Let’s say for a minute you’ve been with DIRECTV for a long time but you just upgraded to that sweet new HR44 Genie. The only problem is they gave you that new Genie Remote to go with it. You liked the old white one, and you know that you can use it for the new HR44 Genie, but you like the idea of using RF mode so you can hide away the DVR and its clients. This puts you back to using the Genie Remote.
The only thing is, the first time you go to watch a show, you notice something weird. There’s no {STOP} button on the remote. That’s strange, you say, and you look at it again. Nope, no {STOP} button. So what’s a boy to do? Sometimes you just don’t want to watch a show all the way through, and you figure you could fast forward to the end, but really there’s a much better way.
In most cases, the left arrow (the one with the word “back” underneath it) will take you back to the playlist where you can delete the program. {EXIT} does the same thing. If all else fails just push one of the number buttons and you’ll tune to that channel if you want to get away from what you’re playing. Choose a channel and press {ENTER} and the change will be even faster.
And now you’re asking yourself why DIRECTV would do such a thing. The Genie Remote, my dear reader, is the product of that singular creature with ten legs and no brain: a committee. That’s not to say it’s bad… in fact most people who try it for a few weeks like the way it balances in the hand and the rocker switches for channel and volume. The button placement makes a lot more sense, at least for the buttons they didn’t remove, right? (By the way, if you’re looking for yellow, blue, or green buttons you’ll need to look elsewhere as well.) DIRECTV’s developers simply decided there were too many ways to do the same thing… {BACK}, {EXIT}, and {STOP} all function equally in many cases. So, they took off {STOP.} Would I, personally, have made that decision? No I would not. But it’s hardly a dealbreaker once you’re used to it.
Remember too that you can still use the old white remote in RF mode by using something like the NextGen Remote Expander. It turns any remote that uses AA or AAA batteries into an RF remote. If you’re sold on the idea of a stop button, this might be the answer for you.
