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Old 01-05-2017, 07:32 PM   #1
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Can Anyone Help with DirectTV Genie Questions?

It's been a LONG day on the phone with DirectTV adding service to my house and dealing with internet service for my coach (5 hours worth as they screwed up my existing account) and did a bit of searching here but hoping someone can give me some easy answers. I'm starting from scratch and need DTV in both my house and coach at the same time.

My house is getting a DTV Genie with the Wireless Mini Clients and a DVR on my initial order.

My coach has an RF Mogul Eagle, DTV wireless bridge, 3 DTV wireless mini clients, and the main Genie (I don't believe it is a DVR) installed in it already by the previous owner.

What I would like to do is share my account between the house and the coach so I don't need to accounts. In my past (much simpler RV), I just bought 2 extra DTV boxes from solid signal and told DTV that I wanted two more cards for extra rooms and put them in the RV. $12/mo later, I was set. it doesn't look that simple with the more complex setup I have to have in both locations now.

My understanding is that I can't have 2 Genie systems on one account. If so, is there any work around as I need a wireless setup in both the coach and my house to not have to do considerable rewiring in either.

In an ideal world, I would have a Genie in both my coach and my house. I would steal the new (yet to new delivered) DVR Genie from my house in swap it with the non DVR Genie in the coach as I don't need DVR at home, only on the road. I would figure out how to add the coach equipment to my house account so DTV saw it as one account and didn't charge me for the mobile RV add-on.

I have a bit of leeway as I'm ordering my home system from scratch so maybe I can pull this off.

I greatly appreciate any advice on a very redundant and mundane topic.

For internet, I'm getting one of those law enforcement round roof cell antenna rigs with the modem/router that has ethernet out and takes the SIM card. Not cheap but supposed to be fast and will allow me to run and monitor the coach systems remotely (Crestron based).

Thanks a million for any help!

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Old 01-05-2017, 07:38 PM   #2
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I have the MotoSat HD dish and Eagle controller. I just take two of the SD receivers out of the stick house to the MH. Works great and I've had no problems getting them to work.
The MH came with two HD receivers that were purchased through Country Coach. Direct TV has no record of them ever being activated but the cards are heat scorched so I know they're wrong. Supposedly I can add the HD receivers to my account but after seeing reports like yours I hesitate to try it!
Should cost me $24 a month more if I added HD and the two receivers, I'm also told that I can use the HD receivers in the house and just have then on the account. That would only cost me the $10 mo HD upgrade cost. Just been so busy taking care of my late wife's "estate" and insurance I haven't had time to really think about it.
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Old 01-05-2017, 08:10 PM   #3
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Yeah, that's how I used to do it but now I'm all fancy and wired for HDTV in the coach. If I don't use the Genie system that's already in there, the reprograming costs on the Crestron will give me heart failure.
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Old 01-05-2017, 08:31 PM   #4
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I have a Genie HR44 in the coach, then have two HR24 DVR's in the house, connected together through the "whole house DVR" option. The Genie gives me 5 tuners and DVR capability in the coach. The two HR24 DVR's at home, tied together by the SWM system and connected to the internet, gives me 4 tuners total at home. Function-wise, the two HR24's are about the same as having a Genie at home since they share recordings. I don't need the wireless Genie mini-client capability at home. I would love to have two Genies, but they don't allow that on one account as you mentioned. This is good enough for me.
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Old 01-05-2017, 09:31 PM   #5
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I have a Genie HR44 in the coach, then have two HR24 DVR's in the house, connected together through the "whole house DVR" option. The Genie gives me 5 tuners and DVR capability in the coach. The two HR24 DVR's at home, tied together by the SWM system and connected to the internet, gives me 4 tuners total at home. Function-wise, the two HR24's are about the same as having a Genie at home since they share recordings. I don't need the wireless Genie mini-client capability at home. I would love to have two Genies, but they don't allow that on one account as you mentioned. This is good enough for me.
Ok, would this fly with DTV:

I order a 3 TV wireless Genie system with DVR and 3 additional wired HDTV boxes for my home.

I take the Genie system with DVR with 3 wireless client system to the coach and use the 3 wired HDTV boxes at my house where I don't care about DVR. I assume DTV thinks it is all for the house.

I have one area in my house where I have to use wireless but can use a wireless HDMI setup there to get around that.

Would this pull it off?
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Old 01-05-2017, 10:52 PM   #6
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Apex_speed,

There can only be one Genie server per account. There was a definite physical reason for this when they first came out. (Each Genie has [at least] 5 tuners and the SWM head only had 8 channels. Since you can not have more tuners than channels there is no way you could put 10 tuners on a setup with 8 channels.) That physical limitation was removed with the introduction of a 13 channel SWM head, but DirecTV has maintained the policy of only one Genie per account.

All Genies are by design DVRs. All DVR means is that the unit has a hard drive and is a Digital Video Recorder. So, if you have a Genie you have a DVR.

