Question about using new Genie system

[mcf57]

I have a family member who has DISH network and the Hopper/Joey system in four rooms of their house. They apparently aren't real happy with the way the equipment works & are possibly wanting to go back to DIRECTV. They are considering the new DirecTV GENIE whole home system. Had a few questions though.

It looks like it has 5 tuners, correct? Do these 5 tuners (on the main DVR) get used and/or distributed to the additional receivers in other rooms? Or do the other room receivers have their own independent tuners?

From what this family member has told me, the DISH network Joey's seem to borrow a tuner from the main Hopper DVR and he said he sometimes gets a message asking him if he is sure he wants to change the channel (on Hopper) cause it could affect a Joey in another room. I'm thinking this probably also has to do with how much he has recording at one time.

Doesn't the DISH Hopper have 4 tuners? Is there maybe some sort of setting he doesn't have set properly that could help avoid these conflicts? I am with cable so not totally sure how either work and thought I would look into this for them in order to fully understand how both systems work.

 

[caseyf57]

Hello mcf57,

The Genie (HR34) has 5 active tuners. With whole home you can use the C31 to watch programs in other rooms. The number of C31's you can have is unlimited but the number of C31's that can be used are limited to 3 at any given time. The C31's are like the Joey's due to the fact that they take a tuner from the Genie. If they have receivers/dvr's instead of the C31's then they can view what is on the Genie on 4 different units. If they decide to go with DirecTV then the time to order whatever they need and anticipate any changes during the first 2 years is they are under an agreement for service for the 2 years from the installation date. If they add additional hardware (receivers/dvr's then the 2 year period resets from the date that the new equipment was installed My limited understanding of the Hopper is that in prime time the hopper feed combines the 4 major networks CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox to the Hopper. At all other times it has 3? tuners available for recording and viewing.

 

[harshness]

The number of C31's you can have is unlimited but the number of C31's that can be used are limited to 3 at any given time.

The number of C31s is NOT unlimited. As DECA only supports 16 devices and the C31 is DECA only, the number is indeed limited.

 

[harshness]

There is a substantial penalty for switching at this point. It will be upwards of $400 (the penalty for leaving DIRECTV in the first month is $480).

Unless everyone is a hard core channel surfer, one can often get used to watching shows that are already recorded. Once that happens, the experience may be less onerous.

A better investment of that ~$400 may be to trade in one of the Joeys in on a second Hopper.