So you have a spare room. You don’t want to have to run another wire throughout the home just so someone can watch TV there four times a year. I get you, bro. So what to do?
You could put in a DIRECTV Wireless Genie Mini. Or, you could just give your guests access to a tablet or phone with the DIRECTV app installed. Either way they would have access to your playlist, a lot of live TV, and a ton of on-demand content. But which option is best for you?
Wireless Genie Mini
This is DIRECTV’s wireless client. It’s only a bit larger than their regular client, and it’s quiet and uses only a tiny bit of power. Most people find it pretty darn satisfying because it acts exactly like the wired client. That’s the good part of it. If your guests can use a remote they can watch TV pretty easily.
On the other hand, you have to pay to get it, and you have to pay a monthly fee even when you don’t use it. You can’t just turn it on when you want. If you have an HR54 Genie, you also will find yourself on the hook for a Wireless Video Bridge which is another expense and you’ll have to hook everything up. [If you have a Genie 2, you don’t need the video bridge.]
So over the course of the first year you’ll be our about $300 for the setup and it will keep costing you money month after month, but you’ll be able to give your guests a good experience.
DIRECTV App
DIRECTV now has an app for Apple TV, Roku, and FireOS devices. It’s free, and it gives you access to almost all of the channels in your programming package. It even lets you watch most of the content on your DVR, and gives you access to the full on-demand library from DIRECTV. By loading it on a streaming box, you can give your guests live TV without running an extra cable or incurring a monthly fee for another box. It’s a fantastic deal.
Of course, having a streaming device in a guest room has other benefits. You can also give your guests a choice of entertainment by installing Netflix or any other streaming service. You’ll look like a great host that way.
On the other hand, the DIRECTV app isn’t 100% of everything you get from a client box. The recordings all have non-skippable commercials, and you’ll find that some of the local channels as well as some of the less-popular national channels are missing from it. The navigation experience is a little different from the DIRECTV client box as well.
That’s the landscape as I write this article in early 2023, anyway. I do expect that at some point DIRECTV will have a full-featured app for virtually any streaming box, and they’ll also have their own app-enabled client box this year as well. The app-enabled box will look and act like any other client, but it will have a mirroring charge. The free app is a great value, considering it’s, well, free.
So what to do?
Well personally I do have a wireless client that I bring into a guest room when I need it. But when it’s not needed there I use it in another part of the house, so it’s not like I’m paying for a client I don’t use. But, that’s just an old habit. I could just as easily avoid the fuss and just use the app.
The best part is that you have a choice. You can decide what’s best for you and do it. The DIRECTV app is free, and the client hardware is available now at SolidSignal.com. Need to know more before you commit? Call us! We’re here for you at 888-233-7563. If it’s after hours, fill out the form below and we’ll get right back to you.