If I understand your post correctly, you have a DTV Genie setup in your Prevost and everything works just fine. You have also ordered two DVR receivers from Solid Signal for the house. But, you have not mentioned how many TVs you want to connect in the house (or I missed it). What is the total number of units you want in the house (or how many TVs need connections)? And, do you already have a SWM satellite dish on your house or does this need to be installed?

You also mentioned that you want DirecTV to send you two more cards for extra rooms in the house. I can only imagine that this discussion went all over the place. Every receiver comes with a card that is married to that receiver/DVR. Unless you have a receiver that can be owned (very rare) you cannot exchange cards on receivers/DVRs. And when you deactivate a receiver you must return the card to DirecTV. So, that would have been a totally confusing conversation with customer service.

And one final question is whether or not you would have any concern with moving your Genie server back and forth from the house to the RV when you are on trips, or do you want to maintain two separate environments?

Give the answers to these questions and I think you will get some really great answers to your DirecTV question(s).

I have no ideas about your internet connection situation.

Bob
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Old 01-06-2017, 09:48 AM   #7
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Apex_speed,

All Genies are by design DVRs. All DVR means is that the unit has a hard drive and is a Digital Video Recorder. So, if you have a Genie you have a DVR.

If I understand your post correctly, you have a DTV Genie setup in your Prevost and everything works just fine. You have also ordered two DVR receivers from Solid Signal for the house. But, you have not mentioned how many TVs you want to connect in the house (or I missed it). What is the total number of units you want in the house (or how many TVs need connections)? And, do you already have a SWM satellite dish on your house or does this need to be installed?

You also mentioned that you want DirecTV to send you two more cards for extra rooms in the house. I can only imagine that this discussion went all over the place. Every receiver comes with a card that is married to that receiver/DVR. Unless you have a receiver that can be owned (very rare) you cannot exchange cards on receivers/DVRs. And when you deactivate a receiver you must return the card to DirecTV. So, that would have been a totally confusing conversation with customer service.

And one final question is whether or not you would have any concern with moving your Genie server back and forth from the house to the RV when you are on trips, or do you want to maintain two separate environments?

Bob
Thanks for the detailed reply Bob. I now understand the issues and will answer your questions below...

1. What I have is a new (to me) coach with Genie system in it that is not activated but was recently working. I am 3 states away but had someone look at it for me this AM and you are right, the DTV box in the main rack is an HR44-200 DVR. So there is the HR44, 3 Genie Mini Wireless Clients, and the Genie hub.

2. My house has NO DTV account or equipment in it. I do not care about DVR functionality at the house. Only in the coach.

3. I am adding a new DTV account at my house and need BOTH the coach and my home DTV installs to work simultaneously so I can't take any equipment back and forth.

4. I have no problem swapping all the DTV equipment in the coach with new boxes and had planned on this.

So assuming I am starting from square one everywhere, can I tell DTV that I want the following all for my house:

1. Genie system with 3 Wireless Clients and hub. - I would move these to the coach permanently.

2. 3 "standard" non Genie DTV receivers. - I would leave these in my house to use DTV there.

Does the above work? I ideally want DTV to think I have one home account and only pay for one account (with extra TVs). Not a home DTV account AND a mobile DTV account.

Thanks for any additional input!
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Old 01-06-2017, 02:14 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by Apex_speed View Post
So assuming I am starting from square one everywhere, can I tell DTV that I want the following all for my house:

1. Genie system with 3 Wireless Clients and hub. - I would move these to the coach permanently.

2. 3 "standard" non Genie DTV receivers. - I would leave these in my house to use DTV there.

Does the above work? I ideally want DTV to think I have one home account and only pay for one account (with extra TVs). Not a home DTV account AND a mobile DTV account.

Thanks for any additional input!
This sounds "do-able". There are just some things to keep in mind.

First and foremost, you need to know you are walking a tight-rope with DirecTV's published Terms of Service. Their actual Terms of Service disallow more than one installation location on an account (called "stacking"). In practice, however, they have backed off from this position particularly when it comes to vacation homes and RVs. Implicit in this "slackening", however, is an assumption that usage is mutually exclusive. This means they think you are only using their service at one location at a time. Your use of the word "simultaneous" will get you in a twist with customer service personnel if you mention it in any communication with them. Just be aware.

Second, they are going to want to install all the equipment on your order when you have your home installation. So, if you order a Genie with three clients and three HD receivers (assuming H25's here) they are going to want to install all seven locations. If this does not work for you, you may want to back down the number of your home installs to what you are willing to let them install and just order additional H25's later from Solid Signal. You would just install the H25s at the house and authorize them online. (If I were you, I would try for a Genie and three H25s. You already own three clients. But, sometimes you do not have full control on the equipment installed on an order if you get it installed on a free installation "deal" so you may have to get the H25s after the initial install). You will probably need to buy a power inserter for your home when you move the Genie to the RV. The new Genies have the power inserter inside the receiver so you will not have an external one.

