DirecTV HD DVR - HR2*/ HR34 Master Topic: one thread for all - Page 60

There's noting wrong with native off, but if you want to use a scaler other than the receiver, you need native on.

I don't see any difference with mine but if someone gets a better picture with "Native ON" they should use it.

Hey gang,

I'm hoping to upgrade my ancient DirecTV system from the original SD-TIVO and HD-TIVO units to a new Genie and new HD DirecTIVO unit in the next week or so. I am hoping to stick the Genie main box in my bedroom with the little boxes distributed to the other tv's in the house, but hook up a new HD DirecTIVO in the living room (main viewing place). On that note, I have a couple questions:

1.) Does DirecTV still charge a premium per-box even if it's the little Genie boxes for each tv?
2.) Am I able to share content from the TIVO to the Genie units and vice versa?
3.) Are there built in OTA tuners in either or both of these new units, or does it still require the AM21 box for each tv that I want to get OTA programming on and be able to record?

Thanks,
Jeff

1. Yes
2. The Genie is the only one with an HD and it can share with the clients. The clients have nothing to share.
3.No built in OTA.

I don't use a Genie but have read a lot about them, if someone who does wants to correct any of these, I hope that they will.

Also the TiVo can't share with the Genie, or the Genie share with it.

I have the HR34 (Genie) with one client (C31) and a HR23. I do not have an AM21 for OTA, but I understand the the Genie will work with the OTA AM21 and if so then the OTA recordings can be viewed by other DirecTV set top boxes including the C31. So, to view OTA recordings you would only need one AM21 if I am correct.

I should have kmentioned that the sharing of the OTA would not include the TIVO.

I was sent here by a fellow member. They said I should ask this here.

We have a H25-100 that can see the HR24-100 but when you start playback of a recording it pauses for 3-5 seconds then plays for 3-5 seconds and will repeat as long as you let it. We've done red button resets on both units and the problem persists. On the HR24-100 everything appears OK no playback problems there.

Any ideas or threads I should check? I'm coming up with nothing so far except a few posts that are very similar:
http://forums.directv.com/pe/action/forums/displaypost?postID=11021749

Ok thanks for all the help. :-)

D* is here and after reterminating cables I asked him to remove the cinema kit from the mix and voila. They sent a really thorough rep out today (rep arrived 1 hour after calling it in) and I couldn't complain about his level of service.

Hi all,
My sister and I just bought our dad his first Hd TV. He is a Direct TV subscriber and will need to get a new box for HD reception and would like one with a DVR. I know very little about Direct TV. Can you all help me help him get set up? Does he have to "buy" a box from Direct TV? I've never really understood the buy versus lease concept with DTV. Can he (should he) try to pick one up used off Craig's List? Which box should he get? I've been a fan of Tivo for cable but am not familiar with the Genie.
Thanks in advance!

They're all leased, but they all have an upfront cost (unless he can get a deal through D*) and come with a 2 year commitment. He should NOT try to get one off Craig's list.

His choices are an HD-DVR (with the HR24 being the latest model - but there's no way to guarantee which model you'd get) or the Genie (HR34).

Many prefer the Genie because it has 5 tuners (versus two on the HD-DVR), and has PIP,

If your Dad is like mine and doesn't really have a need for the extra tuners or PIP, the standard HD-DVR is probably sufficient.

He could always pick up an HD-DVR from a place like solidsignal.com to ensure the best model (HR24), but it would still be a lease and come with the 2 year commitment. Additionally, since he doesn't even have HD yet, he might even need different equipment (dish or LNB or splitter) to make it all work, so it's probably best just to go through D* since they'll take care of all that.

Just call them and see what they'll offer for upgrading from SD to HD.

I had the same issue were a tech left a receiver that he replaced saying i will receive shipping boxes in the mail to ship it back. 3 Months went by and got nothing so I called directv to have the receiver activated in a spare room and they didnt charge me $199.00.

Thanks for the replies, gang. I'm going to call DTV now to schedule the upgrade. We'll see how it goes.

Regards,
Jeff

I am wanting to connect another television in our house but I’m not sure the best route to take, and so far the Directv CSRs haven’t been helpful.

In our house we currently have a Genie Whole House DVR (HR34), A HD DVR (HR24), and a HD Receiver (H24). We currently have a SWM 8 connected to the dish.

If I understand correctly all 8 tuners on the SWM 8 are being utilized. (5 for the HR34, 2 for the HR24, and 1 for the H24)
I am looking at the C31 as I know we can’t add another tuner, and I believe that the C31 doesn’t use a tuner, but does have to be connected to the SWM 8. Will I be able to connect this to the SWM 8 and it will work in congruence with the HR34 or since all 8 tuners are in use am I SOL?

You are correct that the C31 doesn't use one of the tuner channels that a SWiM8 provides so yes you can can add one and not have a problem.

I have one that they left here 6 months ago and I never got the box or shipping label either. When you called to activate it did you tell them it was a reciever left behind? I may get it activated if it wouldn't cost me other than the lease. The problem with it was the remote. When you press a button it would enter it twice sometimes. But it would be good for storage.

I am having a problem with the Hallmark and Lifetime channels. Sometimes when a scene changes the picture will flutter, not boxing but it's like the scene can't change fast enough. Plus I have stuttering sometimes on these stations too. Other stations are fine but these 2 channels are showing a lot of holiday movies so they are being watched a lot.

