Need Advice for new Genie install on 5/23/14

[SkOrPn]

Hello,

After 14 years with DirecTV, I just discovered today that with my Maintenance plan I am entitled to Equipment upgrades every two years. Not sure how this fact slipped by me all these years especially with the fact that one of our HR21's has been troublesome for a few years now. A couple years ago I had them come out and add a third room with an in-line amplifier. This friday we will be adding a 4th TV into the mix and 3 Genie minis plus one Genie HD DVR.
Current Equipment
3 x HR21-100
2 x 1080p TV's
1 x 720p TV
1 x Amplifier brick hidden behind the last TV to be hooked up.
Being added because Dad just retired and does not want to watch what Mom watches, lol.
1 x Old school CRT (4:3 aspect) being added this friday at noon (It does NOT have HDMI, but does have Component RBG video and digital audio ports)

What I want to know is what should I make sure of during the installer visit? I know I need to make sure its a HR44 correct? And not the older slower model Genie? (HR34?) Also, I took a picture of the LNB below. It looks like it is already the SWM system, but I see 2 coaxial cables coming out from it, not one single cable.

This is connected to a SlimLine, but I can't remember when it was replaced last, so not sure if its the latest model or not, or if it even matters.


Other than making sure its a HR44, is there anything else I need to make sure of? After nearly 14 years of paying on time I feel kinda cheated out of all these supposed free equipment upgrades I could have had over the years, although I don't think any were really ever needed. One of the main reasons for this switch is because Mom is getting tired of recording shows on her aging VHS with crappy PQ.

Please advise
SkOrPn

 

[Broe67]

Do not do anything. The Installer if they are competent. Should know what to do. Do a walk through of what goes where. Let them see where everything is currently located at. Then just hang out and let them do their work.

I helped my tech out by unpacking the equipment and placing the C31 clients in the two bedrooms along with the remotes. I did have to help him pull Coax in our basement since we had only Ethernet for the previous U-Verse equipment.

Offer them some cold Sweet Tea or Gatoraide. If it is going to be a couple of hours of work, along with really hot outside. Remind them that you have that cold glass of Iced Tea or Gatoraide for them. Some techs forget about how much time they work on a job and never take breaks, since they are trying to get as many tickets done in the day.

Thank them at the end after you and the tech go through and check to make sure everything works. Then thank them again for taking the time to come and do the install.

Above all. Remove all of the garbage and collectibles that seem to gather around Entertainment equipment. Make it easy, not hard for them to swap equipment as needed.

 

[SkOrPn]

Ok thanks. I will take your tips and be prepared with refreshments. I don't mind pulling cable, in fact I would prefer they let me do that because the last techs ignored my requests to not attach the cabling on the outside of the house onto our nice 20k worth of new home siding. I have 3ft of crawl space underneath (very clean spider free crawl space might I add) and super easy access and I am more than willing to do the pulling. Just need to figure out how to convince them not to go the lazy route again. lol

 

[Broe67]

You should not have to if the Coax that is there tests good. Also no one likes crawling through crawl spaces. Getting rid of the cobwebs on a regular basis (Early Summer & Fall). I would keep some Cardboard for when I would have to go under the Doublewide that I rented from my Sister. Hated having to get under there to do stuff.

If mom & dad like the local Sub-Channels (ie MeTV & CoziTV). Maybe get them a AM-21N for Off Air watching. I got one so that I would not have to change inputs on the TV. Plus can record stuff on the two mentioned when I want there is something that I want to watch.

 

[SkOrPn]

You should not have to if the Coax that is there tests good.

Crawl spaces do not bother me at all, after ten years of Comcast installing and another 5 years at Home Security system installations, there is no crawl space that bothers me, especially here in this dry state of New Mexico, its a nice and cool climate underneath.

I am confused, I was told the HR44 is a entertainment server and streams to the remaining client TV's. How would it be possible to install this system if there is no cable going from the clients to the HR44? The only cables here right now go directly to the LNB, not where the HR44 will be placed. One cable is supposed to go to the HR44 (from the LNB), and then three cables go to the clients FROM the HR44? Right? Or is there a network switch that is now going to be placed somewhere near the dish? Also, how will I connect our Internet to the HR44, wifi or Ethernet?

Anyway thanks, I'm sure we will figure it out when they get here. I hope they're nice techs and willing to let me do it my way. Otherwise, once they leave I may have to tear it apart and do it over myself, lol...

EDIT: Never mind me, I think I understand now. There are frequencies and IP's assigned to the clients so streams can share the same cables at the same time?

