4 Rooms, 4 TVs, but only 2 viewers, on the cheap!

[JJinVista]

Want DirecTV, but not Genie fee nor minis

I'm considering switching to DirecTV. Would want a 2 room setup. From what I've read, I'd prefer to have a HD DVR in both rooms with MRV, but the DirecTV website makes that cost prohibitive.

The introductory offer gives you a "Free" Genie upgrade from their basic receiver, but that comes with a $25 "Advanced Receiver Service Fee", and requires that you get at least a 2nd room / TV connected. They're pushing Genie mini's for the 2nd room (additional receiver fee?). If you request a HD DVR for the second room, it's a one-time fee of $199. Not a refundable deposit - a flat-out fee. If you want a 2 HD DVR setup it's $199 x 2. I guess I could go with their standard receiver plus one HD DVR. I didn't check, but that standard receiver is probably not HD.

Is there a cheaper way for me to get what I want other than through their website?

 

[Jimbo]

I'm considering switching to DirecTV. Would want a 2 room setup. From what I've read, I'd prefer to have a HD DVR in both rooms with MRV, but the DirecTV website makes that cost prohibitive.

The introductory offer gives you a "Free" Genie upgrade from their basic receiver, but that comes with a $25 "Advanced Receiver Service Fee", and requires that you get at least a 2nd room / TV connected. They're pushing Genie mini's for the 2nd room (additional receiver fee?). If you request a HD DVR for the second room, it's a one-time fee of $199. Not a refundable deposit - a flat-out fee. If you want a 2 HD DVR setup it's $199 x 2. I guess I could go with their standard receiver plus one HD DVR. I didn't check, but that standard receiver is probably not HD.

Is there a cheaper way for me to get what I want other than through their website?

Give them a call.
Tell them your not interested in the Genie and would like 2 HR 24s.
You'll probably get the 1st one free and 199 on the 2nd one, or better.

 

[texasbrit]

Give them a call.
Tell them your not interested in the Genie and would like 2 HR 24s.
You'll probably get the 1st one free and 199 on the 2nd one, or better.

Why would you do that? Just get the Genie and one Hr24. You are going to pay the advanced receiver fee even if you get an HR24, there is no special fee for a Genie. Going to an HR24 instead of a Genie will not save you anything, and will lose you three tuners.
The advanced receiver fee includes:
$10 because you have at least one DVR on your account.

$10 because you have HD.

It's $5 for "whole home" service

 

[Jimbo]

Why would you do that? Just get the Genie and one Hr24. You are going to pay the advanced receiver fee even if you get an HR24, there is no special fee for a Genie. Going to an HR24 instead of a Genie will not save you anything, and will lose you three tuners.
The advanced receiver fee includes:
$10 because you have at least one DVR on your account.

$10 because you have HD.

It's $5 for "whole home" service

WHY would I say to do that ?

Because the OP said right up front that he didn't want the GENIE setups ....
So I gave him the next best situation.

I never said he would save money one way or the other.

 

[JJinVista]

Why would you do that? Just get the Genie and one Hr24. You are going to pay the advanced receiver fee even if you get an HR24, there is no special fee for a Genie. Going to an HR24 instead of a Genie will not save you anything, and will lose you three tuners.
The advanced receiver fee includes:
$10 because you have at least one DVR on your account.

$10 because you have HD.

It's $5 for "whole home" service

Thanks for breaking down what the Advanced Receiver Fee includes. It appears that your suggestion might be a good alternative. And with 5 tuners and the ability to watch recorded programming from either room via MRV, could I save monthly fees by getting a tuner-only (non recording) HD tuner box for the 2nd room as opposed to a HD DVR / tuner?

 

[dfergie]

Actually stick with the 2 Dvrs idea it gives you more options...

 

[robjlevin]

Actually stick with the 2 Dvrs idea it gives you more options...

Yup, the most important of which is not losing all of your recordings if a DVR craps out. I have 4 HD DVRs and just lost one that crapped out. With three others I didn't lose anything of value.

 

[texasbrit]

The OP says "Want DirecTV, but not Genie fee nor minis"
So the OP does not want the mini clients and does not want the service fee. i am just pointing out that taking the Genie and using it as a 5-tuner DVR, and adding one additional DVR, does not use the clients and has the same fees as having two DVRs. Why would you not want the two extra tuners for no extra money?

 

[texasbrit]

Thanks for breaking down what the Advanced Receiver Fee includes. It appears that your suggestion might be a good alternative. And with 5 tuners and the ability to watch recorded programming from either room via MRV, could I save monthly fees by getting a tuner-only (non recording) HD tuner box for the 2nd room as opposed to a HD DVR / tuner?

