HR24 whole home setup still good or time to upgrade??

[adam61]

I switched to directv and got 4 HR24s (had to bribe the installer) but nonetheless I've been plugging along using the same setup for 5-6 years. My contract is up again and I usually call and when I do they usually offer discounts and/or new equipment with a 1/2 year extension. I enjoy my current setup, but I'll admit it's annoying having 4 to-do lists and I get more errors and need to do a reset or clear my box more often on a couple units.

1) what upgraded equipment is out and how much better is it and is it pretty future proof (4k, max tuners, etc)???

2) am I better off with current equipment is there new amazing stuff on the horizon in 1-2 years?


3) Are there any downsides to the new equipment? Can I get one genie to try it and keep the other 3 HR24s? Or is this impossible or a bad idea?

I rarely record more than 4 shows at once(having the ability to do 8 doesn't hurt my feelings though). But I absolutely hate complexity and input lag in my receivers. Thanks for all your help just curious where we are on the upgrade cycle.

 

[satgirl51]

I suggest you do number 3.

Add a genie and keep 3 hr24's

You gain a faster 5 tuner receiver and lose nothing.

 

[robjlevin]

+1 to number 3.

I just moved and I'm blown away by the speed of the genie. I had 4 HD DVRs in my old home but the new one was only pre-wired for two. So I kept the one HR24 that I had and gave back the three older HR22s and went wireless in the other two rooms which don't get used all that much.

 

[Jimbo]

I agree with Satgirl.
Upgrade to a HR44's genie, it's much faster, keep the HR24 that are working well for you, drop the ones giving you trouble.
Tell them you need to make use of the Wireless portion of the Genie to connect to your set up, this will get you the 44 instead of the 34.

 

[adam61]

Glad to hear I don't have to start over. I will replace the HR24 that has the most glitches with a Genie. Just a couple more questions...

1) I've heard an HR54 is coming out soon I plan to buy one 4k TV this year, and want to make sure at least 1 receiver supports it. What do we know about this new receiver?
2) Will DirecTV typically give you an HR44 for free with a 2 year extension?
3) This would give me 11 shows I could record at once by my math, I thought I only had 8 connections in the box in my garage, how does this work?
4) Is the speed the main difference I would notice? Does MRV and everything else still work the same?

 

[dfergie]

1.The HR34's on up will support 4k
2. Probably roulette on that
3. 11, you may need a SWM 16 box
4. MRV is same, I have an HR34 with HR24 & HR20 - 700

 

[Zashel]

1) not sure if the 54 specificly will do 4k over HDMI (which is what i assume you ment) but you WILL need a genie of some sort to do 4K of *any* kind on the D* system. right now its handled via RVU on Samsung TV's. may want to do some research there.
2) crap shoot on 34/44. you dont need a 44 to go wireless, not sure where this came from.
3) to get more than 8 tuners, your LNB will ahve to be switched out to a standard Ka/Ku one, run four lines to the SWM 16 (big grey multiswitch) and then its like having two sets of 8 tuners, which can communicate to eachother through the 16.
4) i like the new remote, but that's another discussion lol. its RF at least. otherwise the only new thing is PIP. every thing else on the genie looks exactly the same as it does on a hr24.

 

[Jimbo]

1) not sure if the 54 specificly will do 4k over HDMI (which is what i assume you ment) but you WILL need a genie of some sort to do 4K of *any* kind on the D* system. right now its handled via RVU on Samsung TV's. may want to do some research there.
2) crap shoot on 34/44. you dont need a 44 to go wireless, not sure where this came from.
3) to get more than 8 tuners, your LNB will ahve to be switched out to a standard Ka/Ku one, run four lines to the SWM 16 (big grey multiswitch) and then its like having two sets of 8 tuners, which can communicate to eachother through the 16.
4) i like the new remote, but that's another discussion lol. its RF at least. otherwise the only new thing is PIP. every thing else on the genie looks exactly the same as it does on a hr24.

2) You do in order to go wireless without ADDING any more stuff to the system. 34 doesn't do wireless by itself.

The 44 if MUCH faster than the majority of the 34's.

