Upgrade to Genie?

[Z300M]

We have two HR21 boxes with (grandfathered) Whole-Home over Ethernet. An AM21 is connected to the Family Room box, allowing us to watch and record MHz WorldView, which is a sub-channel of our local PBS station. The Family Room box also has an external 2TB drive attached, currently about 50% full.

Settings shows that each box can "see" the other, but if we try watching on the Family Room TV programs that are recorded on the bedroom DVR, the Family Room DVR frequently freezes, and the only way to remedy the situation is to reboot it. The Family Room HR21 often acts up anyway, refusing to respond to the remote (new remote with new batteries) or to any front-panel buttons but continuing to record; again, rebooting is the only way to solve the problem.

Originally an AM21 was connected to what is now the Bedroom box, but following a nearby lightning hit a few years back that AM21 could no longer be "seen" whichever HR21 I connected it to, and the replacement AM21 could be seen only when connected to the other HR21. Some other electronic equipment died at that time too.

We keep getting calls with a Caller ID of "DirecTV" and a Delaware phone number. We don't answer, and they don't leave a message, but it has occurred to me to wonder whether they are trying to get me to upgrade. Does upgrading to a Genie cost?

Questions:

For Whole Home with a Genie, we would have to change to SWM, correct? Would we be charged for that?

We should be able to use the AM21 with the Genie, correct? If the Genie replaces the Bedroom HR21, we'll still be stuck with the Family Room HR21 that sometimes misbehaves; but if the Genie replaces the Family Room HR21, can we transfer the external drive from that HR21 to the Bedroom one (or to the Genie) without losing all our recorded programs?

How large an internal drive does the Genie have?

 

[Hutch1814]

Yes you'd need a SWM upgrade which would be included with the genie. Transferring the EHD isn't an option, as soon as you hook it up to a different receiver it'll be forced to reformat and in run wipe the drive clean. If you went with a genie and 1 client you could hook you AM21 to the genie and be able to view your AM21 programs on both the genie and client. The genie has a 1 TB HDD in it so its pretty decent for a receiver. As for cost, only directv can tell you what it would cost if anything. Never hurts to call and ask

 

[Z300M]

If we upgraded, would we have to surrender one of the existing DVRs, or would they count as obsolete equipment and we'd be allowed to keep both? If that's the case, we could keep using the somewhat flaky one until we'd watched all the stuff on the external drive attached to it, then deauthorize that DVR and reauthorize the other DVR, and hook the external drive to that reauthorized DVR or to the Genie -- would that work?

 

[Jimbo]

If we upgraded, would we have to surrender one of the existing DVRs, or would they count as obsolete equipment and we'd be allowed to keep both? If that's the case, we could keep using the somewhat flaky one until we'd watched all the stuff on the external drive attached to it, then deauthorize that DVR and reauthorize the other DVR, and hook the external drive to that reauthorized DVR or to the Genie -- would that work?

Yes, you can do that, your bill would go up by like $6-7 , can't remember what the Addl recvr fee is (mirror), that would be gone once you de activated your recvr when your done with it.

DO NOT move the EHD's your currently using, till your done watching the shows, they will reformat when you plug them into the new equipment.

I know that was mentioned previously, but I can't stress this enough.

 

[John84]

If someone has a TiVo on an account, can they Whole Home the other receivers that are Whole Home capable?

Or would that really not be the whole home