DirecTV HR-25 Receiver Question

[lseiger]

I have been a DirecTV customer forever.

I have the HR-24 receiver which takes forever to boot after we make a move.  Other than that I am happy with the HR-24.

Does anyone have experience with the newer HR-25.

Specifically, it would be nice if you can compare the HR-24 to the HR-25.

Thanks

Larry

SKP #59187

 

[docj]

Why not bite the bullet and go to a Genie.  We have a Genie HR44 which boots in half the time, is much smaller and runs a lot cooler.  What's not to like?

Of course, there is the fact that all DirecTV receivers with model numbers >24 are SWM-only!  So if your dish isn't SWM-compatible you will have to convert it.

[Biker56]

They are no such thing as a HR25 receiver. I have a H25 it is small and has a mount on my bedroom wall.

DirecTV went from the HR24 to the Genie HR34 in DVR models.
I have the HR34 and it is very slow at rebooting.

The H25 is a SWM receiver.

I think the HR54 will receive the 4K one channel DirecTV has.

[SWharton]

We went from the HR24 to the HR44(genie). So much better. As stated, you will need to change out your heads to SWM.

[docj]

22 minutes ago, SWharton said:

We went from the HR24 to the HR44(genie). So much better. As stated, you will need to change out your heads to SWM.

No, you don't need to change your LNBs to SWM!!  All you have to do is follow the instructions in this document:   Using satellite equipment with SWM

Although this article was written by Winegard and uses its hardware as examples, the principles can be used with ANY dish as long as there are two coax's coming off of the LNB.  Just connect both coax's to the SWM8 switch and then take one coax from the switch inside to the receiver.

[lseiger]

On ‎1‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 9:59 PM, docj said:

Why not bite the bullet and go to a Genie.  We have a Genie HR44 which boots in half the time, is much smaller and runs a lot cooler.  What's not to like?

Of course, there is the fact that all DirecTV receivers with model numbers >24 are SWM-only!  So if your dish isn't SWM-compatible you will have to convert it.

 

[lseiger]

I wish to thank all who replied to my question.

I will be in Quartzsite for the Big Show next week and will check out the Genie.

Larry

[FL-JOE]

When we took delivery of our coach it had the OEM in-motion dome, which we had them set to DirectTV.  They put a HR24 box in for us.

Two days ago we had an independent satellite guy install the Winegard Trav'ler dish on our roof.  He took out the HR24 and put our Genie DVR box we used to have at the sticknbrick.  He made the comment that he liked the small HR24 receivers because they could be used with our without SWM.

I'm not a satellite tech guy so I'm unfamiliar with which box does what, just going by what he said.  We are waiting now to see how many times we want to watch DirectTV on the bedroom before getting a wireless mini genie.

[docj]

40 minutes ago, FL-JOE said:

Two days ago we had an independent satellite guy install the Winegard Trav'ler dish on our roof.  He took out the HR24 and put our Genie DVR box we used to have at the sticknbrick.  He made the comment that he liked the small HR24 receivers because they could be used with our without SWM.

Yes, the installer was correct.  The HR24 was the last DirecTV receiver of any kind (with or without a DVR) that could be used with or without SWM.

I assume you understand that in order for you to use a wireless miniGenie in your bedroom you will need to get a Wireless Video Bridge (WVB) also.  The WVB creates a 5HGz LAN which is how the Genie connects with its minis.  You can, of course, also connect a wired miniGenie if there's a way to run a coax from the bedroom to either the Genie itself or to some place where a splitter can be inserted into the coax from the Trav'ler to the Genie.

[eddie1261]

I have been watching this discussion and I have a question. If I understand, the SWM means single wire multiswitch, and that is what allows use of 2 tuners so you can DVR a show while watching another.

Correct to that point?

What do I need to buy for 1 TV and never using a DVR? Is it necessarily less money to have a system with no DVR in the mix? I don't really DVR much of anything, especially since on any kind of cable or satellite those shows rerun every 3 hours anyway. Plus if I want to see something I will make sure I am there to see it.

Joel, you really know this stuff. For someone like me who doesn't DVR and knows close to nothing about satellite, what antenna and receiver do I need? Even when I go to DirecTV and read, the nuances of all those model numbers mean nothing to me. Someone sent me a link to buy a dish but with my luck if there are 2 of them I will buy the wrong one.

Also know that I would be just as happy with an antenna that I put outside when I want to watch TV, so roof mounting is not a necessity for me. One guy did a youtube video about some antenna that cost him $2600. My used Toyota cost me $2650! I don't have $2600 for an antenna....

[docj]

3 hours ago, eddie1261 said:

I have been watching this discussion and I have a question. If I understand, the SWM means single wire multiswitch, and that is what allows use of 2 tuners so you can DVR a show while watching another.

Correct to that point?

Unfortunately, no.  Watching one show while recording another was available long before SWM.  With Multi-switch configuration each tuner in a receiver/DVR such as the HR24 required a separate coax from the LNB to the receiver.  With SWM all five tuners in a Genie can be fed with a single coax from the dish to the receiver.  

As for DVR's, they cost ~$10/mo extra on DirecTV.  Whether or not that's worth it is an individual decision.  Ours is always used; we rarely watch a show in "real time".