 

[Zashel]

i wont argue the speed, its true, but until the 34's meet the big CPU in the sky, there will be no guarantees. as for the wireless, so long as you have an extra plug available theres no difference. plus your network information is stored externally with the adapter, so if your genie dies, it doesnt disconnect the other HR's from the internet.

 

[peds48]

I agree with Satgirl.
Upgrade to a HR44's genie, it's much faster, keep the HR24 that are working well for you, drop the ones giving you trouble.
Tell them you need to make use of the Wireless portion of the Genie to connect to your set up, this will get you the 44 instead of the 34.

saying that you need a wireless connection does not guarantees an HR44. The HR34 along with a CCK-W can connect wirelessly to the internet. We all know that DIRECTV® considers all Genie to be functionally equal, so what the OP gets is whatever is available in the tech's truck at the time.

 

[peds48]

1.The HR34's on up will support 4k

Hmm, the current batch of Genies, HR34/44 only do 4K via the RVU connection, they don't support 4K natively via HDMI

 

[Jimbo]

saying that you need a wireless connection does not guarantees an HR44. The HR34 along with a CCK-W can connect wirelessly to the internet. We all know that DIRECTV® considers all Genie to be functionally equal, so what the OP gets is whatever is available in the tech's truck at the time.

Very true.
However, I can also refuse the install if its not what I requested.
I told them I wanted the Wireless to set up my internet and was sent a 44 with no questions asked.
Also, ya gotta think that they are placing a whole lot more 44s now than the older 34s.

Of course D* is not going to say what you'll get as they would like you to accept a refurbished unit if you don't care.
That said, I have used Refurbed units before and had No Issues with them.

 

[peds48]

Very true.
However, I can also refuse the install if its not what I requested.
I told them I wanted the Wireless to set up my internet and was sent a 44 with no questions asked.
Also, ya gotta think that they are placing a whole lot more 44s now than the older 34s.

Of course D* is not going to say what you'll get as they would like you to accept a refurbished unit if you don't care.
That said, I have used Refurbed units before and had No Issues with them.

many markets have been bombarded with HR34s as of late. Sure you can play the game, and reschedule as necessary, but saying you need to connect wirelessly wont get you a 44 by default.

 

[Jimbo]

many markets have been bombarded with HR34s as of late. Sure you can play the game, and reschedule as necessary, but saying you need to connect wirelessly wont get you a 44 by default.

It did in the beginning, maybe not now that they have been out for awhile.

It's beyond me why D* refuses to give you a requested recvr in the first place.

IF I have to get one on my own, I can get what I want, simply order it online thru a vendor ... I call one of them and they don't give you an excuse.

Me personally, I have what I want already, never really had any issues getting the recvrs I required, other than the ability to have more than 1 Genie, I'm set ... Others haven't been so lucky.

I could actually replace a few HR24's that are not running as well as they use to, but I decided to bite the bullet and Erase everything on one and found that it Did run much faster when done .... starnge thing was, I only had about 50% of the hard drive filled at the time.

 

[dfergie]

Hmm, the current batch of Genies, HR34/44 only do 4K via the RVU connection, they don't support 4K natively via HDMI

But they still do 4k which is more than the competition does at this time...

 

[peds48]

It did in the beginning, maybe not now that they have been out for awhile.

I can tell you from a fact that this has never been the case,and this is from the horse's mouth.

 

[peds48]

But they still do 4k which is more than the competition does at this time...

Hmm, if you call passing data to an RVU TV, as supporting 4K, then not m,such I can do there.

 

[Jimbo]

Well, I can clearly see that you are the person pulling the strings for D* making these choices with these last several posts.
Therefore, your right and were wrong ... even though we've been dealing with D* for some 15 years now.

Thank you for your expertise.

 

[dfergie]

Hmm, if you call passing data to an RVU TV, as supporting 4K, then not m,such I can do there.

That's all we have till new Dvrs come out, deal with it.

 

[Jimbo]

I agree, the way they are currently doing 4K has a lot to be desired.
To make it available ONLY to those with RVU is I guess better than nothing, PROVIDED they are making it accessible to the rest of the world soon.