Monthly Archives: May 2013

Last weekend I upgraded my DirecTV DVRs to the company’s brand new Genie system. One of the cool features they highlight on their website: “Catch up on past episodes, as far back as 5 weeks.” This was particularly important to me since when you upgrade, you lose all the shows you had previously recorded on your DVRs which they take away with them after the Genie is installed. No problem, I thought. Most of that stuff was recorded in the last 5 weeks so Genie can just re-record it, right?

Maybe not. After pulling out what little hair I have left searching for a way to record “as far back as 5 weeks,” I sent a note to DirecTV’s support asking:

“The ad for Genie says that you can “Catch up on past episodes, as far back as 5 weeks.” Now that I have had the Genie for a few days, I cannot find a way to do this, can you point me to the directions?”

Here’s their response:

“Thank you for writing to ask on how to catch up on past episodes when using the Genie receiver.

We do not have any receivers that have the ability to start a show over if it was not recorded and it has already aired or begun. This is because the tuners in the DVR store a cache or buffer of each program (up to 90 minutes), so none of the programming is missed. However, if the receiver was just change to another channel then nothing has been stored, it cannot be recorded or restarted.

In addition, I would like to let you know a great feature you may be interested with your Genie receiver. “Genie Recommends” is a feature of the Genie HD DVR that offers recommendations for shows you might like. These recommendations are based on shows you already watch, so they are tailored just for you. The feature also makes episodes of its recommended shows available so that you can watch them instantly to see if you like them or not.”

So in short, let me paraphrase their response —

“We don’t really offer the feature that we advertised and you really wanted, but so what? We have a totally unrelated feature we think you’ll like and maybe it’ll take your mind off the one you wanted.”