C61W-700 Question

@phoophan 

The C61W is the latest wireless for DirecTV only. The C71WK (Osprey or newer version Gemini) is to be used with either DirecTV or DIRECTV STREAM (provided the correct firmware is loaded for the service you have).

As for "greatest", that is subjective. Personally I say it is not. And by "tower" do you mean the Genie-2 (HS17)? If so, then I say that is downgrade. A Genie and 2 HDDVRs gives more capability and reliabilty as that is more tuners (with potential for more), expandable storage, and each box is a full receiver so they can work independently as needed. The Genie-2 only permits Clients which hard caps your options, doesn't allow Picture in Picture (as Clients can only use a single tuner each), and if it has any issues or goes down well that affects all your TVs.

Ask yourself why you are looking to upgrade. If you have an issue or needing something your current setup doesn't have, then fair enough and let us know what you're looking for and perhaps some guidance can be given. But if all your concern is "latest and greatest" then don't worry about it. Don't be that person "oh no my neighbors got today's model and mine is last month, I need to upgrade fast or I will be shunned by the nation!".

Actually, until you mentioned it above, I was sitting fat and happy. One feature I miss dearly is PIP. So, what you're saying is if I upgrade the HS17 I can get PIP?

Instead of trying to figure this out, what equipment setup do I need to support two TV's in separate rooms, each having the ability to PIP and more than one tuner? Thank you!

You need an HR54 to get PIP back on only one TV as DTV doesn't make a mini that can use 2 tuners.  DTV only allows one Genie per account.

@phoophan 

So, what you're saying is if I upgrade the HS17 I can get PIP?

I am saying if you 'upgrade' to the Genie-2 (HS17), then you lose PiP. The HS17 doesn't go on a TV, only allows Clients. As those Clients can only use 1 tuner each, then PiP is impossible which is why it doesn't have it.

You must have a regular Genie (HR34, HR44, HR54) to have PiP. This is only on the Genie itself. This is why you can only use up to 3 Clients at the same time, as it has to reserve 2 tuners to itself to keep PiP available.

I have a Directv Tower

The only "tower" is the Genie-2 (HS17). That contradicts what you said earlier as you can't upgrade to the HS17 tower if you already have it. So which main Genie do you actually have?

Instead of trying to figure this out, what equipment setup do I need to support two TV's in separate rooms, each having the ability to PIP and more than one tuner?

There is no option to have PiP in more than one room. The Genie is the only box that has it and you can only have one on the account.

The only way to have more tuners is to have a regular Genie with HDDVRs on the other TVs. Each HDDVR has 2 tuners and 500GB recording space. They don't get PiP that the Genie has, but you don't have to worry about recording conflicts or dependent on the main box to work.

Apologies, I misread your comment. You said "upgrade HS17" not "upgrade to HS17".

Yes, if you upgrade the Genie-2 (HS17) to a Genie (most likely it would be 3rd generation HR54) than you gain PiP on that one TV. Keep in mind that replaces one wireless Client, and if you keep the 2nd wireless a wireless video bridge (WVB) would need to be installed as the Genie-2 is the only box with the WVB built-in. The external WVB is an owned accessory ($99).

If you are ready for a free upgrade, then I would consider swapping the Genie-2 for a Genie (which replaces one client automatically) and replace the 2nd client with an HDDVR. Though the HDDVR would not be covered by the free upgrade, at one-time lease cost of $199 to get 2 tuners and additional recording space that a client doesn't have to me is more worth it than the $99 purchase of an external WVB.

As you can see, for various reasons though the Genie-2 (HS17) is the latest, it is certainly not the "greatest". It was an option AT&T pushed to have a one size force-fits all customers. I do hope with the new co-owner that they innovate customer flexible equipment options again.

The latest Genie client is the Gemini C71WK. This has the ability to download other apps from the Google Playstore such as Netflix, Amazon, etc, so you can watch your other streaming apps without changing inputs. It also has a voice remote so you can search or ask Google questions from the remote. It is also the only wireless 4k option. It is self-installed and should not require a tech visit Whether this you would find this upgrade valuable is up to you.