Genie HD DVR and AM21 OTA Tunner

Nothing from Stuart. I suspect he does not have an answer yet.

Here's the deal. My friend has had DIRECTV as long as I have. He also had all non Genies like I currently have and decided to upgrade to an HR54 a week ago. He leased the receiver from DIRECTV and I am going to bring my AM21 over to his house to test this issue. For a fact, we know that the HR54 has NEVER met an AM21 before. Unfortunately, I can't test this claim alone at my place because this is my current setup (HR24 (3), HR22, HR20, D12 (2), D11).  I don't have any Genies because I have a grandfathered package and all. I also don't want an agreement and like the older non Genie receivers.

Also, do any of y'all know the difference between the AM21 and AM21N? I didn't think anything of it but I just noticed that all three of my HR24s have the AM21N and my HR22 has the AM21. My HR20 already has an internal OTA coax input so no need for an AM21. I can say that the DIRECTV logo is different on the AM21 than the AM21N. (The AM21N has the same logo as the HR34, H44, and HR44 had.) (The AM21 had the same logo as the H25 and earlier receivers.)

Mine are both AM21s.

And if your friends HR54 is refurbished it might possibly have seen an AM21 before......just saying! 

@TexasBrit it was NEW in box from the technician. Not refurbished at all and the technician changed the system to SWM as well instead of the OLD legacy LNB.

I should be able to drop by his house this evening or afternoon. I will post back on the forum the results. This will hopefully keep us a little less curious. But we do definitely need Stuart Sweet's opinion. FYI, I will also bring the AM21N with me to explain if that makes a difference. (probably not)

@detuch254 

A Grandfathered package doesn't prevent you from getting a Genie. It would just add the $3 Whole Home DVR service (as you should already have HD and DVR based on those models).

If you refuse to have a service agreement, then your setup is on borrowed time. DirecTV went to lease only with the launch of the 1st Genie (HR34) and stopped owned options for all prior boxes before that. Since regular HDDVRs are no longer made, warranty replacements are dwindling.

Since purchase to own for HDDVR was $499, and ECF valued at $20 for each month left of 24 month service agreement (max $480), and lease has ongoing warranty, plus no difference in monthly cost, personally I see the service agreement as being cheaper. The purchase to own was only cheaper if you got a used box, but now their new system doesn't allow reactivation of boxes.

But as you have a D12 and D11, that would qualify for the MPEG swap if they do it correctly, so no new service agreement. Though I suspect with a D12 and D11 in the mix you may have a 2nd dish setup (RV, detached garage, etc.) which would be on you to update the dish and cabling at your own cost (though boxes should still be swapped out, just keep Genie/Client in the main home if you chose to do the swap).

In my book the Genie and HDDVRs are the best setup. HR20 thru HR24 work with the Genie. Non-DVRs H21 thru H25 do as well. This also includes the special R22, since that is MPEG-4 capable as some areas went to MPEG-4 locals a long time ago. The key thing is to not replace any HDDVRs with Mini Genie Clients, and if you have a 2nd dish setup to not put the Genie there. Also as you are probably aware, stay away from the Genie-2 (HS17) as would be an overall downgrade on capability to your setup (being Clients only, forbidding all your existing boxes).

But in either case the D12 and D11 will have to be replaced in the foreseeable future or just done without per the MPEG-2 shutdown.

I will say I am against the direction they are going with a Client only system. I keep hoping that there is a regular HDDVR, that understandably would be SWM-only to work better with the Genie, in the works. But as there has been no peep on this, I don't hold my breath.

X

If you are in the legacy account system, there is a chance you may get an old box reactivated, but no guarantee. With eBay the risk is boxes are stolen, or prior user didn't understand they were leased since they deactivated them after they became non-returnable.

Even HD owned models are many years old. So with the worn out status, the risk of buying from an individual as noted above, and not many of us wanted to pay $499 for an HDDVR and have the same monthly bill, lease only is how DirecTV is going forward. If you can get your 2 boxes replaced like the old way, then great. But be prepared that it may be more of a stop gap and eventually will have to go the current route like everyone else.

Lease only going forward was done about a decade ago, and in the last couple years with the MPEG-2 shutdown they have been turning off reactivation options. Probably the only delay is moving everyone into the new account system as some of us are in the legacy one, but for how long nobody knows.

They definitely stopped re-activation of receivers (even owned ones) but there have been a few posts recently from people who managed to get it done. 

Ok, so after MONTHS of messing around with the AM21 and AM21N at my friends house and mine, we have hopefully come up with a conclusion/solution to everyone’s concerns. The AM21 WILL NOT in fact support an HR44 or HR54 if the receiver is FACTORY NEW and has NEVER seen an AM21 before. It doesn’t matter if the AM21 is new or used, the same goes for both. Meanwhile, I believe that the AM21N WILL support a FACTORY NEW HR44 or HR54. And yes, the two receivers were on their latest national release. This test had taken months of messing around with purchasing different AM21s and AM21Ns on eBay and receiving brand NEW HR44s and HR54s from technicians. 

It is hard to believe DTV still has "New" HR44/54 in stock as they generally stop making them when the new model comes out like the HR44 was no longer made when the HR54 came out and the HR54 was stopped when the HS17 came out.  I believe that DTV bulk orders the receivers from their manufactures say 4 million from each and when they run out they go on to  the the next model.

@shannon02 which is why I purchased a brand NEW HR44 sealed in box on eBay. Not recommended for anyone on the forum but I did it JUST for this test LOL. 

A box doesn't mean it wasn't refurbished.