Directv and Number of Tuners for Recoding

[Spike]

Sigh! I'm with Charter for my television service. I'm having problems receiving over 30 Channels and I fight every single day just to keep my signal coming in (including just prior to my posting here). And, I'm at the end. I have a major disability and I'm standing on one foot, in pain, as I try to be my own tech support person. I just can't do it physically any longer. I must make a change. And now, I have to be honest. I currently use the Tivo Bolt and the Tivo Roamio to record up to 10 shows at a time. Like many households we have multiple people wanting to record things at the exact same time, so we do use many of the Tivo Tuners on any given night. How many tuners we use at a time maximum, I do not know. And I hurt too badly due to my disease to find out. And now here is my lead in to my question. If/when I go with Directv I would have to go with their Genie, which has 5 tuners plus one of their HD DVR's that would have 2 tuners. That would give me a grand total of 7 tuners to record shows on. I am certain that many of you also have at least 3 people wanting to record shows at the same time in your house as well. So, if you would please, could you please let me know, how you handle the heavy demands of multiple viewers in your home, who are wanting to use Directv to record a lot of shows in your house? Is it something that works out ok for you? Or are you frustrated by having just 7 tuners, as opposed to at least 3 more, which are offered by other service providers? Please help me here, I would like a better understanding of how you, as a Directv subscriber view your current tuner situation. Please help me replace Charter with something better! Thank you!

 

[mdram]

i have a genie and hr24, 7 tuners
the only time there are conflicts are when seasons overlap
and then cable shows (tnt, usa, ect) are picked up at the next broadcast time
just have to make sure the highest priority show, or network show is higher on the list

 

[maestro7]

In our case, in the more than two years that we've had our Genie DVR and HD DVR (i.e.: 7 tuners), I think we might have run into an issue exactly 3 times, where it was literally recording seven things at once. For us, it was simply an issue of actually watching one of the shows right then and there.

Our household is myself, my wife, and two under-teenage kids. In past years, we would have had a bunch of season passes we were signed up for. This upcoming year, since the studio execs keep axing shows, we're probably at our lowest point for desired season passes ever.

tl;dr: Seven tuners is likely to be the maximum number that many folks need to have at this point. Considering that younger folks spend more time watching VoD on portable devices, this makes so many tuners nearly relevant, at least as far as our household is concerned. YMMV.

 

[b52pooh]

My question for you is, how many TV's are you using? If there are four TV's, you could have 1 Genie and 3 HR 24 receivers for a total of 11 tuners. Of course, you would have to keep track of which programs are being recorded on which TV, but all programs would be available to watch on all TV's. The HR 24 can supply one program to watch from any of the other receivers, where the Genie can supply three programs at a time to watch on any of the other receivers. Inititally, an expensive setup, but it would probably accomplish what you are asking for.

 

[mdram]

also remember if you WANT 4k, you will have to have a mini/rvu, which will use a tuner from the genie
no directv genie/dvr outputs 4k via hdmi

also, if dishputes are an issue, i have had fewer lost channels, that i have noticed, in my entire time with directv than in my last 1 year with dish

 

[Spike]

also remember if you WANT 4k, you will have to have a mini/rvu, which will use a tuner from the genie
no directv genie/dvr outputs 4k via hdmi

also, if dishputes are an issue, i have had fewer lost channels, that i have noticed, in my entire time with directv than in my last 1 year with dish

What is a mini/rvu?

 

[mdram]

What is a mini/rvu?

mini is a mini genie, kinda like a joey, its a dumb unit with no tuner that gets it feed from the genie
an rvu is basically a genie mini built into some tvs.
both use a custom network to connect to the genie

 

[AZ.]

What is a mini/rvu?

He probably should of worded it as "you will need a c61(mini) or a RVU equipped tv?"

 

[Spike]

My question for you is, how many TV's are you using? If there are four TV's, you could have 1 Genie and 3 HR 24 receivers for a total of 11 tuners. Of course, you would have to keep track of which programs are being recorded on which TV, but all programs would be available to watch on all TV's. The HR 24 can supply one program to watch from any of the other receivers, where the Genie can supply three programs at a time to watch on any of the other receivers. Inititally, an expensive setup, but it would probably accomplish what you are asking for.

If we go with Directv, we will ask for one Genie, one HD DVR, and one wireless Genie Mini. That way we can easily take the mini to a 4th Room when needed. And getting 3 HR 24's is really very expensive IMO.

 

[Spike]

He probably should of worded it as "you will need a c61(mini) or a RVU equipped tv?"

Ah, got it! Thanks

 

[Drucifer]

If we go with Directv, we will ask for one Genie, one HD DVR, and one wireless Genie Mini. That way we can easily take the mini to a 4th Room when needed. And getting 3 HR 24's is really very expensive IMO.

The monthly fees for tuner-less Mini, a RVU TV set & a DVR are the same.

There are lots of 'own' HR24 floating around that can had way below AT&T/DirecTV price.

 

[Spike]

Whew! That is all I've got to say.. WHEW! Now that I have learned the way that Directv does things, I understand why it is only necessary to have a 5 tuner Genie! While Dish Network relies heavily on recording their shows, using many of the 16 tuners on the Hopper 3, Directv takes a more internet based approach. It uses something that they call 72 Hour Rewind, where you can watch many of the shows a person might not have recorded within the last 72 hours by using that feature and finding the given show. (Very Nice!) They also use On Demand to store shows after they originally air. So, while Dish relies on storing a lot of shows on the hard drive of the Hopper 3, Directv stores them instead. Now, I finally understand why many Directv Customers say that having 16 tuners is over kill. I get it. I finally understand. (My disease really made it hard to concentrate and learn, but eventually I got there... at least in part) And now, after learning, I can finally make a decision and select a satellite service and get rid of Charter, which has been giving me 2 and a half months worth of headaches.

 

[patmurphey]

Not all channels have the "rewind". Dish also does the VOD on aired episodes on many channels. 16 tuners equals no conflicts. Bigger hard drive and external hard drives makes storage virtually unlimited.

 

[Spike]

Not all channels have the "rewind". Dish also does the VOD on aired episodes on many channels. 16 tuners equals no conflicts. Bigger hard drive and external hard drives makes storage virtually unlimited.

Thank you for the info. I appreciate it. IMO the Hopper 3 is the Best HD DVR out on the market. It is those contractual disputes and those blackouts of channels that was the deal breaker for me, as far as becoming a subscriber to Dish Network. It would have been very nice, but I can live without the Hopper 3. Have a great day.