DirecTV Receivers for new 2017 Dutch Star?

[mel s]

Originally Posted by LK23

I am trying to determine what DirecTV receiver I need to order for our 2017 Dutch Star that is scheduled for delivery in late September.
I have called DirecTV and spoke with three different phone representatives. They are TOTALLY CLUELESS. They are unable to advise which receiver I need, nor can they tell me difference between the receivers they offer. After 45 minutes, they forwarded my call to the RV department who told me I cannot have a Genie receiver since DirecTV refuses to install in motor homes. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!
Here is my situation. Presently we have an older Winegard Traveler on our motor home. It is not SWM compliant. We have a HD-22-100 receiver that will record two channels and is SLOOOOOOW when changing channels and doing searches. We want to upgrade our receiver to “state of the art” with more than two channel recording, larger hard drive storage, faster operation, etc. I also want a receiver in the bedroom, although it is seldom we watch a different channel in the bedroom.
Do I need the Genie? Do I also need a Wireless Mini or is the new Dutch Star wired from the front overhead to the bedroom?
And, if I need a Genie, how do I get around the idiots at DirecTV to order a new receiver.
Ideas and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

\

LK23
If your 2017 Dutch Star will have a "DirecTV compatible satellite antenna" on the roof contact Dutch Star and ask them which DirecTV receivers will work with that antenna.

If you are going to add a satellite antenna on the roof of your coach, (or if you are going to carry one with you), contact the manufacture of the satellite antenna you will be using and ask which DirecTV receivers you can use with their antenna.

Mel
'96 Safari

[LK23]

Yes, I have ordered a DirecTV compatible Winegard Traveler to be installed on our 2017 Dutch Star.

Boomer, thanks for the info. Based on your information, it appears that I will have a coax cable in the bedroom that runs to the Winegard Traveler.

Question: If I connect the bedroom coax cable to a mini genie will I have access to the recorded programs on the HDR? I assume not. Is that where the wireless mini genie comes into play?

[docj]

Originally Posted by LK23

What's a wireless video bridge and why do I need that? a 13 channel LNB?

When you use a wireless miniGenie (C41W) to connect a TV to a Genie HR 44 or 54 the Wireless Video Bridge is the device that creates the wifi network used by DirecTV devices. Lots of people assume that because the wireless miniGenie uses wifi that it, therefore, uses the same wifi as do your computers, etc. It doesn't and the Video Bridge is the equivalent to a router. It's an easy device to connect to the Genie, but there are some suggested separation distances that should be considered.

As for needing the "13 channel LNB", you don't unless you're planning on doing a lot of recording of the limited amount of UHD programming currently available on DirecTV (assuming that you even have a UHD set in the first place.)

[docj]

Originally Posted by LK23

Yes, I have ordered a DirecTV compatible Winegard Traveler to be installed on our 2017 Dutch Star.

Boomer, thanks for the info. Based on your information, it appears that I will have a coax cable in the bedroom that runs to the Winegard Traveler.

Question: If I connect the bedroom coax cable to a mini genie will I have access to the recorded programs on the HDR? I assume not. Is that where the wireless mini genie comes into play?

If the coax is connected to the Trav'ler you should be able to use a wired C41 miniGenie instead of the wireless version and have full access to recorded progams. That's what I have in my MH. If you do that you don't need the Wireless Bridge.

[Boomer]

Originally Posted by LK23

Question: If I connect the bedroom coax cable to a mini genie will I have access to the recorded programs on the HDR? I assume not. Is that where the wireless mini genie comes into play?

With the setup I got from Winegard, the miniGenie uses the coax to communicate to the Main DVR Reciever, so you can setup recordings or watch recordings in the bedroom. Being an Electrical Engineer, I assume the boxes create a 'network' (you have to sync the DVR with the miniGenie) so they actually talk.

More direct answer .... Yes the miniGenie can watch things recorded on the main receiver, actually works better that I imagined. Again I would recommend signing up for Directv through Winegard, might not be cheapest, but sure was easy.

[M Bakunin]

Originally Posted by Boomer

With the setup I got from Winegard, the miniGenie uses the coax to communicate to the Main DVR Reciever, so you can setup recordings or watch recordings in the bedroom. Being an Electrical Engineer, I assume the boxes create a 'network' (you have to sync the DVR with the miniGenie) so they actually talk.



More direct answer .... Yes the miniGenie can watch things recorded on the main receiver, actually works better that I imagined. Again I would recommend signing up for Directv through Winegard, might not be cheapest, but sure was easy.

I was wondering whether the wired connection between main Genie and mini(s) was coax or Ethernet. Strangely hard to find that answer on directv website. Sounds like it's coax, right?

If one wanted a wired genie for the outside tv, am I thinking correctly that one could either locate its mini genie in the main A/V cabinet and run HDMI from there to the outside tv, or try to squeeze a mini genie in the compartment with the outside tv and do a coax run to connect that mini genie back to the main genie in the A/V cabinet. Has anybody implemented either of these approaches?

[docj]

Originally Posted by M Bakunin

I was wondering whether the wired connection between main Genie and mini(s) was coax or Ethernet. Strangely hard to find that answer on directv website. Sounds like it's coax, right?

It has to be coax because it's transmitting a high frequency satellite signal. I'm not sure exactly how the miniGenie accesses the Genie's tuners, but essentially the tuner in the Genie sends the appropriate RF signal to the mini which then "decodes" it and turns it into an HDMI output.

[Boomer]

From what I understand, Directv uses ethernet protocol over coax to communicate between the miniGenie and the main DVR receiver. What is unclear from the documentation I have been able to find is whether Video is actually streamed over the Ethernet, or if there is another RF connection over the coax. My guess is the form a mini ethernet connection and just stream the data, that would make sense. I also think that when you push record on the mini, it is just sending a command to the main dvr to use one of it's tuners to record that show. I found a document at

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%...%21107&o=OneUp

that partial shows the command structure used.

So basically in simple terms, the DVR and the miniGenie are connect via a network connection that is over the coax instead of the normal Cat5 cable.

In the old days Ethernet ran over 00 gauge wire with vampire taps at the 1 meter point (wavelength of RF for those days). Then came 10-base-2 wiring (50 ohm coax) and finally what we have today.

Now that I completely complicated the hole issue just enjoy the fact that someone already did all this so you can use the miniGenie to enjoy everything the DVR can do.