Our household has just went from one HDTV in the family room to HDTVs in all rooms thanks to a bunch of Black Friday TV deals. We are currently with E* with an older 722 box that will no longer be sufficient for our family. We want a more robust solution with the DVR being accessible by everyone in the family. We have looked at the Hopper and it would probably work for us but we think the Genie will be better for our needs. The 5 independent tuners with the Genie would probably work better for us than the Hopper 3 tuners and PrimeTimeAnyTime.
Here are my questions on the Genie.
1) If I'm correct, you can only watch 4 independent channels at once, with the 5th tuner being reserved for recordings. Is this correct?
2) I hope I phrase this question in an understandable manner.
If I have the Genie box and 4 additional C31's, are the tuners tied to a specific box? e.g. tuner 1 is the main TV, tuner 2 is the bedroom, tuner 3 is the kitchen, etc. Or are the tuners independently allocated on an as need basis and tuner numbers don't work in that way? So if I'm recording two shows, is it set to tuner 1 and tuner 2 and those TVs/client boxes tied up where we can't watch something else on them, since their tuners are in use?
For example my E* 722 box has two tuners but there is a distinct tuner 1 on the main TV and a distinct tuner 2 for our other TVs. If you have a recording set to tuner 2, then you can't "check out" tuner 1 and that TV/feed is essentially tied up for the recording. It's a real hassle for us.
I know that might not have made sense above but hopefully someone will get it to some degree.
3) This may help clarify question #2. Are recordings assigned to a specific tuner?
4) Are the remotes for the Genie or C31's IR or RF? I'd like to "hide" the C31's if the remotes are RF based.
My install questions:
1) I have RG-6 going to main TV (where the Genie would be). Can RG-59 be used to feed the C31 boxes from the central node (assuming there is a central node/hub)? My house has a lot of RG-59 wiring feeding most of the smaller TV's in our house. Rewiring most of these TV's would be very costly as a lot of the cabling is on the outside walls on a slab/full brick house.
2) I'm in the Charleston, SC area. Can anyone tell me which satellite locations I'll need to be able to see? I've had an issue with one of E*'s satellite locations and I want to make sure not to waste anyone's time if we can't see the appropriate birds.
3) I really hate having a roof mounted dish. Is D* willing to mount to one of our deck post (4x4) that is secured in concrete?
4) Does D* remove a competitor's dish as part of the install?
5) Is there a place where I can easily compare D*'s various packages, perhaps in a PDF format? I can view this somewhat on their main page but the icons are large and it's impossible to see all of the channels listed on one page, making it hard to keep track of the differences.
I think that's it for now.
Thanks!
Here are my questions on the Genie.
1) If I'm correct, you can only watch 4 independent channels at once, with the 5th tuner being reserved for recordings. Is this correct?
2) I hope I phrase this question in an understandable manner.
If I have the Genie box and 4 additional C31's, are the tuners tied to a specific box? e.g. tuner 1 is the main TV, tuner 2 is the bedroom, tuner 3 is the kitchen, etc. Or are the tuners independently allocated on an as need basis and tuner numbers don't work in that way? So if I'm recording two shows, is it set to tuner 1 and tuner 2 and those TVs/client boxes tied up where we can't watch something else on them, since their tuners are in use?
For example my E* 722 box has two tuners but there is a distinct tuner 1 on the main TV and a distinct tuner 2 for our other TVs. If you have a recording set to tuner 2, then you can't "check out" tuner 1 and that TV/feed is essentially tied up for the recording. It's a real hassle for us.
I know that might not have made sense above but hopefully someone will get it to some degree.
3) This may help clarify question #2. Are recordings assigned to a specific tuner?
4) Are the remotes for the Genie or C31's IR or RF? I'd like to "hide" the C31's if the remotes are RF based.
My install questions:
1) I have RG-6 going to main TV (where the Genie would be). Can RG-59 be used to feed the C31 boxes from the central node (assuming there is a central node/hub)? My house has a lot of RG-59 wiring feeding most of the smaller TV's in our house. Rewiring most of these TV's would be very costly as a lot of the cabling is on the outside walls on a slab/full brick house.
2) I'm in the Charleston, SC area. Can anyone tell me which satellite locations I'll need to be able to see? I've had an issue with one of E*'s satellite locations and I want to make sure not to waste anyone's time if we can't see the appropriate birds.
3) I really hate having a roof mounted dish. Is D* willing to mount to one of our deck post (4x4) that is secured in concrete?
4) Does D* remove a competitor's dish as part of the install?
5) Is there a place where I can easily compare D*'s various packages, perhaps in a PDF format? I can view this somewhat on their main page but the icons are large and it's impossible to see all of the channels listed on one page, making it hard to keep track of the differences.
I think that's it for now.
Thanks!