GOING OLD-SCHOOL: One remote controlling too many receivers?

The world of commercial satellite TV is actually pretty different from what you have at home. At one time, things were similar, but when DIRECTV released Genie and DISH released Hopper, things changed. Those technologies aren’t really suited to sports bar or hotel use. So, commercial customers stayed with the previous generation hardware. As a result, today’s commercial setups have a lot more in common with residential setups from five years ago. You see several receivers, controlled by traditional infrared remotes.

Question of the day

One of our commercial sales reps came to me the other day with a question I hadn’t heard in a while. He said his customer wanted to control one DIRECTV receiver, but whenever he pressed a button on the remote, two different receivers responded. This is a typical problem that came up in the past. So typical in fact, that I created a whole tutorial to deal with it.

Advanced%20Remote

If you want to download it or view it full screen, you can do that here.

What’s happening here is…

All DIRECTV receivers come from the factory with the same set of remote codes. That makes it easy to replace them. You put a new one in and the remote “just works.” Newer DIRECTV boxes such as Genie also come with RF remotes that pair to the receiver. These are easy to program if you change receivers, but they do need reprogramming.

What we’re talking about here is the older generation, the HR24, H24, H25, and even earlier devices made since 2003. That’s the sort of hardware you’ll find in commercial accounts since Genies aren’t allowed on commercial accounts. These receivers work very well in offices, shops, hotels, bars, even in hospitals and oil rigs.

However, programming the remotes does take a little skill. That’s why I created that PDF above, back in 2013, to make it easier. Save it to your cloud storage for when you need it, or bookmark this page.

Essentially, there are 8 different remote codes you can use. You can set each receiver to a different remote code so that they don’t interfere. You can then program each of the four different positions on a single DIRECTV Remote to control a single receiver. Slide the switch to the receiver you want to control, that’s all it takes.

If you have more than 8, you may want to consider a matrix switch which lets you control your receivers more easily. Or, if your receivers are networked, get the free DIRECTV App for Commercial Users which lets you control multiple receivers using a tablet.

And of course, if you’re looking to upgrade your commercial DIRECTV system, call the experts. They’re here for you at Signal Connect, the commercial arm of Solid Signal. One call to 888-233-7563 is all it takes.

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.