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DIRECTV First Look: C31-700 Home Media Center RVU Client

122K views 502 replies 121 participants last post by  inkahauts 
#1 ·
This is the future of DIRECTV: It's all RVU, and it's smaller than you imagined. Yes, that's an iPhone on top.


C31 First Look


This is an incredibly small box. It only works with the HR34 but it provides full DVR functionality with zero fan noise. Even pause live TV!

I'd like to thank the hard working C31 test team, who really came through on this little box.

The C31 is only available in limited areas at this time.

Please note that some DBSTalk.com testers and staff members may have received free equipment from DIRECTV or its partners for the purpose of evaluation and testing.
 
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#103 ·
Alebob911 said:
Good video with good information but dbstalk and Stuart's first looks have them beat when it comes to details. Just look at the pics in the video and you'll see finger prints on the top of the C31. With Stuart's first look the C31 looks nice and clean. :)
Agreed. Not sure who the loser is that does those things for SS, but they should give Stuart a call.
 
#104 ·
dpeters11 said:
It all depends on use. These are great for where you want something quiet, like in a bedroom, want an extra set but don't want to have to redo your setup because your SWM slots are full etc.
I was just thinking about what I would want. We have a HR24 in our bedroom and it doesn't bother us at all. My wife stores a lot of her shows on it and watches them during the summer (she's a school teacher). I'm just thinking for the price why not go big :D I wish they had them for around $2 a month and no whole home charge. Oh well everyone is different.
 
#109 ·
P Smith said:
If we could obtain UL, FCC and RVU IDs, we could run queries and obtain meaningful technical info (since no one want to answer to technical questions here :( ).
You can find the UL info yourself with a little looking. I haven't bothered with the others. And I'm not going to open any of mine and risk destroying them to answer your other queries. Why not buy one and let the rest of us know?
 
#110 ·
smiddy said:
I don't know the answer to that, however, at anyone time the most C31s you can have on the HR34 is 3, that to me doesn't mean you can't have 5 C31s, but that the HR34 can only service 3 at once. This includes TVs too (RVU clients), so the cost, as I'm aware, is associated with the number of fulltime "potential" clients, form the HR34-700. I know others were scaled to the number they were using, but I'm not sure how that worked with TV interfaces, since I didn't have an RVU capable set.
This is my biggest question and potential hangup. Let's say I want to connect 10 TV's but don't need more than 4 running simultaneously. Ideally, I could hook up an HR34 to the first and C31's to the other 9. While I would be charged the one-time acquisition fee of $X for each C31 box, I would only be charged $18/mo ongoing for the clients as I couldn't have more than 3 active at any one time.

I hope you're not telling me they'd charge $54/mo.
 
#112 ·
iceburg02 said:
This is my biggest question and potential hangup. Let's say I want to connect 10 TV's but don't need more than 4 running simultaneously. Ideally, I could hook up an HR34 to the first and C31's to the other 9. While I would be charged the one-time acquisition fee of $X for each C31 box, I would only be charged $18/mo ongoing for the clients as I couldn't have more than 3 active at any one time.

I hope you're not telling me they'd charge $54/mo.
No one yet knows the answer to that question. I expect detailed pricing info for "corner cases" such as that will become known around the time of the full national availability in the next month to six weeks.
 
#113 ·
Sorry if I missed something obvious and realize this may have even been answered somewhere in the Samsung RUV capable TV thread;

But since the C31 has no access card and you do not call in to activate, how does DIRECTV really know if and when a C31 or other RVU client has been added to begin billing?

Does the HR34 report back by internet or phone line connection or something when the client has been successfully added?
 
#114 ·
"HoTat2" said:
Sorry if I missed something obvious and realize this may have even been answered somewhere in the Samsung RUV capable TV thread;

But since the C31 has no access card and you do not call in to activate, how does DIRECTV really know if and when a C31 or other RVU client has been added to begin billing?

Does the HR34 report back by internet or phone line connection or something when the client has been successfully added?
You need to "add a client" to the HR34 and you need RVU support billing on your account to allow it.
 
#117 ·
HoTat2 said:
Sorry if I missed something obvious and realize this may have even been answered somewhere in the Samsung RUV capable TV thread;

But since the C31 has no access card and you do not call in to activate, how does DIRECTV really know if and when a C31 or other RVU client has been added to begin billing?

Does the HR34 report back by internet or phone line connection or something when the client has been successfully added?
Sixto said:
You need to "add a client" to the HR34 and you need RVU support billing on your account to allow it.
And to add just a tiny bit to Sixto's reply . . . your Directv account indicates how many RVU clients you are allowed to use at once. If you only have 1 or 2 allowed on your account in the RVU section of your Services, connecting another one and turning it on will give you an on-screen prompt to turn off one of the other locations. Your account authorizations tell the HR34 how many clients it is allowed to have at once.
 
#118 ·
LameLefty said:
And to add just a tiny bit to Sixto's reply . . . your Directv account indicates how many RVU clients you are allowed to use at once. If you only have 1 or 2 allowed on your account in the RVU section of your Services, connecting another one and turning it on will give you an on-screen prompt to turn off one of the other locations. Your account authorizations tell the HR34 how many clients it is allowed to have at once.
So, theoretically, you could have 10 C31's and only use at most 3 at a time, correct?
 
#119 ·
"RAD" said:
I agree with VOS, wireless for WHDVR or the C31 client very much depends on the wireless network. When I was playing with it moving the wireless DECA just a couple feet one way or another could impact how well it worked. IMHO there's just too many variables involved to be able to say flat out that a wireless C31 setup will work reliabily.
In some situations it will work but many will have issues. I tried it too even on g and then on n and I could get it to work fine in some locations but one location not so much.
 
#122 ·
spartanstew said:
So, theoretically, you could have 10 C31's and only use at most 3 at a time, correct?
I really don't know the answer. I mean, you would think so. But it really kind of depends on how Directv's account systems are setup.
 
#124 ·
Sixto said:
I'm guessing not.

You'd have a limit on how many could be added (the # you're paying for) and it's not easy to swap them.
But if you can get them from a third party at some point (purchase, assuming owned), and put 10 in various rooms, you don't think you'd be able to activate 2-3 at a time? Disconnect one, get code for another?
 
#125 ·
"spartanstew" said:
But if you can get them from a third party at some point (purchase, assuming owned), and put 10 in various rooms, you don't think you'd be able to activate 2-3 at a time? Disconnect one, get code for another?
First it's a max of 6 RVU clients on the account, with only 3 being able to be connected to the HR34 at one time. So any of those 6 clients could connect as long as you don't go over 3 concurrent RVU clients being powered on at a time.
 
#126 ·
spartanstew said:
But if you can get them from a third party at some point (purchase, assuming owned), and put 10 in various rooms, you don't think you'd be able to activate 2-3 at a time? Disconnect one, get code for another?
I don't know if you'd actually have to even "disconnect" one. Assuming you could even obtain that many, turning on a 4th client should simply prompt you that you have too many clients and tell you to turn off one of the others.

On the other hand, the authorization process used by Directv's back-end servers may tell the HR34 simply not to allow connection of any more than three, ever. In which case, you would have to actual go through the disconnection process.

Since none of us have more than 3 clients at this point, I don't know if we can expect a definitive answer quite yet.

EDIT: RAD was posting his response; in light of his info, I guess that's the answer. Thanks, RAD!
 
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