DIRECTV took a massive jump into the 2020s recently. Using the same app once used for DIRECTV Stream, you can now log in with your DIRECTV Satellite credentials. At least you can for your phone and for AppleTV. Other platforms are coming on line fast, too. Here’s a review I did recently.
Using this app, you have access to many of your recordings, some of your local channels, and the majority of the mainstream national channels. But notice how I used words like “many” and “some” an “the majority.” The DIRECTV app isn’t really connecting to your home satellite system. What it’s doing is making it seem like it is. You’re actually using the programs on DIRECTV’s servers, as if you had DIRECTV Stream instead of DIRECTV Satellite. This means that you’re probably missing some local channels, most sports channels, and a lot of the international channels. If those are the channels you want, you’re probably asking the question at the top of this article.
Before I go further…
I want to tell you that this article is just speculating. I am not going to reveal any deep DIRECTV secrets. If I did that, well I’d probably never get another deep DIRECTV secret. And I’ll tell you something else. Anyone who claims to be putting a deep DIRECTV secret on a blog either isn’t telling the truth or they’re tempting fate. Simple as that. Don’t trust sites that claim to expose that kind of information.
The way I see it
I think that DIRECTV will have to come up with an app that functions as a Genie client. They just have to. Spectrum and Xfinity do this. Of course they own the internet lines so it’s a little easier for them. But it just can’t be that hard. Today’s streaming boxes have Wi-Fi 6 and fast processors. DIRECTV’s own wireless client uses Wi-Fi 3 and a processor a ton slower than even the cheapest streaming stick. So it has to be possible, at least technically.
There’s always going to be that same group of people who will say the content providers won’t allow it. Maybe that’s true. But we are at a better time than ever to really test that. If the channel is on Spectrum or Xfinity, it should be possible to get it on DIRECTV on streaming box. That just leaves international and sports packages to worry about. And really, who spends their time pirating programming from a streaming box? I’m not saying I pirate anything but I do understand the technology. It’s just as easy to get something of a DIRECTV client as it is to get something off a streaming box. That argument belongs in the 2010s, that’s how I see it.
I think DIRECTV will have to do this. It will save them money and it will work better. They can use the menu system and structure that they use for the DIRECTV app today. Now, I’ll tell you that structure takes some getting used to. You’re going from a remote with a lot of buttons to one with very few buttons. But you gain voice control and that makes a lot of things possible, as other providers have learned.
What would you do?
Let’s say there was an app for your current streaming box or smart TV that worked as well as the Genie client you have now. Let’s say it had a monthly fee, just to keep things equal. And let’s say you had a choice. What would you do?
Personally, if the app worked as well as today’s wireless clients, I’d relish the opportunity to simplify my home theater. I’d especially like it if the app worked with built-in smart TV OS’ like Fire OS, Google TV, and Roku. For the first time in decades, you could put a TV in a guest room with nothing but the TV. No boxes, no extra wiring. Just the TV. That’s enticing.
You know what else would be enticing? Consistent HDCP. Let me explain. My DIRECTV box, like yours, goes to black when I go to a channel that enforces HDCP. HDCP, if you’re not aware, is the system that checks your system to make sure you’re not pirating anything. I’m not saying it’s easy to defeat, but if you’re curious you can search for that sort of thing.
The point here is that there’s a long pause with a black screen on some of my Genie clients. It’s there because of HDCP and because the processor in these clients isn’t that fast. On the other hand, this does happen with the latest crop of streaming boxes but usually only once when you turn it on and it’s usually a lot faster. An app on the streaming box would be popular with me if it eliminated some of those black screens.
But what do you think? Leave a comment below. And, if you do want to upgrade your DIRECTV system, call us at 888-233-7563!
