my HR34-700 Genie died - what are my options?

[jhetfield99]

Hey fellow DirecTV holdouts, my main receiver died after having trouble for months of jumping and freezing.

It's an HR34-700 so has a large hard drive to store DVR'ed programs.
It's at least 11 years old, but may actually go back to my previous house, which if so, we're talking it may be closer to 15 years, so it'd lasted a long time.

Is it easy to get sent a new main Genie Box?
If so, what are the current units they're sending out?
I have the protection plan.

The most succinct, efficient option would be if they simply would ship me a new genie with a hard drive as large as the original HR34-700.

After fully freezing up -- so I'd have to press reset or unplug -- in the last 2 weeks, it'll go to the almost DOS-like looking screen a couple times, and then to the regular light blue reset screen, and after taking like 30+ mins would finally work again. Over the weekend it's just dead, it stays stuck on the blue reset screen. I lived through a similar slow death with HR 34 and 24 boxes in the previous 5 years.

I know they became very stingy with HR24 and 34s after AT&T bought them and devolved or chipped away what I liked about the original product.

I have an old set up with multiple boxes in the house connected by a SWM, so I can DVR something downstairs and watching it on another box upstairs. This includes one I will use for a RV/tailgates, so every time I get there company line of "we can completely upgrade/replace all of your equipment for free" by email or if I call customer service, I say no thanks.

Would appreciate any guidance or safety tips including if there's a bat phone number to contact to get a new Genie if the regular number claims I must replace everything with the new product.

 

[cpalmer2k]

You can always contact them first to see what they would do. As a last resort Weaknees does do hard drive replacements on Genie boxes. I'm contemplating sending mine to them for an upgrade when we go away on vacation this year.

 

[jhetfield99]

Also, somewhat of interest, I noticed that even though the main Genie Box is dead and won't boot back up so I can watch DirecTV in our living room, if we leave it on stuck in perpetual blue screen reset state, the rest of the boxes in the house can talk to each other via SWM and I can view DVR'ed programming on the opposite.

If I shut off the Genie, then each room is back to being on it's own.

In the bedroom or basement, sometime I can see the programs that were DVR'ed on the Genie in the living room, but when I try to play them it does the thing where it times out after a while saying it can't find the packet, similar to what it does if the DVR had a bad recording.

 

[b4pjoe]

Call DIRECTV and tell them what is wrong with it and tell them you want to keep your other receivers. They should give you the HR54 to replace it which is much much better than the old HR34's were. Just don't let them talk you into the HS17 unless you want to replace your other receivers with clients.

 

[dfergie]

I lost the HDD in my HR34 last year, replaced with a WD Green 4 gig drive I had on hand (spare for my synology) mine survived a house fire 10 years ago, working fine now.

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[jhetfield99]

Call DIRECTV and tell them what is wrong with it and tell them you want to keep your other receivers. They should give you the HR54 to replace it which is much much better than the old HR34's were. Just don't let them talk you into the HS17 unless you want to replace your other receivers with clients.

A replacement is coming in a few days. I figured they'd just mail one and Id swap it, but they insisted a technician has to come so we'll see what that entails.

They did not say which specific box is replacing it.

Does the HR54 have more capacity?

 

[b4pjoe]

A replacement is coming in a few days. I figured they'd just mail one and Id swap it, but they insisted a technician has to come so we'll see what that entails.

They did not say which specific box is replacing it.

Does the HR54 have more capacity?

The HR34, HR44, and HR54 all have a 1 TB hard drive. If you want more you would have to switch to the HS17 which has a 2 TB hard drive. But to use it you would have to get rid of all other receivers that are not clients and replace them with clients receivers. Also you will lose all recordings that are on your current HR34.

 

[jhetfield99]

The HR34, HR44, and HR54 all have a 1 TB hard drive. If you want more you would have to switch to the HS17 which has a 2 TB hard drive. But to use it you would have to get rid of all other receivers that are not clients and replace them with clients receivers. Also you will lose all recordings that are on your current HR34.

Thanks for info.

They will be here in an hour or 2 to repalce. We will see what equipment they are giving me.

So new question, should I have to sign or be held to any contract?

I've been contract less for at least a decade and pay the $9/mo protection plan, so I think it's crap if they are making me sign a new 24 month plan, to replace a box I'm paid for 17 times over with all the years of the monthly advanced receiver charges.

 

[b4pjoe]

Thanks for info.

They will be here in an hour or 2 to repalce. We will see what equipment they are giving me.

So new question, should I have to sign or be held to any contract?

