Gotta love DIRECTV. I mean, the best live entertainment out there and the best value to the customer. But, you can’t be good at everything, can you? DIRECTV’s good where it counts. When it comes to naming its devices, maybe there’s some room for improvement. Here’s what I mean.
Take a look at the top of the article
The receiver at the bottom is a DIRECTV C61K 4K Genie Mini Client. The one at the top is actually a DIRECTV C41 Genie Mini Client. The top one won’t output 4K, while the bottom one will. That seems simple, right? It’s an older picture, back when both devices rocked that glorious mid-2010s DIRECTV logo, back in the days before AT&T.
It made sense. C41 or C51 was HD. C61K was 4K. How could anyone mess that up?
What you see above is the DIRECTV C61 Mini Client. It’s the same size and shape as the C41. There are a few differences that won’t mean much to people, but the biggest difference is the front panel, where you’ll see a power icon in place of the old DIRECTV logo button. So now we have a C61 and a C61K. Not only that, but there’s also a C41W and C61W, which are wireless versions of the HD client.
So yeah, that’s not confusing at all.
Making a little sense
The C61 is the HD product, and the C61K is the 4K product. They don’t look anything like each other, but the numbers are similar.
Because the C61 is functionally identical to all the other Genie Mini clients, you can get one here as it becomes available. There is absolutely no difference between it and the other Genie Mini clients except the logo, as far as the customer is concerned. The C61 does allow for the MoCA 2.0 standard for communication rather than the older MoCA 1.1. However, this won’t make a difference at all to the way you watch TV. Not one bit of difference.
Which one should you get?
That’s the question, right? Especially since you’ll pay the same for both. The C61 (the HD version) is smaller and uses less power. It also lets you run a standard definition TV from it, if that’s still a concern. The C61K (the 4K version) runs hotter and is bigger, but has 4K capability.
If you want a 4K client and don’t have a 4K TV yet, you can get the C61K and be futureproof. A lot of people go that way. If you use a C61K on an HD (non-4K) TV, you’ll occasionally get a message to check to see if your TV is 4K compatible. This sort of message used to show up a lot more but now it’s generally every few months, which isn’t such a big deal.
If you’re not sure which to choose, call us! Your Solid Signal tech team is here for you during East Coast business hours. The number is 888-233-7563. If it’s after hours, fill out the form below. We’ll get back to you, usually within one business day.
