New Member
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3 Messages
Genie Gen 3 HR54-500 vs. Genie 2
I was recently visiting relatives in AZ and they had the Genie 2. I thought they had old technology, but read that's the new device. I read all the bad reviews, but most are 6 years old. Has this equipment gotten better? Is the 4K better? I'm just debating if I should change equipment since It appears to be mine is outdated. My current HR54 is connected to a TV in a room no one watches. I could eliminate a receiver if I switched equipment. I have 4K service, whole home, a wireless genie and bridge and 2 additional genie minis. I understand I will lose all my saved movies, but I have an extensive digital movie library and watch on Vudu and MoviesAnywhere so that's not an issue. I stream 99% of the time.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
t3
Voyager
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4 Messages
2 years ago
@Juniper , I currently have Genie Gen 3 HR54-200, two HDDVR HR24-500, a C61K and a C61W, with no 4K TV. I do have 3-8 multiswitch, with 2 feeds to each location except for the C61W. I just got two 4K TV's, plan to put at C61K location and one of HDDVR location. How should I upgrade the system? Go to Genie 2, swap out the two HDDVR's with two C61K's and add another C61K? Stay with HR54, swap one HDDVR with C61K, add storage to HR54 to record more 4K programs but suffer with only one 4K at a time? Any other options? Thanks in advance for your help!
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23.4K Messages
2 years ago
@t3
The Genie-2 (HS17) would allow you to use two 4K clients at the same time. However, it would be a massive downgrade otherwise.
You have 9 tuners between your HR54 (5) and HR24s (2 each). The Genie-2 only has 7 and is for the entire home. This is because the Genie-2 FORBIDS everything but Clients. This would require replacing all your DVRs, losing their existing recordings, as well as their independent reliability.
Built-in, you have 2TB storage from HR54 (1TB) and HR24s (500GB each). But each can use an external eSATA drive in place of the internal as needed (HR24s have max supported 2TB, but HR54 has no known cap so 12+TB has been used). Only the first run of the Genie-2 had the eSATA port, since then it has been removed going forward.
With the limited 4K content, I would suggest keeping what you have and just have the 4K TV and C61K together. I hope you previously had a 4K TV so that the C61K was properly installed with the correct account options turned on. Remember, TV needs to support HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2, and 60 FPS for DirecTV's 4K.
You could see about upgrading the C61W to 4K. Either the wired C61K as you have or the new Gemini (C71KW) which supports both wired and wireless, as well as downloadable apps like a streaming device. I cannot speak to the reliability of using 4K with this model. Either way, you can still only have one TV on a 4K channel at a time.
For me 4K programming is still too niche and not a lot of it to warrant replacing a dedicated HDDVR with a 4K Client. Since HDDVRs aren't made anymore, existing ones stock is dwindling for warranty replacements, it is concerning going forward.
To keep it simple:
Put 4K TV and C61K together. Requirement is HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2, 60 FPS
Consider upgrading C61W to 4K. Either Mini Genie (C61K, wired-only) or the new Gemini (C71KW) which supports wired and wireless, and can download streaming apps.
Only 1 TV at a time can use a 4K channel.
Avoid Genie-2 (HS17) as you greatly reduce overall capability just to allow two TVs at the same time to access the limited 4K content.
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t3
Voyager
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4 Messages
2 years ago
Thank you Juniper. That makes sense. Didn't know my 4-5 years old setup is better than the latest. DirecTV needs to step up on their STB development.
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23.4K Messages
2 years ago
Yes the latest is not always the "greatest". Satellite tech doesn't improve by leaps and bounds constantly.
From my perception, once AT&T acquired DirecTV is when development of proper STBs stopped. They pushed heavily for the Genie-2. This to me is an all-in-one (and you must like it) setup that is easier for the company but less flexible for the customer.
Since a new co-owner has taking over management DirecTV, I do hope they return to HDDVRs that work together along with whatever "Genie" may be next. And these will work with the same level of software and built purely for SWM, as opposed the HR24s (still good solid models) which are on the old software and adapted to SWM from the older multiswitch.
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detuch254
ACE - New Member
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5.2K Messages
2 years ago
@gregeusa
I've tried SSH'ing into a WVB to make changes without a success. The default passwords online either don't work anymore or DIRECTV has fixed a bug over the years that has allowed anyone to gain access to a WVB. There was a security problem years ago and the WVB received new software to resolve it.
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gregeusa
New Member
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513 Messages
2 years ago
makes sense, once people found the "hidden" network, of course they tried to hack into it. probably had an easy to guess password, and of course if this was invented 6 years ago, "finding" the password is simple, since it was probably wep...
Currently the encryption on the WVB is WPA2, but my sniffer also indicates the AP has WPS... so someone might have exploited the WPS function, or perhaps it came up in WPS active when first powered on from a reset.
Greg
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