We're considering getting HS-17 Genie Server, any advice?

The Genie-2 (HS17) will be a downgrade to your setup. Primarily this is because it only allows Clients, forbidding all other boxes. This results in all your other boxes replaced and losing all your recordings.

Genie and 2 HDDVRs is 9 tuners. Genie-2 is hard cap of 7 tuners. Genie or Genie-2 goes down, then all Clients go down. But regular HDDVRs still work as they are full boxes, not Clients.

A few suggestions for your setup.

1. Verify coax is finger tight to all boxes. Then one at a time do a red button reset, or even pull power for a minute, in a specific order. Genie > Wireless Video Bridge (WVB) > Clients > HDDVRs > HD non-DVRs (if you had any).

2. When they become too slow or don't work at all, warranty replace your regular HDDVRs. Only the HR24 would still be in stock. The HR21 was the last with a 320GB hard drive, so models thru HR24 have a 500GB drive. Be caught up on recordings first as they do not transfer to the replacement(s).

3. Consider using your next upgrade to replace a wireless Client with an HDDVR. This would take load off the Genie, including not stealing a tuner from it. Though this is a wired only option, it is a more reliable setup per the nature of the technology.

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate your helpfulness.

You're welcome. Wise checking the forum first. Even very capable and honest agents may be required to push the Genie-2 (HS17) even if not the absolute best for your particular setup.

Once you have 3 TVs, a regular Genie with HDDVRs is flat out the more capable setup. The Genie-2 (HS17) is questionable for 1-2 TV households. Personally even then I would avoid it as restricts your options and puts all your eggs in one basket which is asking for trouble.

One last note. The HR54 does support the 4K Client (C61K). Mentioning if you ever consider having the 4K Client mixed in with all your other boxes. So it is not just the HS17 that supports the 4K Client.

We've thought a lot about this over the holidays and we're willing to make the tradeoff to switch to the HS17. We've limped along with our old HDDVRs not working well for months (years?). But what we can't find out is whether the HS17 has been improved since it's initial rollout. Can you tell us whether it's better? What issues still remain?

Thank you.

The HS17 functions a bit smoother than it used to. But it still has the built-in restrictions to where it is a flat downgrade to your setup. I still highly recommend doing the warranty replacement because your HR21s are simply worn out being so old. Why get a 24 month agreement for less capability and risking more issues?

HR21 to HR24 will go from 320 to 500GB recording space.

Keep dedicated tuners. You have 9 total, but the HS17 reduces you to 7.

Going to the HS17 means you would go from 3 to 5 Clients, so that much more load.

And if somehow you end up needing more recording space, there is another option. HDDVRs and the Genie each support an external eSATA hard drive. It is used instead of the internal, so needs to be larger to be worth it.

HDDVR thru HR21 has 320GB, HR22 thru HR24 has 500GB. Supports a max of a 2TB external drive.

Genie (HR34, HR44, HR54) has 1TB. Original guidance was up to 4TB external, but that is not a hard cap like the regular HDDVRs. Other uses have had 12TB+ with no issues. Though personally I find that to be way more space then needed.

Thank you for taking the time to explain this further. (The conflicting information that we get from DTV customer support left us with the impression that we would lose our whole home function or even the ability to use the genies if we upgraded the HDDVRs.)

We like the idea of double space on the HR24. More importantly, there are 2 things really driving this whole reconfiguration/upgrade stuff.  First is whole home interoperability. I can see and play from the Genie playlist and vice versa with the old HR21 playlist. Will that continue to work on the HR24? Second is just plain glitchiness that's happening. At random times, I can see no playlist at all on HR21. Playing HR21 shows on Genie is often very poor with lots of stuttering. It finally came to a head when I wanted to fast forward just a little bit on a football game. It went out of control and took me down to the fourth quarter before the FF would stop. Do these sound like problems just coming from the old age of the HR21 that would likely clear up with new HR24?  Thank you very much.

It is my belief that non-legacy DirecTV agents (AT&T or outsourced) don't understand anything beyond the most recent models, which are Genie setups.

Genie is DirecTV's Advanced Whole Home HDDVR. So Whole Home DVR is required for it to work and communicate with the Clients. It is possible to have Whole Home DVR without a Genie as it only requires a HDDVR and a HD non-DVR at minimum. But Whole Home without a Genie is a very rare setup, as that was in the days before the 1st Genie launched.

So yes HDDVRs (HR20 thru HR24, and special R22) work with Whole Home DVR, regardless if you have a Genie or not.

HR21 to HR24 will definitely give more space (though not double) just by the larger capacity hard drive. As mentioned recordings do not transfer, so I would be comfortably caught up first before doing a warranty replacement. Provided there is not an issue in the coax/SWM network between the boxes as well, then warranty replacement should be all that is needed. And a stuck FF would pretty much be the box itself (assuming remote is good of course). If you still have any of those issues afterwards, then a service call would be the next step.

If you have a free upgrade, upgrading one of your Clients to an HDDVR would be something to consider as well. More reliability as doesn't put load on the Genie, and more capability with tuners and added recording space. No difference in monthly cost, just the 24 month agreement.

Thank you again, Juniper. You are most helpful and patient.

You're quite welcome. This is where the forum comes in handy. Experienced customers who don't have quotas or time limits to keep. Just trying to help each other out.

Genie-2 (HS17) is an interesting idea. But for as long as it forbids receivers (HDDVRs or otherwise), that is a critical reason I cannot justify it for most setups as it tends to be a downgrade overall, like in your case.