Multiple Genie Mini's

Please verify model numbers of all boxes. Mini Genies, which are Clients (not receivers), model starts with C (i.e. C31). The main box will start HR, H, or HS depending which Genie line it is from.

Model of remotes?

Are you trying to get a single remote to control several Clients at the same time?

Greetings Juniper and thanks for your kind reply.

• The main unit is an HS17-500 Genie 2
• There are three minis in the room:
  • C61K-700 quantity 2
  • C41-500 quantity 1
• I was using two different Directv remotes historically, when all minis were C41-500.
  • Remote for main tv: RC-73
  • Remote for other two tv’s: RC66RBX
• The installer left a newer multi device remote model number RC66RX.

I spent an hour with a level 2 or 3 tech support person six years ago to program the remotes to work the three televisions in the same room.  The new equipment requires new remote programing.  The install technician was unable to program the remotes.

Important: I have programed the RC-73 to work the primary tv.  Upon programing either the RC66RBX, or RC66RX for the C61K-700, it will not recognize the C41-500 at all, and programming is not possible.

I have another C61K-700 in a different room that could be relocated to the room with 3 tv’s.  I would then move the original C41-500 back to the other room.  Is this the most practical solution, or can the remote be programed to work the two different mini’s simultaneously?  Also, if you have written instructions for programing remotes to work multiple mini’s in the same location, please provide the document.  Thanks very much for any offer of assistance.

Greg Hartenhoff               [email scrubbed]

Suggest you get a another rc73 --to replace the older rc66RX

For those who have multiple satellite receivers, or minis, in the same room, this is how I have performed the arduous task:

I use remote RC-73 (black and white remote) for the main tv.  The main tv is defined as the one tv that will have active sound.  Remote RC66RX (white remote with sliding switch on top) is used to operate the other tvs.  In my case I have one larger tv on a stand and the two smaller tv’s mounted to the wall above.  This method is particularly nice when watching the NFL Sunday ticket.  I watch the primary game on the main tv and use the other, smaller tv’s to watch the Redzone and a secondary game.

Only the main tv mini was plugged into power.  Program the RC-73 under advanced programing in which case a code representing the tv number (00001 in this case) will be assigned.

Unplug the newly programed mini and plug in the next tv in the rotation.  Program that tv using the advanced programing function with the RC66RX.  Make sure to being with the remote sliding switch in the far-left sliding position.  Pay attention to slide the switch to AV1 (one position to the right) before entering the assigned code (00002 in this case).  Now turn off the sound on that tv.

Follow the same procedure as above for the remaining tv’s making sure to only plug in the mini being programed.  Turn the sound off all the ancillary tv’s as it is possible to listen to only one tv at a time.  All this can be done with one RC66RX remote; however, I separate the remotes to avoid the confusion of constantly having to slide the switch to the appropriate input.

I’ve searched everywhere for similar instructions provided by Directv and could not find them.  The process took hours of trial and error before developing a working system.  If anyone has Directv generated instructions, please provide them for future reference.  Lastly, my experience is that a mini 1 and mini 2 (4K) cannot be mixed when programing the remote to work multiple receivers in the same room.

Greg Hartenhoff

All minis are the same.

DirecTV designs the remotes with the intention that one remote controls one box. This has been further simplified with the current era of equipment, as they don't have a mode selection option like older models of remotes.

So Mini Genie Clients, regardless of model (C41, C41W, C51, C61, C61W, C61K), are intended to work under the same design when it comes to remotes. If you can work around that, great. But there are no DirecTV provided instructions for it as was not supposed to work as you are trying to do.

Also per the forum rules please do not post personal info (i.e. your full name). This is for your privacy and protection.

Thank you for the useful information @Juniper.

@ghartenhoff, all Genie Minis work under the same remote device, the models should not matter. If you need further assistance, reach back out to us. We will be more than happy to help you!

Hailey, DIRECTV Community Specialist. 

Thanks for the follow up, it is appreciated.  The latest update of my experience supports your comment.  I switched the mini 1 with another mini 2 to 1) keep all three mini's consistent in the same room, and 2) isolate the problem mini 1.  The result was I was able to successfully program the three mini 2's as described above, and the isolated mini 1 simply would not work.  A replacement mini 1 was sent from support and subsequently worked.  Summary: The remote programing issue was likely a problem with the mini (regardless of mini 1, or mini 2).

For anyone reading this blog, I have found the value of the Genie 2 system to be in the fact that one can watch up to 7 or 8 (I've seen conflicting info.) mini's simultaneously.  I have six mini's and it was frustrating that the main box always counted as one of the four tv's that could be watched simultaneously.  There is not currently enough 4K content to justify the Genie 2 in my opinion; however, the picture quality is good, the dvr storage size is good and the number of active tv's is good.  The future is likely to include more 4K content which will make the Genie 2 even better.

Hs17 &Hr54 can have up 8 minis on each account.

Hs17 will support 2 4K streams +2 other active tv_ minis 

HR54 WILL SUPPORT only one 4k stream +3 other active tv minis.

Meaning you can have 8 minis on your account  but only up to 4 locations can be active at any one time.

That's great to know @ghartenhoff, I appreciate you sharing this with me. If you need further assistance, don't hesitate to reach back out to us, we will happily help you out.

Hailey, DIRECTV Community Specialist. 

Genie and Genie-2 can pair with up to 8 Clients.

Genie can use up to 3 Clients at same time.

Genie-2 can use up to 7 Clients at same time.

Genie allows other receiver/HDDVRs allowing for bigger setups as tuners not shared.

Genie-2 forbids everything but Clients.

Newer account system has a limit of 8 devices (not TVs). The Genie-2 counts as 1 of the 8, but does not count towards the per TV fee. The legacy DirecTV account system does not have a device limit.

3rd generation Genie (HR54) supports only 1 of the Clients (C61K) using a 4K channel at a time where the Genie-2 (HS17) supports 2.

A regular Genie and 2 HDDVRs is 9 tuners, more than the Genie-2 can have. As tuners are not shared, if the Genie ever has an issue then you don't worry about all TVs going down. And for those that have RVs or a separate dish for a detached garage or the like must have a receiver/HDDVR as Clients cannot work without being on the same setup as the main Genie/Genie-2.

More 4K content would be nice, but that is not what would really make the Genie-2 be better. What they need is a new HDDVR that is allowed with the Genie-2 setup so that you are not hard capped on tuners and reliability anymore, plus can have more individual settings per TV instead of forcing everyone to share their recording list and parental controls. And preferably 4K capable instead of through a Client connection only, though this does not matter much until 4K programming is more common.