# Plans to make GenieGo stream live with DVR like response?



## JimAtTheRez (May 9, 2008)

Even with the old Directv2PC, we could FF to current time on a program that was streaming live (sports, etc). Does D* have plans to do this in the future? I have been very disappointed in what the GenieGo was capable of doing (my fault for not asking before I bought it). Thanks in advance.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Good question, but those who know won't say, and the rest are left with guessing or hoping. In this case, there may not be anyone who posts regularly who knows, with one or two exceptions.


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## Diana C (Mar 30, 2007)

There are some real challenges to getting that kind of responsiveness and control remotely. If you have ever used a Slingplayer you will know what I mean. The need to buffer the data to allow for communication hiccups, the time spent transcoding, and simple propagation delays for commands, make it tough to do. Even services like Netflix and Hulu don't do fast forward or rewind very smoothly. Probably the only way to get even close would be some sort of RVU (or something similar) interface, but I don't think people would like having to pay an additional $6 per month for their iPad as an additional outlet.


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## mrdobolina (Aug 28, 2006)

Seems like another example of "Everything is amazing, but nobody is happy" to me. Here we have this amazing little box (or boxes if you include similar devices like a Slingplayer) that allows you to basically watch your TV pretty much anywhere you can get a good internet connection (!! Really!!!) and people are still disappointed in its capabilities. Even if you were able to fast forward to live, it's still not live, even if you are on a Sling. 1st you have the time it takes for the signal to fly up to the satellite and back, then there is processing through the DVR, then the device has to transcode and buffer the data for streaming, then that data has to come through the ether, and finally the end user app has to transcode and buffer for viewing. It's "live" to you, and that's what really counts. 

Nothing but love from me for my GenieGo. I hardly use it for streaming. Sometimes when I'm home and my daughter is watching one of her shows I'll stream a show from my DVR to the iPad, but really the genius of the GG is the ability to load programs onto my device for viewing without an internet connection. The day I am able to download programs to my devices from out of home is the day this device will be absolutely perfect for me.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Wellllllll........

never say never. The good news is that federal courts have upheld the right of a person to use placeshifting hardware (like a slingbox) but that doesn't mean that it's allowed by DIRECTV's retransmission contracts (or DISH's for that matter, even though they do it in their Hopper with Sling.)

There's no question that this technology is out there. There's no question that there could be one device that records it, streams it, and allows you to offload it. (Again, I know I'll get no love from this group here, but Hopper with Sling and DISH's Explorer app do it, and so does TiVo's Roamio.)

Why has DIRECTV not done it, especially where they own patents from ReplayTV and have access to certain older TiVo patents as well... that is the real question being asked. That's a question that's not likely to be answered in a public forum at this point in time.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Stuart Sweet said:


> There's no question that this technology is out there. There's no question that there could be one device that records it, streams it, and allows you to offload it. (Again, I know I'll get no love from this group here, but Hopper with Sling and DISH's Explorer app do it, and so does TiVo's Roamio.)


Simple.TV will record and stream as well, with offloading "coming soon": http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=STV-1000


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Very true, Steve, very true.


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## dualsub2006 (Aug 29, 2007)

(Again, I know I'll get no love from this group here, but Hopper with Sling and DISH's Explorer app do it, and so does TiVo's Roamio.)
WRONG! 

I love you for saying this. 

Well, you know what I mean. Hopefully.


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## spedinfargo (Oct 6, 2005)

I'm not necessarily looking for complete snappy trick-play responsiveness but I would LOVE to be able to press the 30-sec skip button multiple times and have it "queue" up the presses like when I'm at home. Right now it takes longer than 30 seconds for the buffering to complete and return control to me! Even a small change of not graying out the skip button would be awesome. Or let me do something like press the "6" on my keyboard and then click on it and have it do 6 presses of it...

Makes watching my Timberwolfies (NBA) on the road almost impossible...

I did just get a Slingbox 350 (haven't set it up yet) so I'm curious what that experience will be like...


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## spedinfargo (Oct 6, 2005)

By the way, I will still use the GenieGo for offloading of episodes... just not loving it for streaming...


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## Diana C (Mar 30, 2007)

spedinfargo said:


> ...I did just get a Slingbox 350 (haven't set it up yet) so I'm curious what that experience will be like...


I doubt that you'll love that for skipping either. I find that I always overshoot the commercials and backing up is painful - by the time you see you have overshot, hit the jump back button, the command gets transmitted back to the Slingbox, and is finally received by the DVR, almost the entire jumpback time has elapsed. As a result, jumpback just puts you back where you hit the jumpback. So, every set of jumpback commands needs one extra, to compensate for the lag. Jumping forward is a little easier, but again the transmission lag means that by the time you see the start of a commercial, press the skip button, and all the transmission and processing takes place, the playback is a good 10 seconds into the first commercial.

The only exception is Slingplayer for the PC or Mac. These players have their own local buffers, so going back is MUCH easier.


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## spedinfargo (Oct 6, 2005)

Diana C said:


> I doubt that you'll love that for skipping either. I find that I always overshoot the commercials and backing up is painful - by the time you see you have overshot, hit the jump back button, the command gets transmitted back to the Slingbox, and is finally received by the DVR, almost the entire jumpback time has elapsed. As a result, jumpback just puts you back where you hit the jumpback. So, every set of jumpback commands needs one extra, to compensate for the lag. Jumping forward is a little easier, but again the transmission lag means that by the time you see the start of a commercial, press the skip button, and all the transmission and processing takes place, the playback is a good 10 seconds into the first commercial.
> 
> The only exception is Slingplayer for the PC or Mac. These players have their own local buffers, so going back is MUCH easier.


Yeah, I'll be curious to how it ends up going in production. I literally just got it hooked up on Tuesday and haven't had too much time to play around with it. True test will be when I'm on the road and want to watch a DVR'd Timberwolves game... sports isn't as important to get the skip to work perfectly... Just hit the skip six times and not worry too much if three minutes is too much and I miss the start of the action...


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## tonycsmoke (Dec 16, 2013)

Just purchased the GenieGo and while I appreciate some of it's functionality such as downloading to my tablet the resolution is much poorer then Direct2pc. I'll often start recording a hockey game and fire up the laptop to watch with Direct2pc. Worked great for the past couple of years. Bought a new laptop and it won't work with it. Decided to get the GenieGo and watching it took me back to the days of Standard Definition.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

First, welcome to DBSTalk!

Second, sorry you are disappointed with GenieGo. It's really made for watching on an iPad or iPhone*, as you've seen with the small file size it uses. Great for travel, great for being offline. While it can stream, I seldom use that feature. 

*my opinion, of course.


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## tonycsmoke (Dec 16, 2013)

Thanks for the welcome

I've used it to watch a couple of shows and it's fine for that. I can see the benefits if your traveling. We used the Direct2pc quite a bit - hooking the laptop up to a bigger monitor and watching TV outside by the firepit - playoff baseball (happens a lot in St Louis). Maybe they will improve this cause I don't think they will start to support Direct2pc again.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

is getting better (will get better), at least on the iPad....


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## JimAtTheRez (May 9, 2008)

Steve said:


> Simple.TV will record and stream as well, with offloading "coming soon": http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=STV-1000


Would Simple TV work with Directv, or only on the OTA channels?


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

It only works with OTA or basic cable.


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## JimAtTheRez (May 9, 2008)

Stuart Sweet said:


> It only works with OTA or basic cable.


Thanks Stuart. I thought so, but appreciate the response.


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