I've been contract less for at least a decade and pay the $9/mo protection plan, so I think it's crap if they are making me sign a new 24 month plan, to replace a box I'm paid for 17 times over with all the years of the monthly advanced receiver charges.

If they are just replacing a defective receiver there should be no new contract. If they replace the whole system with an HS17 I would guess there would be a new contract. If you don't want that refuse it.

 

[Jimbo]

If they are just replacing a defective receiver there should be no new contract. If they replace the whole system with an HS17 I would guess there would be a new contract. If you don't want that refuse it.

I agree with what you said, However, they MAY try for the 2 year commitment Because he's Upgrading from a HR34 to a HR54 ...

You and I know thats not an upgrade (technically it's a swap, but be thankfull your out of the 34) ...
They made me Sign a Contract when I went from a HR44 to a HR54 ... thats was years ago.

If they want him to sign an 2 year agreement, ask them if they can guarantee that they will be here in 2 years ?

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[cpalmer2k]

If they want him to sign an 2 year agreement, ask them if they can guarantee that they will be here in 2 years ?

I was wondering the same thing... As Starlink expands & Amazon LEO comes online there will be fewer and fewer customers who have to rely on satellite TV.

 

[HIFI]

I lost the HDD in my HR34 last year, replaced with a WD Green 4 gig drive I had on hand (spare for my synology) mine survived a house fire 10 years ago, working fine now.

my hr44 drive went out and would rather do as you have. Do you have a part number or link?

 

[dfergie]

my hr44 drive went out and would rather do as you have. Do you have a part number or link?

I was totally wrong about it being a green, it is a red...

Western Digital 4TB WD Red Plus NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 5400 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, CMR, 256 MB Cache, 3.5" -WD40EFPX

 

[Jimbo]

I highly doubt that you will find a NEW HR54 or older, I think D* on the Sat side quit making new equipment long time ago, with the exception of the Box they came up with for streaming that would do either ... but that won't help if your not going to the streaming side.

 

[b4pjoe]

I agree with what you said, However, they MAY try for the 2 year commitment Because he's Upgrading from a HR34 to a HR54 ...

You and I know thats not an upgrade (technically it's a swap, but be thankfull your out of the 34) ...
They made me Sign a Contract when I went from a HR44 to a HR54 ... thats was years ago.

If they want him to sign an 2 year agreement, ask them if they can guarantee that they will be here in 2 years ?

That is why I said there should be no contract. That doesn't mean they won't try.

I also got a 24 month contract when I upgraded from an HR44 to an HR54 but it was at my request to also get a C61K and the 4K service at the time. At that time I couldn't get 4K from an HR44 so I had to go to an HR54. (HR44 can now supply 4K to a 4K client)

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[jhetfield99]

No contract was required, or at least nothing was requested to be signed.

The tech that came was from for states away that direct contracted to come help with installs. Super nice southern gentleman. At one point in time he was general manager for a DirecTV dealer.

Said things are progressing better with AT&T out of the picture and he thinks a merger with DISH will eventually happen.

Anyway, was a pleasant experience, and though I haven't played much with the HR54 since it's not in a room I typically watch sports, it seems nice and has some intriguing additional features.

Most enticing is that it supposedly will automatically switch program viewing to streaming if we have bad weather/heavy rain that blocks the satellite signal.

 

[b4pjoe]

Anyway, was a pleasant experience, and though I haven't played much with the HR54 since it's not in a room I typically watch sports, it seems nice and has some intriguing additional features.

Most enticing is that it supposedly will automatically switch program viewing to streaming if we have bad weather/heavy rain that blocks the satellite signal.

It also has PIP if you want it.

Yes the HR54 will switch to streaming when bad weather interrupts the sat signal but not on all channels. You do need to make sure Signal Saver is turned on in the settings to take advantage of it.

 

[jhetfield99]

It also has PIP if you want it.

Yes the HR54 will switch to streaming when bad weather interrupts the sat signal but not on all channels. You do need to make sure Signal Saver is turned on in the settings to take advantage of it.

Ah, will have to search fort he PIP.
Do I have to go through menu?

 

[b4pjoe]

Ah, will have to search fort he PIP.
Do I have to go through menu?

It is in the info area when you press the info button on the remote.

 

[Ernionyx]

That's a tough one — those HR34s have definitely had a long run. I'd probably start by calling DIRECTV and asking for a replacement first, since they usually swap it out for a newer Genie like the HR44 or HR54. If they try to push you into a full upgrade, just double-check what you're getting (especially with Genie 2). Also, make sure to watch or save anything important because your recordings won't transfer.

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