The c31 is what they want you to have

[DetFan]

Yea I'd be better off just havign them upgrade me and go the H25's then.

 

[Mr Tony]

probably. But yeah if you have 5 things set to record the C31's can only view pre-recorded stuff

 

[nuttz565]

So placed my order this morning at 10am for 1 hr34 and 3 c31's. I scheduled it for tomorrow at 8am, however at about noon the direct installer shows up at my house. I told him he was a day early but I didn't mind at all! So he was here for about a hour and half and now I'm up and running and so far so good. The hd menu is a nice change from my 722k. I'm going to be fiddling around with it tonight and I'm sure I will have many questions to come.

 

[strogonowski]

So placed my order this morning at 10am for 1 hr34 and 3 c31's. I scheduled it for tomorrow at 8am, however at about noon the direct installer shows up at my house. I told him he was a day early but I didn't mind at all! So he was here for about a hour and half and now I'm up and running and so far so good. The hd menu is a nice change from my 722k. I'm going to be fiddling around with it tonight and I'm sure I will have many questions to come.

Did the installer replace any wiring\connectors or did he use existing? Just wondering since I also have a 722K and thinking of the same setup as yours. How is H34 connected to the internet?

 

[nuttz565]

I had my wiring replaced a few years ago when I had my 722's hooked up. So all the installer did was mount my dish and then hook up the boxes. He gave me a wireless cinema kit which has 5ghz N and seems to be working well.

 

[reybie]

Did you have existing wires/cables in all of the outlets? I have one room that doesn't have it but has a provision for it, probably not hooked up in the attic.

 

[nuttz565]

Yep all cables were already at the outlet.

 

[nuttz565]

still cant believe just how small the C31 is

 

[unislick]

Just had my install today. 2 DVRs (HR34, HR24) and 2 clients (C31s).

Still playing around with the equipment. A few questions (apologize if they are elementary):

1. What is the HD recording capacity for both the 34 and 24? Installer caused some confusion from what I read.

2. How do you specify what DVR you want to record on? Do you have to be at the HR24 to schedule the recording on that DVR or can one schedule a recording on the HR24 from a C31 or the HR34?

3. It appears a lot of video on demand conent expires after a couple months in the DVR. Is there anyway to not have the recording expire (I do already have the recordings set to expire when the disk is full)?

Appreciate the help. I am sure I will have many more questions.

BTW - anyone expecting an install with C31s and have old TVs (only RCA hookups, not component or HDMI), please ask your installer up front if he has the special RCA cable (10PINC31) that is not included in the C31 box to hook up your TV? My installer (his first C31 install) had no clue this cable was needed even after trying to hook up component video cables to my RCA inputs for some unknown reason . And he couldn't obtain any such cable till Monday because the warehouse is closed and no other installer knew what he was talking about so they didn't have any either. My install took nearly 7 hours with no new cable runs and I bet he fought acitivation issues for at least 2 hours of the install and another 2 hours learning how to enable the C31s. Other time was spent mounting new sat on new pole, grounding existing cable and swapping out all my newly added compression fittings because they weren't Directv fittings.

Sounds like Directv needs to train our local installers a little better on the C31s.

 

[digiblur]

that sucks.

Yes it does. Glad I got in while the getting was good. C31s will never cross my door unless they are $2 a month.

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

 

[digiblur]

Not sure how to do it on the C31s but on the H25 when you hit record it asks you which dvr to record on.

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

 

[nuttz565]

Just had my install today. 2 DVRs (HR34, HR24) and 2 clients (C31s).

Still playing around with the equipment. A few questions (apologize if they are elementary):

1. What is the HD recording capacity for both the 34 and 24? Installer caused some confusion from what I read.

2. How do you specify what DVR you want to record on? Do you have to be at the HR24 to schedule the recording on that DVR or can one schedule a recording on the HR24 from a C31 or the HR34?