Keep in mind that your receivers have no idea where they are located or what dish they are connected to as long as you have a SWM system (which you already have in the RV). So moving receivers/DVRs from your home to the RV and back to suit your needs will not be a problem. Your only hassle may come when you add additional receivers (if you go this route). You may encounter their "signal strength" test. You need to have access to all receivers for this test and they will send a four digit code to one of the receivers. You need to reply what this code is to complete the authorization. So, worst case you will need to have all the receivers connected where you can have access to all the screens during this test. This only seems to happen when you add a new (additional) receiver/DVR.

Keep these things in mind and you should be golden.

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Old 01-06-2017, 03:01 PM   #9
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Ok, well understood about not telling DTV what I'm doing.

I get a Genie and 3-4 clients free with my new home order so I will add 3 HR25s to that depending on cost or just order them from Solid Signal.

Understood that I need to set it all up at my house and have it working before removing the Genie system for my coach. I actually did not realize that all the boxes had to be in the same place to add hardware so thanks for telling me that.

You're the man Bob, thanks so much for saving me a ton more brain damage!

If you ever need help on the A/V side of things, that's my business so drop me a line anytime (just don't ask me about DTV or computer networking).
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Old 01-06-2017, 04:44 PM   #10
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That's what we are here for. And if you get all the receivers at one time you will not have the "signal strength" test. That only happens when you are adding a new receiver to an existing account. And typically only when DirecTV "thinks" you may not have them all at the same site. Why they did it to me with only three receivers I have no idea. But, I have experienced it personally.

Good luck with your new system. I'm retired now, so my chances for any A/V work are nil. But, thanks for the offer.
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Old 01-06-2017, 05:06 PM   #11
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Interesting that they would do that.

As technology gets smarter, it also becomes more of a pain!
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Old 01-06-2017, 05:35 PM   #12
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Sorry I'm late to the conversation but here is our story.

DirecTV (Service) are morons when it came to setting up one account for home and RV. We bypassed them and went direct to the installer to resolve that situation. To keep this response simple, I will just share what worked for us as in our newest (Used) MH.

When we purchased our current MH, we decided that we were going to fully replace the current A/V systems in the entire coach. That meant pulling HDMI cables throughout and replacing everything to Ultra HD and Blue-ray.

Currently we have a DVR + four Genies at our home that we wanted to retain, but have a combined single account with the MH. The MH required another DVR and three Genies (Two inside and one basement). So in total, we have two HDR and seven Genies, or a total of nine receivers combined.

Our DirecTV installation on the MH was done by the A/V firm that are also a DirecTV dealer. That was the big difference. Both systems work flawlessly, we do get local news services until we move to far away from the home location (About 150 miles), then we just dial up national programing (CNN/Fox). Both systems mirror the same programing and premium channels.

We also upgraded our 51 inch mid TV to the Ultra HD 55 inch and its phenomenal. We expect to spend months at a time in this MH soon, so we invested in some significant expense, but we will use this MH for the next 10 years.

Good luck, get both systems professionally installed and you will be good to go.
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Old 01-06-2017, 06:58 PM   #13
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Sorry I'm late to the conversation but here is our story.

DirecTV (Service) are morons when it came to setting up one account for home and RV. We bypassed them and went direct to the installer to resolve that situation. To keep this response simple, I will just share what worked for us as in our newest (Used) MH.

When we purchased our current MH, we decided that we were going to fully replace the current A/V systems in the entire coach. That meant pulling HDMI cables throughout and replacing everything to Ultra HD and Blue-ray.

Currently we have a DVR + four Genies at our home that we wanted to retain, but have a combined single account with the MH. The MH required another DVR and three Genies (Two inside and one basement). So in total, we have two HDR and seven Genies, or a total of nine receivers combined.

Our DirecTV installation on the MH was done by the A/V firm that are also a DirecTV dealer. That was the big difference. Both systems work flawlessly, we do get local news services until we move to far away from the home location (About 150 miles), then we just dial up national programing (CNN/Fox). Both systems mirror the same programing and premium channels.

We also upgraded our 51 inch mid TV to the Ultra HD 55 inch and its phenomenal. We expect to spend months at a time in this MH soon, so we invested in some significant expense, but we will use this MH for the next 10 years.

Good luck, get both systems professionally installed and you will be good to go.
Are you running that all on one account? If so, I'm curious how you got past the multiple Genie system issue.

I just ordered a Genie with 3 wireless clients (will transfer them to the coach) and then 3 HR25 receivers to leave at home and am activating it all at my house.

The only downside to this is that I will not have DVR functionality at my house.
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Old 01-07-2017, 02:16 PM   #14
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Are you running that all on one account? If so, I'm curious how you got past the multiple Genie system issue.
With all due respect the usage of the word "Genie" is totally messed up in Apex_speed's post. No one has "a DVR and 4 Genies" at his house. By definition a Genie is a DVR and it can serve multiple "miniGenie" clients.

Until the post is clarified there is no point in speculating what has actually been installed in either his home or RV.
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