Will DIRECTV ever make new standalone receivers?

What you see is the DIRECTV H25. In many ways, it’s the last of its breed. It’s a receiver, it can’t be upgraded to a DVR, and while it can share programs recorded from DVRs, it can’t pause live TV. It’s a direct descendant of DIRECTV’s first receivers, a pizza-box-sized monstrosity that’s so old that it’s hard to find pictures of it on the internet.

The H25 is currently available for commercial receivers, but residential receivers can’t get one anymore. They can get the similar H24, which is even older. The H25 is reserved for those commercial customers who need its upgraded software for use in headend racks or in hotels.

Who still wants one of these?

There just isn’t much of a market for such a one-trick pony, but when you have 14 million subscribers, if even one percent of them are interested that’s 140,000 people. And DIRECTV has far more than one-percent interest in this box; it’s the go-to choice for commercial customers, hotels, and boats.

Customers with RVs and boats love the standalone receiver because it is smaller and does just what you need it to. It’s also backward compatible with the very expensive systems installed in boats and RVs in the 2000s and 2010s.

Even with all of that, it’s probably the end of the line, at least for residential customers. DIRECTV has been installing Genies and Genie Mini Clients for five years now and that’s the direction it’s going. That means there probably won’t be a standalone 4K receiver for home use.

The path forward for commercial customers

Most commercial customers don’t want DVRs. DVRs can’t be used in public settings, because of copyright agreements. After years of having only one choice, though, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. DIRECTV has recently started building new H44 receivers for commercial customers. The H44, originally introduced in the mid-’10s, is essentially a Genie without a hard drive. It’s durable, energy-efficient and most importantly, they’re being made now in large numbers. For commercial customers, they’ll get something faster and more modern than the H44. The H44 isn’t backwards compatible, though, so those customers with existing mobile or marine systems will want to stay with the H25.

You might be thinking that technology has probably advanced since 2011 when we first saw the H25, and that it could probably be smaller and cheaper if you made it now. You’d probably be right. On the other hand, the cost of getting FCC approval and all the manufacturing startup costs, for a receiver that doesn’t have mass appeal, probably isn’t worth it. The DIRECTV H25 works fine, even if it doesn’t seem as tiny as it used to when it was first announced.

And you know what…. for most people, a Genie system really is the best bet. It’s more efficient, more powerful, has more features, and the clients really are tiny (if you even need a client, since you can use smart TVs as clients.) For those folks who still need a standalone receiver, you still have a choice. That’s not a bad thing.

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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.