2 Messages
Upgrade suggestions please
We have had an HR21-200 forever. Added an HR34-700 several years ago and have a C31-700 and C41-700. We have had the premier protection plan forever and have obviously not taken advantage of our free upgrades. What would you recommend?
litzdog911
ACE - Sage
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46.5K Messages
2 years ago
What sort of features do you feel that you're missing?
Your setup is perfectly acceptable, even today. The HR34 Genie, however, was the first generation and considered inadequate compared to the newer HR54 Genie DVR. You Mini Genie Clients will work fine with an HR54 Genie. But HR54's can be hard to get these days. DirecTV will likely want to "upgrade" you to an HS17 Genie Server setup. But that would require you to dump your HR21 stand-alone DVR.
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nthomas5432
2 Messages
2 years ago
The HR21 stand alone DVR has been having issues, randomly displaying the 'info' header and footer without anyone touching the remote. We have reset and hope that will 'keep' for a while. I am also worried with it being so old that it is using an inordinate amount of electricity. If I wanted to upgrade the HR21 what would be the option I am given?
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litzdog911
ACE - Sage
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46.5K Messages
2 years ago
You won't be able to upgrade just the HR21 HD DVR. Stand-alone HD DVRs are no longer available. If you don't care to keep the HR21 or its recordings, then an HS17 Genie Server upgrade might be the way to go. You can replace the HR21 and HR34 with new Genie Clients and keep your existing Genie Clients. That's the likely upgrade path DirecTV would push on you.
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23.1K Messages
2 years ago
@nthomas5432
Regular HDDVRs are still available but hard to come buy. I can still order them on my account for additional TVs.
If your HR21 is having issues I would see about a warranty replacement. The protection plan waives the $19.95 delivery. Only do this if the agent will order a warranty replacement, not an "upgrade" to a Mini Genie (which is a downgrade).
The HR34 is the 1st generation Genie. Known for being rather slow and having overheating issues, letting DirecTV know it is dead and getting a warranty replacement is suggested. Would get either HR44 or HR54 depending on stock.
Personally I would upgrade the C31 to an HDDVR. If they cannot order over the phone then an alternative is Solid Signal. The difference is it would be at the one-time lease cost of $199 instead of a free upgrade. Models after your HR21 have a larger 500GB hard drive. The HR24 is the last regular HDDVR made.
Unfortunately DirecTV has been heavily pushed into a all-in-one setup with the Genie-2 (HS17) that only allows Clients like your Mini Genies. It forbids receivers/HDDVRs.
Be aware that with any replacement, warranty or upgrade, you cannot transfer recordings from a HDDVR as they are encrypted to their exact box.
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