Genie Upgrade

[ejb1980]

Directv is coming Tuesday to change my HR24/H25 set-up to a Genie/Client set-up. They are also changing my dish to a 5-LNB. My receivers are easily accessed from the front. Can the installer use the same power cord as the HR24? I would like to avoid the hassle of going "back there" to get it, but if I need to, I certainly will make it accessible before the installer gets here.

I know I will lose a tuner from the HR34 when the client is using it. I do not care. The main reason for the upgrade is so that i can have all the AM21/VOD channels in the bedroom. I will never need 5 tuners at once.

I know the HR34 scans for channels. YAY! But, does it still put channels you don't receive OTA in the guide? In the pic, 26-5 is UNC-MX, a Time-Warner cable exclusive channel. I receive it via TWC QAM, but no one gets it OTA as it was removed from the OTA channels years ago. I like having the guide info here for UNC-MX, and I am curious if it will stay or not.

 

[Liquidforce88]

Why not keep the HR-24 instead of the client. Get all the same features with 2 extra tuners.

I don't know why but Directv is talking anyone that calls in for service or an upgrade into the Genie system. I am constantly talking people out of the clients and to keep their HDDVR's. I had one the other day that had 4 HDDVR's and 2 standard receivers. Directv had them talked into a Genie and 5 clients. Ended up with the Genie and one client to replace the standards. They kept the rest of their HDDVR's, and the person from Directv still tried to talk them into the clients.

 

[ejb1980]

I want to have the AM21 channels available on the other TV without running more wires and splitting the antenna cables anymore.

 

[Mr Tony]

I know the HR34 scans for channels. YAY! But, does it still put channels you don't receive OTA in the guide?

no
you have to type in your zip but then it "Scans" for available channels. If it can't find a signal it doesnt show in the list.

 

[ejb1980]

So I got the upgrade. I am not as impressed as I was hoping. How do you get the non-database locals to appear in the actual guide? They appear in the AM21 set-up menu, they appear on the favorites list checklist, but on the actual guide they do not appear. I can manually tune to them, but they are not in my on-screen guide, except for on the "all channels" list. Also, does the Genie not have Pandora/YouTube/Music+Photo sharing? Those features are gone.

Also, on the client, a cool feature where you can re-start the program if you tune in late appears on select channels. This does not appear on any channels, including the same programs on the same channels, on the actual HR34 unit. Strangely, it appears on my non-local CBS but not the Directv-provided CBS.

 

[Mr Tony]

The non database locals there is a glitch with them sometimes not showing up in favorites. Here is what you have to do

tune to the channel
press the yellow button to bring up the info bar
right arrow to favorites
then down arrow to "REMOVE FROM ______" (whatever you named the favorite list)
select (to remove it)
then yellow button again
right arrow to favorites
down to "ADD TO _______"

Then it will stick. You have to do this to each channel that only shows "regular programming" in the guide.
Note that anytime the receiver reboots (software update, you do it) you will have to redo the above

 

[ejb1980]

I did a reset and that made the Pandora, etc, come up. That makes me feel better.
One of my local subs is SD 16x9. With the HR24 set to pillar box, it pillar boxed the 16x9 SD channel, too, basically double pillaring it. The Genie does not do that, which I appreciate.

Do you have any information about the start-over feature?

Thanks for all your info, Iceberg. You are far more knowledgeable than any Directv person I have ever spoken to. The installer yesterday had never seen, or heard of, the AM21, and was impressed by what it could do.

 

[Mr Tony]

Do you have any information about the start-over feature?

what do you mean?

Thanks for all your info, Iceberg. You are far more knowledgeable than any Directv person I have ever spoken to.

 

[ejb1980]

Even with the Genie, 22-2 is wrong. You'll notice it isn't WLFLDT2 that is listed, it's a UNCTV channel incorrectly listed as 22-2. (This particular UNC channel should be 27-2, which is missing from the channel 27 listings most of the time on the HR models.) Some reboots on the HR models list it as 27-2 and then there is no 22-2. With the Genie, I was expecting the "Regular schedule" message on 22-2, which is really Country Network.

I will try to snap a pic of the "press << to return to the beginning of this program" message.

 

[Mr Tony]

it almost sounds like there is some bad guide info. Because the HR2X series loads channels regardless if you can get them or not (it goes by zip) you can see some issues. I didn the same thing when I got my HR34 and also had issues recently when I was testing something out.

You can try this to fix that
-do a reset on the OTA option to "clear out" all the OTA info.....guide will download
-then do a double red button reboot. RBR then it will load the guide. Then do another RBR and that will completely clear out the guide info
-Then do the initial setup for OTA

It will only find the stations that your antenna can pick up and download guide info (for the ones it has guide info for)

 

[ejb1980]

This is the message I was talking about. I only see it on the client.

 

[Mr Tony]

I dont have a client but I do see that message when I tune to a show I'm recording. But it only can go back up to 90 minutes (if recording a long program)
I have seen that pop up too if I am watching something from the hard drive and then I'm done. But that popup doesnt always happen