Replace an HR-24?

There are no "new" HR24s they are all refurbished and they are still leased not owned.  At one time there where problems activating them with DTV but the new owners may have changed that.   If you are having hard drive problems weaknees.com maybe able to replace it with a 2TB drive and maybe transfer any programing and settings but it is not cheap.

Hey @Ferretman. @shannon02 is correct. DIRECTV retired the HD-DVR to provide customers with a better, more reliable viewing experience with the Genie products, and it needs to be installed by a technician.

Contact us at DIRECTV Customer Service - Phone Support & Chat if you wish to request a replacement receiver. Kesiah, DIRECTV Community Team

Hello DirecTVhelp:

I do appreciate your answer, though it's not really an answer to the question I was asking.  

Can I simply replace the existing box (if necessary) and ask you guys to authorize it?  

I'm unsure I want/need a Genie functionality.

Thank you.

Steven

You can try to get a replacement device that's not leased with a new access card, but you may encounter issues activating it like what @shannon02 said. Kesiah, DIRECTV Community Team

Getting DirecTV to activate a box not from them has been difficult in the last couple of years. Any box acquired from their authorized 3rd party sellers is still 'leased' and comes with a 24 month agreement, no matter where you got it.

If your box is having issues to the extent it needs replacing, DirecTV does a warranty replacement for $19.95 delivery. This is a like-for-like replacement, so same model line of equal or newer model. As HR24 is the last regular HDDVR, that is what you would get for as long as they still have any in stock.

I would only consider the Genie if you have more than one TV. It is a more capable HDDVR as has 5 tuners and 1TB space, compared to your HR24 which has 2 tuners and 500GB. But it requires Whole Home DVR to have the option to share recordings with your other TVs.

So is that HR24 your only box? If not, what are the models of your others? This would help narrow down if a Genie upgrade is something to consider or not.

Contrary to Kesiah, the Genie product line isn't more reliable by default.

With a Genie and regular HDDVRs, you have standalone boxes that can still work even if one goes down. If all you have is a Genie and Clients, the main box goes down then no TV works.

This is especially bad with the Genie-2 (HS17) as only permits Clients. The Genie-2 is more restrictive as forces all TVs to share a single recording list and parental controls. Plus you are hard capped on 7 tuners, where a regular Genie and 2 HDDVR is 9 tuners already. It is an all-in-one setup the prior owner AT&T forced onto customers with discontinuing standalone boxes. For this reason the Genie-2 is NOT better. The regular Genie compliments regular HDDVRs.

Howdy Juniper:

Yes, the HR-24 is the only DVR we're rocking here; the other two are just the smaller footprint satellite receivers.

My primary concern is that my mother (who is having trouble seeing) has got the existing remotes all memorized; she could not easily adjust to a new system.  There are also the technical problems that might or might not be fixed via the reset process; that's to be determined yet.

Basically I was looking at options.

Thank you!

Steven

The old remotes still work with the new Genie receiver just not in RF.

I would try a warranty replacement. If the front line agent claims it cannot be done, then request a supervisor. (I suspect some agents too heavily push into upgrade options to try and make Client-only setups the standard).

Ok so you have 3 boxes total. But only one is a DVR (HR model).

If your mother uses all 3 boxes, than I would leave the other two alone. With her vision concerns I wouldn't want her thrown into the new user interface. However, if she only uses the one TV than I would consider the Genie (not Genie-2) and a Client to upgrade them to as they work with your existing HR24. That way all TVs get use out of the DVR service you have. Assuming you're on the old billing model of $10 HD and $10 DVR, that would only add $3 for the Whole Home DVR service (unless you already have that service of course).

Last resort is using an authorized 3rd party retailer (such as Solid Signal) to pay for HR24s (that are still owned by DirecTV and come with a 24 month service agreement). Those were $199 each for their one-time lease cost, but I believe cost was increasing as they are a bit more in demand as their production was discontinued quite some time ago. Just do not get used/previously owned (eBay, etc.) as DirecTV no longer reactivates boxes.

(edited)

Thank you.

I think for now we'll get by with what we have.  I will not "re-up" any signature commitment though; that's insane.

Steven

We understand and respect your decision. If further assistance is needed, feel free to contact us here: DIRECTV Customer Service - Phone Support & Chat Rizza, DIRECTV Community Team

@legalmartyc 

The issue is that DirecTV was pushed heavily to a Client-only setup. Even with the regular Genie they have stopped doing regular HDDVRs for upgrades. I certainly do not agree with this, but it is the decision that AT&T made for DirecTV and at the moment the new owner is continuing that. Once the transaction completes with the sale of DirecTV perhaps that will change.

Even if that does change, I wouldn't expect them to start accepting HR24s back as they are on the legacy software. Only if they release a new model of dedicated HDDVR to work with newer setups would it be logical for them to be returned.

You get a warranty replacement regardless if you have the Protection Plan or not. Difference is you don't pay the one-time $19.95 for delivery, the $99 if there is a different issue so they have to send a tech, or $15 for a new remote control (cheaper through online retailers). That is what you're spending about $108 every year regardless if you use it or not.