Can you connect a Genie Client to an SD TV?

The latest technology. The oldest television. You’d think those things wouldn’t go together terribly well. The good news is that you can connect a high-definition Genie Mini Client, even a wireless one, to a TV that’s as old as the hills, if you just have the right equipment.

How is this possible?

When DIRECTV first designed the high-definition Genie client, they wanted it to be small. They knew they would have to support older TVs. After all the first client box came out in 2013, and there were still a lot of older TVs out there.

Genie clients have only one output — HDMI — as far as you’ve been told, but there’s an extra set of outputs you probably weren’t aware of. There’s a dense little connector called “A/V out” on the back of all H25s and Genie Mini Clients. The purpose of the connector is to give you access to all those ports you used to have on much larger receivers… composite, component, and audio. All you need is the right cable to be able to use this special connector. You can’t but it at your local big box store, but that’s where Solid Signal comes in.

We have a great stock of these 10PINCOMPOS connectors that give any H25 or Genie Mini Client the availability to output composite video and stereo audio. You can see what one looks like at the top of this article. These friendly RCA plugs go into the Video In and Audio In connections on your TV. If your TV is really old and it doesn’t have these connections… all you need to do is connect the 10PINCOMPOS to this RF Modulator and then you can put out the signal on channel 3 or 4 of your TV using a coaxial cable.

A note about the 4K Genie client

You should know that the 4K client isn’t compatible with standard definition TVs. It just doesn’t have that plug. Surprisingly, you can force your 4K Genie into standard definition mode, but there’s no way to output to a standard definition TV without some serious extra hardware. You would spend about ten times more on that hardware than you would on a new television.

Too much trouble?

You may think this is a lot of trouble to go to for an older TV. I’d be inclined to agree with you. But if you’re looking for an inexpensive solution it’s right here. Besides, it’s not always easy to rid yourself of that last standard definition TV. Maybe it’s built into a cabinet… that’s common with older RVs. Maybe it’s in a garage that doesn’t get a lot of use. Whatever your reason for keeping that old tube TV,

It’s also important to remember that connecting your Genie Mini Client this way gives you all the benefits of a Genie including the ability to pause live TV and use on demand programming, even on your older TV. There are still millions of old tube TVs in use in garages and spare bedrooms all over the country and this is a great way to be able to make use of them.

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About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.