As for what antenna you need, that, too, is a matter of personal choice and budget.  We have a rooftop Trav'ler which allows the DVR to tune to any channels it needs on all three satellites.  If you use a portable or other antenna with a single dish and LNB it can only point at one satellite at a time which limits the ability of the DVR to record multiple channels at the same time.  Also, with DirecTV such dishes cannot receive HD programming.

[eddie1261]

12 minutes ago, docj said:

If you use a portable or other antenna with a single dish and LNB it can only point at one satellite at a time which limits the ability of the DVR to record multiple channels at the same time.  Also, with DirecTV such dishes cannot receive HD programming.

I don't understand the "why" of that. I have had DirecTV in my home before and it was one dish aimed at one place screwed into my roof and I got everything. Am I not aiming at the same satellite when on the road?. Again. DVR matters not to me. I watch the same stuff every night, A&E, Food Network, and on Thursdays a CBS feed to see The Big Bang Theory. I don't know of other people's lifestyle but when the shows are on the I want to see I am home. I watch nothing of value, meaning the TV is on in the background but I am not watching, in the daytime. I mainly don't want to be drilling holes into my roof to mount stuff. Every hole is a potential leak.

[docj]

8 hours ago, eddie1261 said:

I don't understand the "why" of that. I have had DirecTV in my home before and it was one dish aimed at one place screwed into my roof and I got everything.

With DirecTV all the SD channels are broadcast from the 101 satellite. Therefore, if you are using a single dish antenna all the SD channels will be available to you and a DVR will work normally.  I omitted that statement because I no longer consider SD a long-term alternative for many (most?) people and it appears that DirecTV may discontinue it in another year or two.

Note added later:  It wasn't until I read Chad Heiser's response that I realized you might have an elliptical "single dish" setup at home that you didn't realize was pointed at three satellites.  I had assumed that you were asking about a circular dish pointed at just one satellite.  As Chad has explained, the elliptical DirecTV dish brings the received signals to a focus on three distinct LNB's, one for each of the satellites at 99, 101 and 103.  

[Chad Heiser]

8 hours ago, eddie1261 said:

I don't understand the "why" of that. I have had DirecTV in my home before and it was one dish aimed at one place screwed into my roof and I got everything. Am I not aiming at the same satellite when on the road?. Again. DVR matters not to me. I watch the same stuff every night, A&E, Food Network, and on Thursdays a CBS feed to see The Big Bang Theory. I don't know of other people's lifestyle but when the shows are on the I want to see I am home. I watch nothing of value, meaning the TV is on in the background but I am not watching, in the daytime. I mainly don't want to be drilling holes into my roof to mount stuff. Every hole is a potential leak.

Eddie,  while your home dish is mounted and pointing at a fixed location in the sky, it is actually looking at multiple satellites at once.  It can do this because the dish has multiple LNB’s on it to receive signals from multiple satellites (the little plastic dome like things on the end of the arm).  There is a little more to it, but this is how it basically works.  

An automatic dome style dish only has one LNB on it (one little plastic dome on the end of the arm).  If you remove the cover of the dome style automatic dish and look at the actual dish inside it, you will see the difference.  In order for this type of dish to receive programming from multiple satellites, it has to physically move to point it’s single LNB at the respective satellite from which it is trying to receive programming.  Because of this, this style of dish doesn’t work well (or at all) with a multiple tuner DVR control box.  The control box might try to record a channel on one satellite while you are watching a show from another channel on a different satellite (as one example).  This will not work because the dome can only point its LNB at one satellite at a time.  I’m sure I could probably explain this a little better, but hopefully this helps you understand the difference.

[FL-JOE]

On ‎2‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 10:08 AM, docj said:

Yes, the installer was correct.  The HR24 was the last DirecTV receiver of any kind (with or without a DVR) that could be used with or without SWM.

I assume you understand that in order for you to use a wireless miniGenie in your bedroom you will need to get a Wireless Video Bridge (WVB) also.  The WVB creates a 5HGz LAN which is how the Genie connects with its minis.  You can, of course, also connect a wired miniGenie if there's a way to run a coax from the bedroom to either the Genie itself or to some place where a splitter can be inserted into the coax from the Trav'ler to the Genie.

Yes, understanding the wireless mini Genie is one of the few things I have a good understanding of.  We used one in the sticknbrick so we could move it between the pool cage and one of the extra bedrooms.   We returned it along with the WVB or router when we sold the house.

[lseiger]

I am the person who asked the question referenced in the subject.

Today, almost 5 months after I asked the question , I bit the bullet and had DirecTV replace the HR-24 receiver with a new Genie HR-44.

My initial observation is: WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG.

My wife and I travel quite a bit and, waiting for the old receiver to boot after relocating, took at least 8 minutes or longer.  The Genie booted today from a cold start in 2 minutes and 44 seconds.  Huge improvement.

The new (to me) user interface is much improved.  Move from channel to channel is much quicker.

And, probably the most important advantage for us is that the Genie does not emit RF noise (hash) to the extent that the old HR-24 did.  We can now listen and talk on the 80 meter ham band at night where before we had to unplug the HR-24.  And then wait 8 minutes for it to recycle itself.

One of the responders to my question was "docj" who recommended the Genie.  I can now also recommend the Genie.

Travel safe,

Larry Seiger

SKP #59187  

[docj]

2 hours ago, lseiger said:

One of the responders to my question was "docj" who recommended the Genie.  I can now also recommend the Genie.

I'm glad things worked out for you.  Happy to have been of assistance.

Joel (AKA docj)