...


The way I currently do it is I record a lot of movies on the office HR24, and stuff with commercials on the HR24 in the living room. The office system is also for the occasional times when I want to record more than two things at a time. A single Genie solves that problem by being able to record 5 things at a time. But, I've had whole home for three years, and I know how flaky it can be sometimes, especially if you're forwarding through commercials on a streamed feed. Or, sometimes, the two units lose connectivity.

One of the things I'll do with the replacement box is have DirecTV to a real job of setting up whole home. I set it up myself just over Ethernet, but the wireless bridge in between (I don't have network cabling in the house, it's old) does create some difficulties. I want a real setup, with DECA and everything.

As for single points of failure, sure, there a plenty. Single hard drive per DVR, single HDMI port, single power supply, etc. It would be nice if you could replicate drives between boxes and things like that - a small RAID on each unit, with every RAID in each DVR constantly streaming content for full backup. Then again, it's just television programming, so going on-line to watch a few episodes of "The Blacklist" that I hadn't gotten around to watching isn't the end of the world.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

peds48 said:


> But not for recordings.... For recordings a Genie a client gives a loss all if the Genie goes south


That's only true if he double records every thing he watches. I don't think he does that so......


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

damondlt said:


> They aren't going to Give him a Genie and a Client, first off, unless he is dropping both of the HR24s
> 
> I would Never go for that swap in a million years.
> 
> ...


I think if he add a location they'd give it to him as well in a heart beat

And I don't see these issues you do with clients. I think you have an hr34 iirc which is the issue you have. My clients are rocks with my 44. They are pretty good and better than a hr21 when connected to my 34. But my all 4 series are better than hr24s.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

My C41 works great for me on my 34. Though it's not a daily driver anymore, there was a point I was using it as my primary and worked great. 

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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

catocony said:


> The way I currently do it is I record a lot of movies on the office HR24, and stuff with commercials on the HR24 in the living room. The office system is also for the occasional times when I want to record more than two things at a time. A single Genie solves that problem by being able to record 5 things at a time. But, I've had whole home for three years, and I know how flaky it can be sometimes, especially if you're forwarding through commercials on a streamed feed. Or, sometimes, the two units lose connectivity.
> 
> One of the things I'll do with the replacement box is have DirecTV to a real job of setting up whole home. I set it up myself just over Ethernet, but the wireless bridge in between (I don't have network cabling in the house, it's old) does create some difficulties. I want a real setup, with DECA and everything.
> 
> As for single points of failure, sure, there a plenty. Single hard drive per DVR, single HDMI port, single power supply, etc. It would be nice if you could replicate drives between boxes and things like that - a small RAID on each unit, with every RAID in each DVR constantly streaming content for full backup. Then again, it's just television programming, so going on-line to watch a few episodes of "The Blacklist" that I hadn't gotten around to watching isn't the end of the world.


You shouldn't be regularly having issues with mrv. That's not good. I don't care what boxes you have. Definitely need to fix that when they upgrade and going deca Likely will.

With whichever way you chose I'm sure it will work out for you both ways are good and have pros and cons. Either way will give you more than you have now.


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## catocony (Oct 15, 2009)

inkahauts said:


> You shouldn't be regularly having issues with mrv. That's not good. I don't care what boxes you have. Definitely need to fix that when they upgrade and going deca Likely will.
> 
> With whichever way you chose I'm sure it will work out for you both ways are good and have pros and cons. Either way will give you more than you have now.


Each of the HR24s have a live Ethernet drop. One is plugged directly into my router, the other into a wireless bridge back to my router. When you do this, the DVRs no longer communicate over coax but via Ethernet. I should have written that by DECA, I mean a CinemaConnect or similar adapter, so that I'm no longer using the on-board Ethernet ports on the DVRs at all.

I'm getting a Genie, and am crossing my fingers it's an HR44. If so, I was told that a wireless adapter is built in, and that point, I'll disconnect the Ethernet on both HR24s and they will communicate via coax, then out the single Genie to the wireless network.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

inkahauts said:


> That's only true if he double records every thing he watches. I don't think he does that so......


That wasn't my point, I record A,B and C on one of my Genies and D, E, and F on my other one. If one of them goes, I only loose " half" of my recordings. With one Genie I would loose everything


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

catocony said:


> Each of the HR24s have a live Ethernet drop. One is plugged directly into my router, the other into a wireless bridge back to my router. When you do this, the DVRs no longer communicate over coax but via Ethernet. I should have written that by DECA, I mean a CinemaConnect or similar adapter, so that I'm no longer using the on-board Ethernet ports on the DVRs at all.
> 
> I'm getting a Genie, and am crossing my fingers it's an HR44. If so, I was told that a wireless adapter is built in, and that point, I'll disconnect the Ethernet on both HR24s and they will communicate via coax, then out the single Genie to the wireless network.


Yes that is how it works. All you needed though as a ick at your one by your router an you would have been deca already. That wireless adapter is probably a big source of your issues.

And you can still plug the genie in hard wired instead of going wireless if you want it will bridge the network still and you again avoid wireless connection, although installers are not told this for some reason.


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