I have 2 HR24-100 DVRs and it happens on both of them. It doesn't act like a poor signal but if someone knew what sat it uses I could check it in the sat signal menu.

Any help or input would be appreciated.

Thanks

Sound Issues HR24-500! I have spent days on forums and on the phone with DirecTV about this issue. I know it is a known issue...my question is will a fix ever be updated and put in place!? I have HR24 hooked up to Marantz AVR thru HDMI and then output direct to TV via HDMI. I'm having the dreaded "no sound on almost 50% of my channels". Some are complete loss of sound and others only cut out during commercials or some only play commercials. Seems to be no consistency. Had DirecTV tech out 5 weeks ago and he replaced splitter an things cleared up for awhile but now the ghost in the machine is back. Software updated on the HR24 was 12/5...this have anything to do with it? I also noticed that if I switch Dolby Dig off on the box it only sometimes brings up the audio for a dropped channel. Another thing...If I record a show on the DVR and then play it back on my other rooms system (also surround) it plays DD audio just fine on all channels including the recordings from DVR. Is this a software, compression, sound card or some other issue and is DirecTV ever going to fix this? Thanks.

Hello all--sorry if this is repeated somewhere else, but I am trying desperately to view MPEG4 (.mp4) video (saved on my computer hard drive) via Media Share (1.0.0.3) on my HR24's...I have it set through an older version of Tversity, but every time I try to access th efiles, it crashes Tversity.

I also cannot seem to get to even "see" the folder/files via WMP11.

I am connected via "whole home," so wireless connectivity is not an issue...

Any thoughts?

What video formats can be shared via Mediashare on an HR24? Mpeg 4 apparently cannot be...

OK--got a video converter, converted the files to mpeg2, and they now work, although I cannot fast forward, rewind, or skip scenes ahead?

I'm interested in expanding the recording capacity of our original HR22 DVR by adding an external ESATA hard drive. Reading about it on the DirecTV site, it says that after powering up the receiver, it will recognize the external drive and thereafter use it for its primary storage.

1) Does this mean existing recordings will become inaccessible?

2) What's the native capacity of the HR22? Not much point in buying a 500 GB drive if that's what I have anyhow.

3) Can I power the external drive from the receiver? It would be nice to *not* add to the wad of wall warts already collecting dust behind the TV

Apologies if this is covered in an FAQ somewhere that I wasn't able to find searching the forum. Found this thread instead . . .

TIA,
Reasonably content end user in western Ohio

You might want to check out this very long thread on the subject, http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=160800 .

To save you some time, when you connect the external drive the internal drive is disabled. All recordings and series links will not be available. And you do need an external power supply for the drive.

We have a 4 HD-DVRs, all in the HR2* series and one HD receiver without DVR. One of the DVRs just died and and another is really slow and freezes up. I am going to call and see what DTV will do for me and was considering the Genie system. One problem I am afraid of is that a 'friend of a friend' with DTV said that on the satellite boxes with Genie, you can't pause live TV. I can't believe this can be true, but if it is, I really could not deal with that. So I am asking for those on the forum that actually have the system to let me know if this is true.

Also, I'm not sure if I even care about the Whole Home DVR idea, we are really using the Roku lately a lot. Are there any other downsides to the whole home DVR? Should I just have them give us a couple of newer DVR boxes?

Does DTV have a wireless box yet, like UVerse?

Thanks for any input.

For DirecTV equipment, "pause live TV" requires that the tuner that you are using have a hard drive in the same box.

So, if you have a separate receiver (like an H25), you can use it to watch TV, watch recordings from any of your DVRs (with whole home DVR), but not pause live TV (since it doesn't have a hard drive).

Any DVR (HR24, HR34, TiVos, etc.) will allow you to watch recordings, watch TV, and pause live TV.

If you use the Remote Viewing Unit client (C31), then it uses the tuner from the HR34 (now stupidly called "the Genie", when "Genie" is really the DirecTV term for "record suggestions"), so you can do everything that you could do if you were using the DVR directly, including pause live TV.

With whole home DVR, you can watch recordings from any DVR using any other DirecTV device that isn't a TiVo...you don't need an HR34 for that.

thanks! that info helps a lot.

Actually, that's called "Genie Recommends".

The unit is Genie ....... and it recommends shows.

They must have changed the UI, then, because when it first came out, it was just "Genie". Some of the menus that are only about the recommendation feature still say just "Genie", until you drill deeper. This doesn't make any sense if the whole unit is called "Genie"....it's an HR34.

And, finally after 5-6 updates that add more useless "features", today we get a fix for the "every show in the To Do list is already recording if you try to delete it" bug.

I have an HR24 chuck full of recordings on the DVR. I just accepted an offer to scale up to an HR34. I just want one box so I plan to return the old HR24. And, I know that there is no way to copy the recorded programs from the old HR24 to the new HR34.

But, until I return the HR24, can I have both boxes connected to my TV (HDMI) and finish watching the backlog of recordings?
Only the new HR34 will be activated and connected to the dish.
The old HR24 will be used just as a media player .. power on, select LIST, select the recording and press play.

Will that work? Or, I should just wait and try it?

Or, does anyone have any other suggestions.

Thanks!

Unless you own the HR24 as soon as you deactivate it from your acocunt DIRECTV will want it shipped back. Plus when the HR24 gets the deactivate signal you won't be able to play any recordings from it.