The monthly fees for a receiver and a DVR are the same, you only pay the DVR fee once per account. So IMHO the best solution is a Genie plus a DVR. You should get the Genie free, as has been posted the extra DVR will probably cost you $199 instead of getting the mini-client for free.

 

[joed32]

Thanks for breaking down what the Advanced Receiver Fee includes. It appears that your suggestion might be a good alternative. And with 5 tuners and the ability to watch recorded programming from either room via MRV, could I save monthly fees by getting a tuner-only (non recording) HD tuner box for the 2nd room as opposed to a HD DVR / tuner?

You wouldn't save anything because the DVR fee is the same whether you have one DVR or multiple DVRs. The fee covers your whole account. The fee for having a second unit is the same whether it's a DVR or just an an HD receiver.

 

[raoul5788]

Just to clarify, the $25 advanced receiver fee is required with the Genie, even if you have additional receivers/dvrs with no mrv. Apparently there is no way around that. If you have two dvrs, like I do, with no mrv, you don't have to pay the mrv part of the advanced fee. I pay for the hd access and the dvr fee. Also, there are discounts available to remove the hd fee, like paying automatically every month. Other discounts are available, too.

 

[JJinVista]

I'm considering moving to DirecTV. There are 4 TVs / viewing rooms in our house, but with just my wife & I in the house, I don't see the need to be able to play different material on 4 TVs simultaneously. In the worst case, she & I would each be in a different room watching a different program. As long as I could insure that any combination of 2 of my 4 TVs could play back or tune in to different programming, I'd be good to go. So I came up with this plan for doing it on the cheap with only 2 tuner boxes.

In my case I'd probably go with a Genie (tuner box #1) and a HD DVR (tuner box #2). I'd get the Multi Room Viewing option.

Both the Genie and a HD DVR box have component outputs and HDMI, and I've read on this forum where all outputs are simultaneously putting out a signal. So I'd send the component output from Box #1 to TV (A), and the component output from Box #2 to TV(B). So now those two TVs are insured to always be able to watch different programming.

For the other two TVs, I'd attach a splitter on the HDMI output from both tuner boxes, and route an HDMI signal from each splitter to TVs (C) and (D). So now by simply selecting one of two HDMI inputs on TVs (C) and (D), one could watch the programming from either box #1 or #2. This provides programming to all four TVs with the capability of viewing different tuner boxes on any two of the four TVs.

Does anybody see anything wrong with this plan?

 

[Claude Greiner]

Get the genie/hr24 combo for $199

That's the best setup for the best price. Getting 2 hr24's is not going to save you anything on the advance receiver fee

 

[jcrandall]

That would work fine. I use two 1-4 HDMI splitters in my home and have no problem with them.
Monoprice has excellent HDMI splitters and cables at good prices.

 

[raoul5788]

Get the genie/hr24 combo for $199

That's the best setup for the best price. Getting 2 hr24's is not going to save you anything on the advance receiver fee

If you don't have mrv it will save you $5/month.

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

If you don't have mrv it will save you $5/month.

I dont believe this information is current. Per calling into tech mod and also verified by iss the advanced receiver fee is now required for a NEW hddvr combo to be activated. That is 25$. So not having mrv really isnt possible.... like it is, but just as in the service isnt active on the account. But the service is currently 0'd out in rio unless you pay the grandfathered rate or have grandfathered hd access with grandfathered dvr access. Im pretty sure posting screenshots from rio would be illegal but im pretty sure hutch will jump in here soon to back me up. And any tech can also verify this information.

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[raoul5788]

Perhaps, but if so, I think that's new. My understanding was that only the Genie required the advanced receiver fee regardless of mrv.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Perhaps, but if so, I think that's new. My understanding was that only the Genie required the advanced receiver fee regardless of mrv.

It's $25 regardless.

Only way you get out of paying it is if your grandfathered from a few years ago.

If you add it today, or sign up today it's $25 wether it's a genie or HR24

 

[acostapimps]

It's $25 regardless.

Only way you get out of paying it is if your grandfathered from a few years ago.

If you add it today, or sign up today it's $25 wether it's a genie or HR24

That's stupid why would they charge the extra $5 if you don't have MRV enabled on a HR24 or any DVR? I understand signing up for the Genie with clients that should have the MRV fee.

 

[ejb1980]

Out of personal curiosity, how does one output from the HDMI and component on the Genie? I always could with the HR24, but when I do it with the Genie it gives me a copyright message on some channels. Once it comes on, I have to manually disconnect the component cables to get either TV to get rid of the message and show anything.