This DirecTV system is just an HR44 with two Minis.

HR44 is currently using wifi.

I won't screw up anything by hard wiring the HR44 to the router, right? I thought I remember these units had to be on wifi for some reason. Could be smokin the crack tho.

My goal is to use IP control at least for the HR44 using Control4.

Use ethernet all day long. But, do this:

1) plug ethernet to get it on the network
2) go to>network>advanced>reset network

This will scrub any previous network settings and should keep it network stable. Um, mostly.

Don't use Ethernet for control. Directv messes things up when they do updates.

Agreed. Without question, 232 is the way to go.

if you change from wifi to ethernet, you also ahve the reboot the genie. At least it used to be that way.

DTV WILL INDEED fug up network control Easy fix, but still a PITA. DTV changed the freaking MAC address of the unit! So IP reservations wont work. Is that even legal? LOL Why on earth do they CHANGE the freaking MAC address?!

Hmmm - that sucks.

I guess I’ll stick with IR

Rs232? Does a DirecTV box have RS232?

Really? Are you sure you didnt just enter it wrong? The MAC is part of the NIC. I dont see how they can change that without changing out the NIC card. I had some issues trying to use static addressing on the DTV boxes, but with IP reservation, theyve been good. The only issue is the clients dont have power on and can hang up if someone goes into the menus.

Hell ya. It has been stable after the most current updates. Install this and red button reset and 232 will work:

[Link: iogear.com]

Bout $12

Yup, really. Fact. True. DirecTV can, does and will change the MAC address. Period. Like i said, doesnt seem legal to me as you BUY a MAC address from some global entity and you would think its permanently tie to the NIC.

I have had it happen many times. MAC is reservered in the router. Customer calls says no control of DTV. I have them use the DTV remote to get me the network info. Sure enough, wrong IP and a DIFFERENT mac address. Crazy, i know.

I can confirm MAC addresses changing on DTV receivers. Gave up on rez's long time ago.

Ernie: know what "rez's" means? The entire board does.

I've seen a situation where the each dtv box in the house had identical Mac addresses but different ip addresses. It was causing all kinds of issues with Sonos as one of the DVR's decided to assign itself as the root bridge. I ended up creating a separate vlan for all the dtv stuff.

Holy hell might as well try it. Maybe it helps with the DirecTV lagginess. I cant stand how slow DTV boxes are to respond to commands sometimes

Yup. Reservations, resolutions, residences. Can't think of any others, and just to reinforce your judgment, well, I don't know what you mean. But that's okay. Everybody else does.

Not really. It might be slightly better, but not much.

In decades I haven't had a single issue controlling DirecTV with IR. Aside from IP being easier/cleaner install are there other reasons to go with something other than IR?