After a long wait, DIRECTV’s H44 Commercial receiver is finally rolling out to business customers. This new receiver has all the same capabilities as the H25, and uses DIRECTV’s new user interface. It’s reliable, stable, and it’s proving very popular. However, some customers have reported problems using the H44 with DIRECTV’s business app.
The DIRECTV for Business app allows business customers to control all their networked receivers from a single app. It removes the need for multiple remotes. More importantly, whether you’re controlling receivers behind the TV or in a rack, it means you can do it all from one location. Of course the best part of this app is that it’s free. Alternative apps like DTVGameControl cost money, and this of course makes them less popular.
There’s a feature in the DIRECTV business app that lets you group receivers. That way you can turn them all on or off, or change the channel on all. It’s a popular feature, but it looks like it’s going to need an update.
Receiver groups don’t seem to work with H44.
The folks who program the receivers and the apps do know about the issue, but at least for now it looks like the receiver groups feature is limited to the H24 and H25. If I had to guess, I’d expect it to be due to the newer menu system on the H44. It probably needs to have some changes made for receiver groups to work properly. I’m sure it’s something they’re working on.
For now, the workaround is simply to not use receiver groups on H44s. You can control the receivers one at a time using the DIRECTV for Business app. I know that’s kind of a drag but it’s something at least. The fact that the receivers can be controlled by the app says it’s possible to fix the receiver groups issue. It’s just going to take time.
In the meantime, if anyone in the community has a workaround that they’ve figured out, leave a comment below and share it with the rest of the world!
