Trying to find info on the new HR54 wirelss system - can anyone help?

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TominKY

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Dec 29, 2004
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I did several searches, but could not find a whole lot of info. Specifically, I have a wall mounted TV on my covered deck, and while it has a coax connection going to it that a Genie client could use, that same coax is split off of the one that feeds upstairs, and also goes to our family room TV that will have its own client. I don't know if you can split the coax feed to the Genie clients like that - my understanding is that they each have to have their own dedicated coax line from the switch. I have my tech rescheduled to come out on Wed to complete my install, and he mentioned that the HR54 is coming out after the first of the year. However, since there doesn't seem to be much info on the HR54, I am hesitant to go with unproven technology. If the HR54 also supports coax connections like the HR44, I might be more inclined to wait.

Apparently there is another solution that will work with the HR 34/44 - The C41 wireless client. Perhaps one of these would be a satisfactory answer if I don't want to wait until after Jan 1. I found this article about them. Any thoughts?

http://forums.solidsignal.com/showthread.php/4792-Solid-Signal-s-Hands-on-Review-DIRECTV-C41W-Wireless-Genie-Client

Looks like a possible solution to my quandary. Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
C41 Wireless has not been released yet. The only site that mentions it is weaknees.com & the only thing they say is "coming soon" & "no picture available." As far as the HR54 goes,this is the first I ever heard of it.
 
The SolidSignal article I linked to has a response listed in August that indicated it was released in several test markets. Did not mention a release date for the rest of us, but I would guess if the HR54 is being released after the first of the year they would have this available too. Wish I could get more info on the 54. Might just have to call DirecTV and see if I can find someone who knows about it. This problem doesn't have to be solved right away, since no one is going to be sitting out on the deck watching TV right now while it's freezing outside.
 
If it's only in test now, the csr won't have any information on it, not that they can give out publicly anyways.
 
I did several searches, but could not find a whole lot of info. Specifically, I have a wall mounted TV on my covered deck, and while it has a coax connection going to it that a Genie client could use, that same coax is split off of the one that feeds upstairs, and also goes to our family room TV that will have its own client. I don't know if you can split the coax feed to the Genie clients like that - my understanding is that they each have to have their own dedicated coax line from the switch. I have my tech rescheduled to come out on Wed to complete my install, and he mentioned that the HR54 is coming out after the first of the year. However, since there doesn't seem to be much info on the HR54, I am hesitant to go with unproven technology. If the HR54 also supports coax connections like the HR44, I might be more inclined to wait.

Apparently there is another solution that will work with the HR 34/44 - The C41 wireless client. Perhaps one of these would be a satisfactory answer if I don't want to wait until after Jan 1. I found this article about them. Any thoughts? ...

The wireless Genie Mini client is definitely out, but it is being deployed only in select markets. I've posted my experience in the below thread on this forum:

[Dang it! Apparently I'm too new to post direct links. Look for "Free Genie Upgrade?" thread and maestro7 for this reply's date]
 
Yes, the C41w client is out there, but Tom is asking about the HR54 Genie model, which may be in testing but isn't on the market yet.
 
The wireless Genie Mini client is definitely out, but it is being deployed only in select markets. I've posted my experience in the below thread on this forum:

[Dang it! Apparently I'm too new to post direct links. Look for "Free Genie Upgrade?" thread and maestro7 for this reply's date]
One you get to 5 you should be able to post links. Sorry about that its done to keep the spam bots at bay. :D
 
I would :welcome you to Satelliteguys maestro7, but you have been here for nearly 6 years! :)
 
Yes, the C41w client is out there, but Tom is asking about the HR54 Genie model, which may be in testing but isn't on the market yet.

WHAT??? Another Genie? Dang I should've waited that is of course if it has new features or probably more tuners which I doubt.
 
Notice I sad MAY be in testing. Unless you have one, you are unlikely to know about it. Beta testers are supposed to keep their yap shut about it.
 
They need a Genie with 8 Tuners :)

Haven't done any research, but can the SATA hard drives handle that many data streams of HD video, that would be up to 13 at a time (8 recordings, possible VOD, 1 local playback, 3 remote playback, plus guide data stream).

I have to wonder if going much past 5 is a storage limitation more than a SWM limitation.
 
They could use two hard drives with separate connections. It would up the costs a lot though.
 
They could use two hard drives with separate connections. It would up the costs a lot though.

Raid-0 would provide the performance but like you said expense and also if one drive fails the whole array is gone. SSD isn't at the price per performance yet.

My speculation for HR54 (though I haven't heard ANY development yet)

- 4k support with HEVC with the Broadcom 7445 ARM based SoC (we are talking FAST!!!)

- minimum 2TB hard drive. Thinking cost per 2.5" HD. Content owners want you to time shift anyway- not archive forever. Don't expect huge strides here.

- 6 tuners instead of 5 (cable has 6 tuner DVRs now from Cisco, Moxi, Pace, TiVo and Ceton.

- Transcoding capability built right into SoC. No external GenieGo box required.

- 802.11ac/n built in for wireless clients and Internet/VOD.

Again these are just my guesses as the HR44 is a pretty good platform already, so these guesses sound like the next logical evolution. If you look at TiVo Roamio, their higher end models add transcoding built in and larger hard drives. At a minimum I would expect the HR54 to do the same since it's been proven possible with the latest Broadcom SoC's. Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
 
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It will be nice if it would have GenieGo built in, not sure how that would work, but it'll probably slow down the hard drive with all that trancoding in the background, or they might bring back OTA scanning.
 
I'm not sure but Tivo has a simular archetecture. If you get the basic Tivo Roamio and also want to stream or download to mobile device, you have to buy and install the Tivo Stream. The Tivo Stream is like Genie Go in this case and the Roamio is like the HR44 in a way. Now with Tivo if you upgrade to Roamio Plus, that Tivo stream is built in. So I'm not sure if maybe they have 8GB flash memory dedicated to the transcoding or something like that?

https://www.tivo.com/shop/roamio

Anyway if they can do it, I think having Genie Go built into the next HR would be a logical evolution to eliminate box clutter.
 
The HR54 will not do 4K. It is actually a lower cost Genie unit and uses some new kind of wide band tuners.

There is another receiver in the works called a HR46 which is a 4K Genie. We hope to see these at CES next week.
 
The HR54 will not do 4K. It is actually a lower cost Genie unit and uses some new kind of wide band tuners. There is another receiver in the works called a HR46 which is a 4K Genie. We hope to see these at CES next week.

Thanks for the info Scott. I am looking very forward to CES coverage.

Interesting that the model numbers are not switched ie) HR46 be the cheaper HR44 while HR54 be the 4k model.

I still haven't upgraded to genie because I want to see how this plays out, and also compare my local cable co's Moxi 6 tuner unit when it is released in 2014. They admitted its in employee trials and awaiting some bug fixes from Arris.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
 
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