So I'm switching from DISH to DTV and they're coming to install this weekend. During the install for DISH they had to rewire my house so that every HD receiver (3) had a direct line to the satellite. And one room has a cable connecting to the DVR in the living room so that it can leach off of one its tuners. The install took SEVERAL hours. I’m getting DTV’s new whole home ‘Genie’ DVR and was wondering if anyone had any idea as to what type of installation will be needed. Will they have to rewire the whole house like DISH did or just reconfigure the setup? I really don’t want to sacrifice half a day waiting for the installer to arrive, then another half waiting for him to finish. Also, any thoughts or opinions on DTV and the Genie DVR? Other than continuing to miss Rockets games, I think this will be a good decision for me and my family… Or just me. The main reasons I’m switching is for the short-term savings and better HD quality. I’m sure my wife couldn’t care less. As long as she still has OWN, Oxygen, VH1, etc... She'll be good.
It should use the existing wiring if it's up to date. I hope you used someones referral code. That's $100 to each person.
The genie is awesome. 5 channels at once for dvr recording and it doesn't matter whether they are hd or not, primetime or not, etc. Any 5 shows at once. I absolutely love DirecTV. The new dish is also almost completely weather proof. You are getting a treat! Too bad you didn't sign up under my referral! As for the install, if you were already setup with wiring to every room he should be able to use the wires that already exist. Shouldn't be that big of a deal. He will need to run internet directly to the main box to setup the cinema connect. That should really be the only thing he potentially needs to spend some time on.
The genie didn't exist in 2008. Heck, even a year ago there was no option on the market to record 3 shows in HD on any channel. DTV's genie is a game changer.
yeah, I still have the older whole home DVR setup, and I can only record two at a time on each dvr(we have two). We were informed recently by Direct that we would be getting the upgrade to the new setup(I assume it is this Genie setup) in the near future. I really hope it is, With four people in this house, recording slots are at a premium during primetime.
They upgraded me to the genie when I threatened to leave over Comcast and my discounts expiring. I now have the genie in one room but another HD DVR in another room instead of the client receiver. I can do 7 shows at once, all in hd and watch them in any room! It's awesome man.
I have the Whole Home DVR and I have 4 HD DVRs already. That's 8 shows at once so I don't currently have a reason to upgrade. But two of my DVRs can get sluggish sometimes (navigating menus, etc) and I have to power them off and on. Does the Genie perform better? I assume it has a more powerful CPU and newer software.
Yes. The genie runs much smoother. I experience lag on my other dvr when I watch something recorded on the genie (only when I try to fast forward) but on the genie itself everything runs crisp.
I need to pull the leave for comcast or Dish move to get the Genie. I have the whole home, got it when I moved this summer, but I wasn't home when they installed it. I hope the Genie solves the problem of only one of the non-dvr boxes being able to stream off the DVR at a time.
I'm closing on a house in a couple of weeks and am debating whether to bring directv with me or go to Comcast. I haven't tried to get anything from directv should I wait it out and then call them when I own the property or call them now and ask them to hook me up for when I do move?
Dish is ridiculous. They force their installers to rewire the entire house if the cable is not from a specific vendor. Basically there is a bit spat between vendors, Dish and DirecTV. DirecTV doesn't care as long as the cable is rated to specs. It will probably take them an hour or two. FYI: DTV stands for Digital TV.
So - After my install on Sunday I was EXTREMELY disappointed. The guy finished just in time for me to catch the Texans game, but I couldn't enjoy it due to the piss poor picture quality. I spent the whole game messing with the picture settings on the DVR. Then I realized that their remote couldn't be programmed to control my surround sound receiver. On top of that the whole setup was EXTREMELY laggy. So all in all, I went to bed pretty pissed Sunday night. Then yesterday, due to the office being DEAD, I did some research while at work. I learned what the different HDTV settings on the DVR actually do. Went to the AVS forums and found some new calibration settings for my TV. And bought a Logitech Harmony remote from Best Buy. I also picked up a digital coax cable for audio; that allowed me to run HDMI from the DVR straight to the TV instead of into the surround sound receiver then out to the TV. Now, it feels like I just bought a new TV and I’m extremely happy with the decision. With me being a big HDTV and electronics nerd, I don’t know how I could have possibly slept on the Logitech Harmony remotes. My only regret is being impatient and buying the remote at Best Buy. They’re about 50% cheaper online. /Cool Story
Yeah I've also been thinking of getting the Harmony. Tired of having to use 3 different remotes. Which version did you get and why? As you can see I haven't done a whole lot of research, other than the desire to have a universal remote.