 

[Jimbo]

Crawl spaces do not bother me at all, after ten years of Comcast installing and another 5 years at Home Security system installations, there is no crawl space that bothers me, especially here in this dry state of New Mexico, its a nice and cool climate underneath.

I am confused, I was told the HR44 is a entertainment server and streams to the remaining client TV's. How would it be possible to install this system if there is no cable going from the clients to the HR44? The only cables here right now go directly to the LNB, not where the HR44 will be placed. One cable is supposed to go to the HR44 (from the LNB), and then three cables go to the clients FROM the HR44? Right? Or is there a network switch that is now going to be placed somewhere near the dish? Also, how will I connect our Internet to the HR44, wifi or Ethernet?

Anyway thanks, I'm sure we will figure it out when they get here. I hope they're nice techs and willing to let me do it my way. Otherwise, once they leave I may have to tear it apart and do it over myself, lol...

EDIT: Never mind me, I think I understand now. There are frequencies and IP's assigned to the clients so streams can share the same cables at the same time?

I take it your getting rid of the HR21's ?

IF your getting the Wireless Clients, yes, you can do it without wiring, if your not getting the wireless, there will be wiring ran, however, it sounds like your wiring is already in place.

 

[SkOrPn]

Hmm, OK that is why I created this thread. I did not know there were different units to order. I ordered three Genie mini's (to replace all the HR21's) and one Genie HR44 (to replace the main living room unit). We were not told there were different units with different specs, and options. One room (bedroom-0) will be added and has no wiring at all, the other three (Living room, bedroom-1 and bedroom-2) already has coax cable going to them connected to active HR21's. Living room TV (main unit) is in center of house, and all the rest are situated on outside walls.

Can I pre-wire the new added room before they get here and if so what kind of cable do I need to look for? The newly added TV is on the other side of the wall from the dish (Precisely), so it is a very short run.

 

[Broe67]

Single coax from the LNB to the splitter, which has the SWM attached to it. From there you have the individual coax runs to each location. If you do not have Ethernet where the HR44 is going. They will install a DECA at the splitter. With Ethernet from your Router or switch attached to the Deca.

As for streaming music from DLNA servers. Yes the HR34 & HR44 will both do that.

 

[steecoe]

I would keep the dvrs and not get the geni minis. Monthly charges would be the same & you would have more recording space & tuners. If the geni fails you won't be watching anything with the geni minis, but with more dvrs you could still watch tv.

 

[raoul5788]

to Satelliteguys SkOrPn!

 

[Jimbo]

I would keep the dvrs and not get the geni minis. Monthly charges would be the same & you would have more recording space & tuners. If the geni fails you won't be watching anything with the geni minis, but with more dvrs you could still watch tv.

I was debating on mentioning this ...
IF he has a HR21 that is running well, he could keep that one and use the clients on the others ...
Or he could get a HR24 (which would cost him) and use the minis as well.

 

[SkOrPn]

Ok, now its starting to get complicated, lol.

We do not have any DVRs at this time. Recording, is only done via VHS at this time as it has been since the 1980's. We want to FINALLY do away with VHS. Two of our three HR21's seem OK, but I was under the impression the newer mini's and HR's have better video reproduction. Also, we are under the impression that channel changing is faster using C41's and the 44. We also have a centralized media/storage DLNA/Plex server that I want the system to connect to wirelessly. I do not want the DECA though, as I want it to connect via native wifi (like the HR44 can do) or connect via Ethernet (like the HR34&44 can do). I do not have Ethernet at the living room location yet but it would be easy for me to do so, and I really should, however I have multiple wireless devices there already. Right now I have really good 50/5 service and Wireless-N. For now I would like the box to have built in native WIFI connection (HR44). Our Roku 3 has no problem on our wifi, so I would like the DTV box to natively do the same. WIFI Router is only 10 feet away from the living room TV thankfully.

If they bring an HR34, can I sell it on ebay and buy a new HR44 myself without troubles? Or is it some sort of DirecTV crime wanting the newest model and its features? What I will do is tell the tech when he calls that the DVR he brings must have built in native wireless.

 

[raoul5788]

No, you can't sell it. You lease it from Directv and it remains their property.

 

[FearTheVoices]

I was just looking around at the latest versions of hoppers and genies. I was surprised you can them for sub $250 easily from reputable sellers or on eBay for even cheaper.

Does directv allow you to purchase your own equipment and they just install the dish and check current cabling to make sure it is good?