3. It appears a lot of video on demand conent expires after a couple months in the DVR. Is there anyway to not have the recording expire (I do already have the recordings set to expire when the disk is full)?

Appreciate the help. I am sure I will have many more questions.

BTW - anyone expecting an install with C31s and have old TVs (only RCA hookups, not component or HDMI), please ask your installer up front if he has the special RCA cable (10PINC31) that is not included in the C31 box to hook up your TV? My installer (his first C31 install) had no clue this cable was needed even after trying to hook up component video cables to my RCA inputs for some unknown reason . And he couldn't obtain any such cable till Monday because the warehouse is closed and no other installer knew what he was talking about so they didn't have any either. My install took nearly 7 hours with no new cable runs and I bet he fought acitivation issues for at least 2 hours of the install and another 2 hours learning how to enable the C31s. Other time was spent mounting new sat on new pole, grounding existing cable and swapping out all my newly added compression fittings because they weren't Directv fittings.

Sounds like Directv needs to train our local installers a little better on the C31s.

I got lucky with my install,he told me he had already done quite a few of the new installs here in the Denver area( He told me they have been installing c31's for over 3 weeks now). I told him I had 2 older non hd tv's and he already had the 10 pin adapters and gave me RF remotes for all my tv's. I had 5 tv's and he was at my house 1.5 hours max. So far the only thing I have noticed is the c31's are a little sluggish and my hr34 at times screams and other times it to can be sluggish as well.

 

[unislick]

Just had my install today. 2 DVRs (HR34, HR24) and 2 clients (C31s).

Still playing around with the equipment. A few questions (apologize if they are elementary):

1. What is the HD recording capacity for both the 34 and 24? Installer caused some confusion from what I read.

2. How do you specify what DVR you want to record on? Do you have to be at the HR24 to schedule the recording on that DVR or can one schedule a recording on the HR24 from a C31 or the HR34?

3. It appears a lot of video on demand conent expires after a couple months in the DVR. Is there anyway to not have the recording expire (I do already have the recordings set to expire when the disk is full)?

Appreciate the help. I am sure I will have many more questions.

Any thoughts on above questions?

 

[JAG72]

Any thoughts on above questions?

1) around 200 hours on the HR34 and 100 on the HR24.

2) You would have to schedule your recordings on the HR24 or use the website or mobile applications. Since the C31 and HR34 are actually using a DVR tuner it would schedule it on that device.

3) Nothing you can do to not expire the VOD. Those limits are set by the content providers from my understanding.

 

[dishrich]

Just had my install today. 2 DVRs (HR34, HR24) and 2 clients (C31s)

Unislick, (or anyone else that might know the answers to these questions)

I've got a client that was supposed to get (2) HR24's, & H25's installed next week. When he ordered all this, D* tried to talk him into the Genie, & presumably C31's I'm sure, in lieu of (some) H25's. Since D* said the order could be changed up to a day before the appointment, I'm considering having him switch 1 of the DVR's to a Genie, since he would get more tuners for recording; however, I DO have concerns about him having to get C31's instead of the H25's.

Since your setup appears to be very similar to my clients, have a couple questions for you:

- Can your C31's playback recorded shows from BOTH the HR34 AND HR24?
- Can the HR34 & HR24 playback from each other?
- On setting up recordings, can the C31 schedule records to EITHER DVR, or are they limited to ONLY the HR34?
- I'm assuming that when you schedule a recording from either DVR, it can ONLY be scheduled to itself, correct?

Thx for any info on this.

 

[unislick]

Unislick, (or anyone else that might know the answers to these questions)

I've got a client that was supposed to get (2) HR24's, & H25's installed next week. When he ordered all this, D* tried to talk him into the Genie, & presumably C31's I'm sure, in lieu of (some) H25's. Since D* said the order could be changed up to a day before the appointment, I'm considering having him switch 1 of the DVR's to a Genie, since he would get more tuners for recording; however, I DO have concerns about him having to get C31's instead of the H25's.

