multiple box usage

DIRECTV went to a lease-only model back in 2006. Therefore, unless you received equipment from a technician you know or have a commercial account with DIRECTV, you don’t own any equipment. Now to your question, that’s just the way the business model works. This doesn’t just occur with DIRECTV satellite. Ultimately, every other major cable or satellite provider requires an additional fee for every extra TV. 

If you haven’t heard already, DIRECTV actually recently launched an app so that you can stream most of the channels from a streaming device like a Fire Stick, Roku, or Apple TV. Just buy the streaming device (one-time fee) and you don’t have to worry about an additional TV charge. 

I own the boxes because I was Primestar and thats part of the legacy agreement..  Its actually in my contract that I own the equipment and its actually on my acct  with a code to state it.

And no cable companies dont work that way either.  You can pay to own or buy your own box.  

There is no app that works to stream my directv feed to my roku or firestick.  I only find the directv stream app and i cant login to that one with my credentials..

I’ve personally never heard of such an agreement. But, if it says so on your bill, I suppose you can’t be wrong.

AFAIK cable companies like Optimum and Verizon Fios do work that way where they charge $11 or so dollars per month for each additional TV. There may be an option to own a box, but that doens’t charge the fact that you still have to pay every month. 

The same goes with DIRECTV, whether you own or lease a box, you still need to pay the $7/month TV Access Fee.

The app called DIRECTV for your Roku and Fire Stick is the one you want to use. It was recently updated a week or so ago so check the store to make sure you have the latest up-to-date version which gained support for DIRECTV satellite customers. As we speak I am using my Fire Stick right now and it has support for DIRECTV satellite credentials. 

nice.. It does seem to be working now..  I also see its like 30-60 secs ahead of the sat feed..

I still dont get why I pay for an access fee to watch on a box but I dont for a stream I use?  what is the difference?

Like I said, that’s just how the business model works. We as customers can only predict it has something to do with compensation on equipment charges, the costs related to delivering programming to an additional receiver, etc. 

I also dont see any way to watch my recordings using the app.

@upperdeck 

That’s a bug with the newer app DIRECTV is yet to fix. Anyway, since you don’t have a Genie, you can’t watch it anyhow.

It would be interesting to see if you could get multiple genies so you could put them on different subnets in the house  and few recordings separately.   But I also doubt they would give you more than 1 even though i have multiple dishes.

Also the biggest pain with the apps is the same issue you have with youtube/hulu and the like, the inability to change channels or buffer.

Max 1 Genie per account. If you wanted to have 2 then you need two accounts. 

i was on with support, I asked if i needed a genie to make this app work with recordings. first they told me the app would work with reg dvrs, then they said it wont work with  roku, then they said only a phone/tablet. now they dont know at all..  i could live with a genie if it wouldnt mess up my other dvrs. my other concern is how long they last.. DVRs tend to last only a few yrs.  what happens with a genie and all the recording you lose when it goes bad.

when a dvr goes bad it gets slower and slower giving you time to get those recordings gone before it dies.. not much you can do with a genie setup

Even with the app no way to change channels that i see . no previous button either?

now i also see you cant watch all your channels on the app?  like the MLB/NHL/ or sunday ticket?

Right, the app doesn’t support all of the channels, I see it only really supports the ones with the TV EVERYWHERE functionality. It’s a whole lot better than spending the $7/month for a receiver (right lol)? 

Usually, a Genie should give you 5-7 years. There are external hard drive replacements available online (e-SATA) if your Genie drive does ever fail.

When a Genie goes bad, so do your recordings. This is the exact same case with all of your other HDDVR receivers, no difference.

You are correct, when a hard drive is failing, performance will also degrade. You say “not much you can do with a genie setup”. I say back to that there isn’t much you can do with a regular HDDVR either. Both use the same locked down encryption within an XFS Linux partition. A company called WeaKnees offers hard drive copy services so if your Genie drive does go under (or any other HDDVR hard drive) then you can have them copy the recordings from the bad drive to a new one. 

so an app that doesnt even support the channels inside the home?  thats useless.. i get if my phone cant stream everthing but i should see my channels at home using this..

on my roku i see channels that i dont on my firetv.. even worse.. now way to sell the wife on this missing half the channels on top of no way to actually get to the channels. 

@upperdeck 

You won’t get anywhere complaining here. I suggest you voice your opinion to DIRECTV.