 

[Jimbo]

I was just looking around at the latest versions of hoppers and genies. I was surprised you can them for sub $250 easily from reputable sellers or on eBay for even cheaper.

Does directv allow you to purchase your own equipment and they just install the dish and check current cabling to make sure it is good?

Its rare that you get Owned units ...

 

[Jimbo]

Ok, now its starting to get complicated, lol.

We do not have any DVRs at this time. Recording, is only done via VHS at this time as it has been since the 1980's. We want to FINALLY do away with VHS. Two of our three HR21's seem OK, but I was under the impression the newer mini's and HR's have better video reproduction. Also, we are under the impression that channel changing is faster using C41's and the 44. We also have a centralized media/storage DLNA/Plex server that I want the system to connect to wirelessly. I do not want the DECA though, as I want it to connect via native wifi (like the HR44 can do) or connect via Ethernet (like the HR34&44 can do). I do not have Ethernet at the living room location yet but it would be easy for me to do so, and I really should, however I have multiple wireless devices there already. Right now I have really good 50/5 service and Wireless-N. For now I would like the box to have built in native WIFI connection (HR44). Our Roku 3 has no problem on our wifi, so I would like the DTV box to natively do the same. WIFI Router is only 10 feet away from the living room TV thankfully.

If they bring an HR34, can I sell it on ebay and buy a new HR44 myself without troubles? Or is it some sort of DirecTV crime wanting the newest model and its features? What I will do is tell the tech when he calls that the DVR he brings must have built in native wireless.

You said previously that you have HR21's, those are DVRs, or do you have H21's, those are Non DVR.

 

[steecoe]

You can 'buy' an hr44 off ebay, I did. You are still leasing it from directv, as they retain ownership of the equipment, but that will ensure that you get the model number you want. If you order the genie from directv you might get a 34 you might get a 44, it depends on what the installer has.

 

[SkOrPn]

No, you can't sell it. You lease it from Directv and it remains their property.

Well today the install went great. They left the old units here, and when I asked them about the lease they said we owned them and to do what we want with them. I asked if I could sell them on ebay and they said do what ever we want. So, two are going on ebay and one is staying in a closet.

The installer was great, he had his Son along to help with the work and they are O&O. He said he hasn't installed a HR34 in a while now as they have mostly been HR44's and C41's. Which is what we got. He was very pleasant, did not require any refreshments and was more than willing to pull cable under the House. I did the cable runs and he gave me a generous supply of clips to make sure I could secure the cables properly. I tried to help with the actual units but I could tell that he wanted his Son to do all that. I did manage to at least connect all the power cables for them, and I did all the Living Room's entertainment center connections. I was however, surprised that all our Harmony remotes continued to work without any further programming (I thought these new RC71's were using different technology, but apparently not). Although they worked I went a head and changed the model numbers from HR21 to HR44 within the Logitech software and updated them (just in case there are button presses the remotes needed to learn). Its not perfect as the Harmony does not have a button for "List".

We are big fans of the Dallas Cowboys, and he is a Redskin fan, so when he figured that out he was ready to take all the hardware back, LOL. What a great sense of humor, wish more visits from installers were as pleasant. He even told me that he would have done it right the first time had it been him (referencing the Satellite Tower we built specifically for the dish, that the other installers ignored all those years ago). He showed us how to record shows and movies etc, and made sure we knew how to record Romo's next big Oops moment. Haha

Thanks for all the tips guys, it was highly appreciated and we apparently worried for nothing. Everything seems to work as expected. Now the next big worry can shift to whether or not we need to get used to the possibility of being called AT&TV

Best Regards
Rod

 

[raoul5788]

Make sure you verify with Directv that any units you still have are either owned or leased. The HR44 uses a different rf signal than any other unit so your Harmony remotes must be set to ir.

 

[SkOrPn]

Make sure you verify with Directv that any units you still have are either owned or leased. The HR44 uses a different rf signal than any other unit so your Harmony remotes must be set to ir.

Yeah I spent time researching on how to make sure these remotes would work with the HR44, but after all was said and done the remotes just kept working. We did nothing, so not sure why the remotes would work with a HR21 and a HR44 in the exact same manner (unless he did something so fast that I missed it). He never touched the Harmony remotes.

So, when should I call DTV? Maybe next Tuesday and ask them about these older units? He was pretty clear about that and he was on the phone with DTV when he told us that we own all the old hardware (referring to the HR21's). After 14 years of payments I would think we own all this hardware including the new stuff, lol...