Some questions

[maznblu]

We're moving in a month to a house with no access to cable and are trying to choose between Direct TV and DISH. I've got some questions I thought might get quickly answered here.

1. We'll want to hook up 5 TV's at the house (preferably all HD). Will the Genie system on Direct TV support that?

2. The house is wired into 5 rooms for TV now, but 2 are not the rooms where we want it. Will DirectTV wire to the rooms we want as part of an install or would I have to have someone else do it? Is that just a single coaxial cable to each room?

Anything else I need to consider?

 

[Mr Tony]

1. The Genie you can hook up 3 clients to the Genie system...so there is 4 rooms. But honestly I would get HD receivers in other rooms. They have their own tuner but can still watch programs form the DVR. The Clients take up a tuner on the Genie so I guess how much you record would determine if you would be content with possibly having conflicts (if 2 people are using the clients and you are recording 2 shows....if a 3rd show needs to be recorded then you can only watch whats being recorded). If you get HD receivers for other rooms then they have an independent tuner

2. too much variable there. If they can get to the rooms rather easily then yes (like if all they have to do is drill a hole from the outside in)....but if you have say a brick house then it may cost you.

 

[Lanarian]

The only real benefit to the Clients is that they are very small. I agree with Ice that if possible, get either HD receivers for the other rooms or even better, get HD-DVR's. The advantages to doing it that way are: You leave the Tuners free on the Genie for recordings/Whole Home viewing in the other rooms, if you go with additional HD-DVR's rather than Clients you have even more recoding slots available at no additional charge.
You can of course mix and match HD-DVR's and HD Receivers also.. Personally, I'd only recommend the Clients for Guest bedrooms and/or home offices, workshops.. that sort of thing.. places where they'd get limited viewing so you keep the tuners on the Genie free for recording and Whole Home viewing in the main rooms.
As far as number 2 goes.. agree with Ice again.. depends on the layout of the home.

 

[texasbrit]

Similar advice to the others.
If your kids will be recording their own stuff, get a DVR for their room(s)
If your kids don't need recording capability, but you want to prevent them seeing the main recording list, get them HD receivers.
Put the Genie in the family room/den
For other secondary bedrooms, particularly get a client. But remember you are limited to three switched on at any one time.
For the master bedroom, it's up to you. If you have three clients already, get a receiver or DVR. If you have less than three, then maybe a client will do.

 

[Liquidforce88]

Can agree with the others on the clients, the thing is if you want HD receivers and not clients you will have to pay for them.

The additional rooms that you want wired will most likely be free, unless you want to cables wall fished, then you are looking at extra costs. If you want all rooms wired and he others just as extra rooms for later movement of receivers, you will have to py extra as well.