Since your setup appears to be very similar to my clients, have a couple questions for you:

- Can your C31's playback recorded shows from BOTH the HR34 AND HR24?
- Can the HR34 & HR24 playback from each other?
- On setting up recordings, can the C31 schedule records to EITHER DVR, or are they limited to ONLY the HR34?
- I'm assuming that when you schedule a recording from either DVR, it can ONLY be scheduled to itself, correct?

Thx for any info on this.

1. Yes. Although you can't schedule recordings across other DVRs or see other DVR scheduled recordings (which doesn't make sense...if the recorded list is an integrated, the scheduled list should be as well.

2. Yes. I am reading this question and your first as the same. If different, please elaborate.

3. C31s limited to HR34 AND the HR24 is limited to the HR24. Although, you can use the Directv app and specify which DVR you want to record to and record it through the app. I used the app to move my 50 plus series recording from Dish and it was a lot faster than using the on screen guide partly because the search feature was much faster in the app.

4. Yes. Which is a limitation IMO Directv needs to address ASAP especially since they are touting this whole home DVR solution so much.

I went with the C31s for a couple reasons.

1. I couldn't install a SWM16 because only have 2 RG6 lines coming into house from Dish and physically couldn't add more or move Dish without a solution my wife didn't agree to. As a result, I was limited to 8 tuners according to my installer (some have contradicted this thinking, but they were not my installers unfortunately). The C31 does take a tuner like the H25.

2. My wife couldn't live without trick play on all TVs. We had this with Dish and she couldn't go backwards...I agreed.

3. The size and noise compared to H25.

4. In my setup, the C31s will be rarely used unless we have guests. As a result, I could afford to live with some if the nuances that come with new equipment. I will tell you I originally planned to have a C31 in our bedroom which TV is watched frequently and I moved it to the basement after 1 day because the response time was too slow for me to deal with on a daily basis. Hopefully Directv addresses this soon.

Also, my equipment was changed right when the installer showed up...just took a phone call to Directv and for me to verify to swap two C31s for H25s....but that may have been more difficult if it was the other way around.

 

[reybie]

My installer is out of the breakout cable for component, will directv send me one if I gave them a call?

 

[dishrich]

1. Yes. Although you can't schedule recordings across other DVRs or see other DVR scheduled recordings (which doesn't make sense...if the recorded list is an integrated, the scheduled list should be as well.

2. Yes. I am reading this question and your first as the same. If different, please elaborate.

Well sort of...I was trying to be VERY explicit re: playback of pre-recorded shows.
1st question was aimed at making absolutely SURE the C31's can playback off of the HR24 DVR. as I thought I read somewhere else this was NOT the case.
So just so I understand, you are saying the C31 WILL playback from the HR24 playlist, correct?

2nd question was aimed at BOTH DVR's being able to playback JUST from each other; I assumed this would already work, but just wanted a sanity check.

3. C31s limited to HR34 AND the HR24 is limited to the HR24. Although, you can use the Directv app and specify which DVR you want to record to and record it through the app.

That's what I was afraid off; would be nice if they changed that so the C31 can specify to HR2x DVR's as well...

4. Yes. Which is a limitation IMO Directv needs to address ASAP especially since they are touting this whole home DVR solution so much.

TOTALLY agree; this should have been fixed a LONG time ago...

Also, my equipment was changed right when the installer showed up...just took a phone call to Directv and for me to verify to swap two C31s for H25s....but that may have been more difficult if it was the other way around.

Well it probably wouldn't be prudent to try this to switch TO a Genie from an HR24 "on the fly".

 

[digiblur]

Size and noise compared to the H25? Same noise and the size really isn't that much different.

I have a SWM16 and only have 2 cables coming into the house.

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

 

[unislick]

No tuner in C31 equals smaller, limited software updates, less noise.

Wish I had you as an installer.