I have a Harmony one remote controlling a Panasonic plasma with direct line of sight, and a directv hr34 dvr and sony DTS 1030 reciever in a utility closet using an IR emitter. The directv dvr will not power up initially through the emitter. Using the help button will power it on after the other componants have come on. All other commands work appropriately, and all other equipment powers up appropriately. The box will power on if it has line of sight. Can anyone help?

I've been a DIRECTV customer for close to 2 decades now and have always left my DIRECTV receivers powered on 24/7. Just something to consider. That being said, perhaps others will chime per the specific issue you are having?

Be sure your Geni is set to be controlled by IR.  When the DirecTV tech sets up a new DirecTV receiver, they normally set it to be controlled by RF instead of IR.  With your DirecTV remote, press Menu, select Settings & Help, select Settings, select Remote Control, select IR/RF setup, and change it to IR

It's definitely set to IR. All the other commands work fine.

Then try increasing the Inter-device delay for the DirecTV Geni