New Member
•
3 Messages
equipment info
Hello,
I am a satellite customer with 3 receivers, one HR24-200 DVR and two R22(w/HD)/200. Two receivers are pixelating, even without weather interference. I checked the signal strength for transponder and signal meter, all between 96-99. Seems like I'm having to hit the reset button more frequently.
I am thinking about a whole-house system. Seems like the Genie gets good reviews. The TVs are all on different floors. How does the whole-house set up work?
Thank you.
One more question - if DirecTv was split from AT&T, why is billing and login through AT&T?
Accepted Solution
Juniper
ACE - Expert
•
23.1K Messages
24 days ago
Whole Home DVR is watching recordings from one HDDVR on another. You would be paying $3 a month for that, just like $10 HD and $10 DVR. Service works through the coax.
You could consider upgrading one of the R22s to the Genie. This would get you a 5 tuner HDDVR with 1TB space. The R22s being MPEG-4/HD capable are compatible with Whole Home. But since the R22s were prioritized as an SDDVR, because of some areas updated to MPEG-4 locals even with SD-only service, their hard drives are smaller which is eaten up quickly by HD content.
Based on your models, I take it has been well more than 24 months since your last upgrade. As such the equipment is expected to be free, come with a 24 month service agreement, and as mentioned add in the $3 if you don't already have it. This would be tech install to make sure you have the proper SWM setup for your coax and any adapters (such as for the remaining R22). So that should verify connections are good and possibly fine tune the alignment on the dish with any issues discovered. Call DirecTV's official number to be sure.
Make sure to be caught up on the recordings for the one box replaced as they do not copy over. Do NOT get the Genie-2 (HS17) as would require all 3 boxes be replaced as it forbids dedicated DVRs, essentially having all TVs reliant on a single box to run everything. As long as the regular Genie is still available you would most likely get the 3rd generation (HR54).
0
0
shannon02
ACE - Expert
•
21.2K Messages
24 days ago
If you can watch the programs on the HR24 on the R22's then you already have Whole Home. All Whole Home does is share the programs on the DVR with all clients/receivers.
Are you also checking the 99/103 sats?
If you are bundled with AT&T internet then the billing will not change. Not sure why your DTV account is still using AT&T but it could be the sale is not final yet but should be in Oct.
0
0
anyone345
New Member
•
3 Messages
24 days ago
you are awesome! Yes, our last tech swap was in 2019, and then we added the DVR and HD,as SD was discontinued. We also replaced one of the R22's. All three boxes are independent, and are dedicated to one TV each. It would be nice to have the whole house option. I thought the Genie would replace the HR24, but I'd be glad to get rid of the very glitchy R22.
Thank you again.
0
0
shannon02
ACE - Expert
•
21.2K Messages
24 days ago
I don't know if it can still be done, but you can add Whole Home to your account without a Genie, at one time it was common for HR24's to use Whole Home.
0
0
Juniper
ACE - Expert
•
23.1K Messages
24 days ago
Those R22s are the special gold in my opinion. Even many legacy DirecTV reps were not well versed in their full capability. So if you've got one R22 very glitchy, that is prime for replacement.
A Whole Home upgrade without Genie may not be an option for them anymore. But getting a Genie, while end result is still 3 independently working boxes that can share their recording lists, I believe is the best option. Just make sure they do not replace any boxes with Mini Genie Clients as that would be a downgrade in your exact setup.
0
0
Good4u
Contributor
•
190 Messages
23 days ago
I'm sure some of the old timers on here won't agree but if you do any streaming at all I would definitely consider opting for a Genie 2 with three Gemini if I could get them. I love being able to use one remote for DirecTV and YouTube and other streaming options. I love the voice search as well as being able to use the voice Google Assistant. Plus, although 4K is very limited, you would have that ability with the Gemini. The Genie 2 can be put in some out of the way space and then you just have a very small box that needs to go at each TV. You would have just as much hard drive capability as you would with a Genie 1 and two of the DVRs that you now own. You would have slightly less tuners as the Genie 2 has seven tuners. With a Genie 1 you would have 5 plus the 2 in each of the other DVRs. Be aware the Genie 2 does not work with the local channel connector, which may or may not be a factor. Also, you do have all of your eggs in one basket, so to speak, so if something does happen to the Genie 2, none your TVs are going to work for DirecTV.
0
0
Juniper
ACE - Expert
•
23.1K Messages
23 days ago
Gemini is a Client like the Mini Genie. Yes it supports streaming apps, so has that extra capability.
It depends on tuners and recording space needs. The Genie-2 (HS17) is a 7 tuner Headless Server with 2TB space. Those tuners are hard capped, and unless the very first run there is no support for more recording space.
A regular Genie and 2 HDDVRs is 9 tuners, so less risk of conflicts for watching/recording. And those boxes support external eSATA hard drives. HDDVRs support up to 2TB external, but the Genie (had suggested 4TB at launch), has no official hard cap so people have used 12TB and larger (though that is overkill to me).
I like how the Gemini supports those streaming apps. My issue is having all TVs reliant on the main box, sharing parental control settings, and hard capping capability is not as reliable or flexible for the consumer. I keep hoping now that AT&T has sold of DirecTV that eventually they would return to mixing and matching HDDVRs with Genie and Clients so everybody could get the ideal setup that works for them.
0
0