Upgraded DTV to the GENIE

[timsatx]

First let me tell you how this started. I had bought my wife a HD tv for our bedroom but the receiver was only a standard DVR, not HD. So after a year I decided to check on an upgrade to the GENIE system. First I emailed them to find out about the cost. One of their lower level folks emailed me back with a big old smile on her face she was so happy to help me (I could just tell by the tone of the email). She said it would only cost $299.

I checked their website and it said on there that new subscribers could upgrade to the GENIE for free. So I emailed her back and said that it seemed a bit ridiculous that a new subscriber could get it for free and yet a 13 year subscriber had to pay that much. I told her that I may as well switch over to AT&T or DISH if that was the case. Later on a more senior person contacted me and (to keep it short) they said that they would not only waive the $299 but they would also waive the installation cost (another $50). So the guy came out on Fri. and upgraded my SWM8 to a SWM16. Part of that was because the HDDVR receiver from the front room was going to our bedroom and the standard DVR receiver in our room was going to my sons room. We also had the Whole Home service turned on. So all of the receivers are running the single cable to the receiver which is nice to help cut down on the clutter.

At this point I am extremely happy. The GENIE has a 1 TB hard drive and 5 tuners. It also allows us to look at what either of us records on our HDDVR's and watch it from either room. So I can record from the GENIE and yet she can also she what was recorded and watch it from the bedroom. It has a ton of features that I am still working at learning. Another thing is that it is much faster than my HR22.

What was neat is that this weekend we had the free weekend of both HBO and CINEMAX so I recorded a bunch of shows that I can watch at my leisure and then delete it and I still have a tone of space.

[VirginiaJim]

Simply amazing.  I may do that upgrade at some point.

[gPink]

I've got no complaints with our genie setup. Not only can we record multiple shows on the genie unit we can still record on the HD unit in our bedroom and the two standard in the other bedrooms. Like timsatx said we've more recording capacity than shows worth recording.

[VirginiaJim]

I'm on their protection plan and according to that I can upgrade for free every two years.  Not sure what I can upgrade to but I'll be eligible July 7 so I'll call in and see what I can get.

[Conrad]

I'm on their protection plan and according to that I can upgrade for free every two years.  Not sure what I can upgrade to but I'll be eligible July 7 so I'll call in and see what I can get.

I'm also on the protection plan and I can update my old stuff to the newest at no additional charge. Direct TV keeps asking me when I'm going to update. I have a ton of good stuff on my DVR now that I need to watch first. I can't lose all that good WW2 stuff!

[gPink]

Has anyone figured how to move stuff off a dvr to storage yet?

[timsatx]

I'm also on the protection plan and I can update my old stuff to the newest at no additional charge. Direct TV keeps asking me when I'm going to update. I have a ton of good stuff on my DVR now that I need to watch first. I can't lose all that good WW2 stuff!

Do you watch tv in more than one location? If so then you do not have to get rid of your DVR. That's what we did. I have the Spurs Championship Finals that I didn't want to get rid of and so I kept it.

[timsatx]

Has anyone figured how to move stuff off a dvr to storage yet?

If you have a computer you can do it that way. You just need to get some technology that will allow you to download to your computer. There are many different things you can use. Try Hauppauge for a starting point. Just look them up.

I have an old Hauppauge card that is still on a now unused computer that I used to use with my old DVR. I hooked it up to my DVR and played whatever it was I wanted and it saved it to my hard drive. Then I could edit it and save it to DVD. I may dust it off and see if I can use it on my new system.

[wally_games]

I'm also on the protection plan and I can update my old stuff to the newest at no additional charge. Direct TV keeps asking me when I'm going to update. I have a ton of good stuff on my DVR now that I need to watch first. I can't lose all that good WW2 stuff!

We did a "TV Weekend" and watched all of the backed up shows that we had recorded and hadn't yet taken the time to watch. Then I got my free upgrade (via the protection plan). I had gone over six years with my initial equipment, not realizing that I could get the upgrades every other year. I guess I was just too lazy to mess with it.

[VirginiaJim]

It's a Linux OS and I'm sure someone has figured out how to move programs and whilst I would be saddened by the loss of some shows...I think that I would survive the transition....scarred but alive.

Don't Lose Stored Shows! Backup Your DirecTV! - HD ...

[timmerz]

We have that setup in our living room and bedroom, and wife is ecstatic about it...does everything she asks it to do...I think it's $107 a month, which is smack dab right up against my limit for in-home entertainment expenses...at $110, I start looking for cheaper solutions...