Review: DirecTV Genie HD DVR

I have an ongoing love affair with the show Person of Interest. I'm an obsessive techie like the main character, and I also enjoy watching Jim Caviezel resurrect his career by maiming hapless bad guys. The CBS drama has plot twists, a strong cyberespionage angle, and plenty of clunky webcam feeds. I also believe the U.S. government really does have a super-secret surveillance program.

Unfortunately, unless I'm sitting on my sofa on Thursday nights, the live airing is easy to miss. Worse, the show is not available on iTunes or the Xbox 360. Recently I decided to test out the new DirecTV Genie set-top box, which is like going back in time to the heyday of the TiVo, to see if I could record more shows, find better TV entertainment, and place-shift on my own terms. My main goal: find shows like Person of Interest that match my particular sensibilities.

SATELLITE SMACKDOWN
The DISH Hopper and DirecTV Genie set-top boxes both have distinctly unique features, so we reviewed them head-to-head, going deep on each device individually while pausing to compare them to each other along the way. Once you've read about the Genie, go read our review of the Hopper with Sling.Of course, DVRs are nothing new. What is new is that companies like DirecTV and DISH Network now provide more storage (that's 1TB for Genie, 2TB for the DISH Hopper), better place-shifting so you can watch shows on mobile devices, better streaming innovations, and better recommendation engines to help you find new content.

I asked DirecTV to go big. The company installed the Genie ($300) in my living room and activated every channel known to man (and a few known only to people in Wisconsin). They hooked up two extra Genie Mini ($100) clients – one in my den and one in a bedroom. You can have three of the Mini clients, enabling you to connect four televisions total.

This was my first surprise, because with DISH you can have two main set-top boxes and four extra clients (for six total television feeds). But, no matter. Having three televisions was plenty, especially since we're not quite that addicted to TV. Yet.

The all-black Genie set-top box looks good next to a PS3 and a Blu-ray player. It measures 15.75 inches by 3.25 inches and emanates a soft blue glow from the front panel, showing the DirectTV logo and a few helpful LED indicators: which tuners are currently active and whether you are currently recording any shows. The Mini clients are also all-black but measure only 5.9 inches by 10.2 inches. They fit perfectly on a small end table in a bedroom or even in the kitchen.

All of the expected connection options are here: one HDMI port, a way to connect to a receiver or sound bar using a digital optical audio out, and an Ethernet jack to download on-demand movies. One surprise is that the Wi-Fi is not built-in and requires a separate break-out box, which adds some clutter to your entertainment center.

I was happy with how well the Genie worked. After about a week, the DVR started to auto-record shows based on what my family watched and what we recorded. Because I recorded Person of Interest religiously and my son watches Duck Dynasty and Top Gear, similar shows started popping up: Justified on the FX channel, Storage Wars on A&E. If you watch nothing but The Office and Parks and Recreation, Genie will start auto-recording other sitcoms. The best part is that you don't have to do anything. Genie records a few episodes of matching shows for you automatically. And, if you punch "Record" while watching any Genie auto-recording, you'll see a prompt to record the whole series. My only gripe is that you can't really steer Genie in any way, say to record only sci-fi shows or hunting-related reality TV.

We have five people living here, so another advantage to using Genie is you can record up to five shows at once, which for us eliminated all household conflicts. The 1TB drive never filled up after a month of testing, usually clocking in at about 40 percent capacity even though we only deleted a few older shows. The overall impression was that the Genie helped us find new shows, provided plenty of storage, and meant we could record most of the shows we wanted without any problems. This is contrary to the DISH Hopper approach, which is to record all primetime network shows, but not to seek out new cable shows.

A few extra perks: I was able to use the remote controls with any of the set-top boxes interchangeably. (The only drawback is that the installer configured some of the remotes to control the volume and power on my older televisions. In my living room, I stuck with my AV remote.) DirecTV offers two versions, an IR model that requires line of sight and an RF model that works from any angle. (DISH's Hopper and Joey units use IR remotes that only work with the particular client they're paired with; they are not interchangeable.) You can rewind through any show you are watching up to 90 minutes, and fast-forward in 30-second pops. The remote has a handy one-click record function (marked R) and a one-click delete, although the red button for this is not labeled.

Search was impressively flexible with the remote. I could look up an actor's name, like John Wayne, and see a long list of recordable shows and movies. Or, I could drill into a category like Sci-Fi to see available content. Another annoyance is that you will often see the on-demand shows listed alongside the premium channel offerings. You might prefer to purchase your shows a different way (or rely on Netflix), as the VOD movies are spendy – $6 for recent movies, much higher than the rates at RedBox.

__WHICH ONE DO I BUY?__It depends on how you watch TV. The Genie has the more friendly interface, and it's the better device for staying on top of all the newest shows – even the ones you haven't heard of, thanks to its recommendation engine. Plus, it can record five things at once. But the Hopper with Sling earns our recommendation because of its superior place-shifting tablet experience, and its primetime auto-record feature, which is a technical marvel and a huge plus if you watch a lot of network shows. Even though it only has three tuners to the Genie's five, the Hopper offers better access to recorded content for larger families, and better overall hardware performance.

DirectTV offers premium 3-D channels like 3DNet and ESPN 3D, and you can also rent 3D on-demand movies like Prometheus 3D. By contrast, DISH's service offers a small selection of 3-D movies on demand, but no dedicated 3-D channels.

The Genie is not the best DVR for place-shifting, though. There's an iPad app for scheduling shows on the DVR and another one for watching a selection of VOD content, but you can't just connect an iPad and watch anything you want. DirecTV offers the Nomad device that lets you transfer recorded shows to mobile devices, and there's no extra fee for that, but it's an added hassle. I'd prefer the main Genie set-top let me tap in with an iPad and watch anything the way I'm able to with the DISH Hopper with Sling.

Now, I ended up doing a deep-dive into some of the extra features, and that's where things can get a bit dicey in comparison to the DISH Hopper. For starters, I like how DISH will record all primetime shows en masse. There's nothing like that here. DISH also has a button that skips all commercials at once.

For video on demand, DISH has a library of 15,000 movies compared to 10,000 for the Genie. If you don't have an internet connection, Genie has 150 movies-on-demand you can download over the satellite compared to 80 for DISH. Both set-top boxes let you add more external storage using a USB port.

On-device app stores are new territory for set-tops like Genie and Hopper. On Genie, you will find the usual selection of YouTube and Pandora apps you can download to the device. None of them are that ground-breaking, though. And, wading through the app screens is a recipe for disaster – the apps load and function slowly. At times, the Genie interface itself responded slowly to remote clicks.

The Genie HD DVR costs $300 plus $100 per client. That's more than the DISH Hopper, which costs $200 for the main server and three clients. However, DirecTV told me many existing customers have been able to call and get the upgrade for free, or at least at a substantial discount. So it wouldn't hurt to ask.

For me, the main value is the Genie's ability to auto-record recommended shows. It means not having to study every channel's schedule and research new or obscure programs. Also, being able to record five shows at once was a lifesaver in our household. There are plenty of TV-watching and recording options to be had here.

In the end, the Genie is worth the expense if you really care about not missing any of the newest shows. But if you're more interested in the place-shifting features, or if you want to save an extra 10 bucks a month, the DISH Hopper with Sling has it beat.

WIRED Watch and record up to five shows at once. Predictive tech auto-records things you might like. Enough storage for most households. Better interface than the Hopper.

TIRED Can't watch any show on iPad without extra steps. Half the storage of DISH Hopper. Sluggish set-top box performance with middling app experience. Maximum of four TVs per network.