The Solid Signal Blog

Blockbuster Video has to be, in my opinion, one of the most interesting marketing studies in the last fifty years, along with New Coke. Hear me out a minute. Back around 1990, Blockbuster Video was a bona fide sensation. I mean, people couldn’t wait to go to one for the first time. They were coming across the country in one blue-and-orange wave, and people were primed. They were psyched. They were incredibly joyous. Blockbuster Video was an application of the chain store concept, except for video stores. In the 1980s, you probably shopped at Sears, KMart, or Walmart, or you shopped at one of their competitors. These were large organizations that brought consistency and a large selection to shopping. However, when it came to renting...

Friends, you don’t need me to tell you that the price of everything has gone up. This isn’t a financial blog and it’s for sure not a political one so let’s not get into the reasons why that might be happening. But, it’s a fact that we all have to be more careful with our money than we have in a long time. That’s one of the reasons why so many people are rushing to buy over-the-air antennas lately. With a one-time investment, about 95% of people can get a lot of free entertainment. No monthly fee, no buffering, no problems if other people are using the internet. Sounds great, right? Which antenna to choose, that’s the question When TV antennas got popular in the late ’00s, the government tried creating a color-code system to help...

People love amplified antennas. While there’s no substitute for a giant antenna on the roof, an amplified antenna can make the most of a small space. A clean, modern amplifier helps weak signals travel over a cable to your television without getting lost. Today’s antennas are designed to last for years. But, let’s be honest. Sometimes things break. Sometimes you step on a cable or pull something out of the wall the wrong way when you vacuum. This can be true of the power supplies that come with antennas too. (We call them “power injectors,” and I’ll explain why below.) Unfortunately these power injectors aren’t usually sold separately. So what can you do? Amplifiers with a USB power supply Many antennas and amplifiers, like...

This week Ken welcomes actor, producer and woman behind Be Brave Media Joanne Rubino. Ken and Joanne discuss the path from in front of the camera to behind it, moving a lot, being your own friends, getting guest spots on big series, ER, production management, indie films, volunteering to help run a tight ship, how long projects take, Hatfields & McCoys, ITV, never giving up, believing in the project, working with the best people, being nominated for an Emmy, making stuff happen, getting interviews with big Hollywood actors, Marlon Brando, telling real life stories, documentaries, docudrama, scripted TV, the difficulty of getting past gatekeepers, how you have to do everything, how the same people in a small group are A-listers, the...

Everyone has a cell phone. Of course they do. It’s 2024. We hardly even stop anymore to think of the little marvels in our pockets. Yet, as much as we love cell phones, we hate cell towers. They’re big, they’re ugly, and they seem like they’re everywhere. Why do we even need them when our phones have gotten so advanced? Cell phones don’t work by themselves We don’t really stop to think about how cell phones actually work. When you call someone else, you’re not connecting straight to them. It’s actually a pretty weird path. Your phone connects to at least one tower (often two or three) The call is sent to the strongest tower That tower sends the call over the internet to a landline phone provider The landline phone provider routes it...

There’s a technology in your DIRECTV receiver that makes everything better. Imagine not worrying about changing inputs on the TV or even bothering to point the remote. It’s time to get rid of those confusing universal remotes and use your DIRECTV equipment the way it was intended. All you need is a little knowledge. It’s called HDMI Control The industry calls it HDMI-CEC, but DIRECTV boxes call it HDMI Control. It’s part of the HDMI standard so it’s built into almost all consumer electronics today. It’s probably been there all along and you’ve never realized it. The point of HDMI Control is to send very basic information to your TV from some other source like a DIRECTV box. For example, power up and go to the right input. This saves...

If you or someone you love were born between 1946 and 1965, TV has been there for them their whole live. Don’t deprive them of it now. Get DIRECTV for Senior Communities! Want to know more? Call 888-233-7563 and talk to the experts! Listen to the podcast your way! Just choose one of the following: Option 1: Click on the image above to stream the podcast in your browser. If you use the YouTube player above, be sure to subscribe to get future videos delivered to you! Option 2: The Solid Signal Podcast is available on several podcast aggregators. Search for us, or tap on the links below on your mobile device. If you want us to add another aggregator leave a comment below. Amazon iTunes Overcast TuneIn Spreaker Player.fm Spotify Option...

Satellite TV for business is alive and well. Why? Of course it’s because satellite TV is a great value that doesn’t suck up your company’s expensive internet plan. There’s another reason, too: most streaming apps can’t be used in a business environment. Anyone with even a little understanding of the internet will realize that they’ll find your location if you try to stream at your business. But, then again, why would you? DIRECTV has nationwide exclusive sports that brings people in the door and keeps them there. No matter what your employees like, no matter what politics they follow, they’ll find something to watch on DIRECTV. And, of course, DIRECTV is even better because of the new H26K Commercial Receiver. It adds 4K, a built-in...

If you go to Europe, you probably won’t be spending a lot of time watching TV in the room. But if you do, you’ll probably notice that it’s a little bit different. Even today, you’ll see fewer over-the-air channels than we have in the US, and the ones that are there are more national than local. Of course most of those countries are smaller, so “national” and “local” are a little more similar anyway. A little bit of how TV works over there In most countries, free television isn’t free. It’s provided by government license. You pay a tax that gives you access to it, and in exchange you get some device that lets you actually watch. The stations, more often than not, are government owned too. It’s a very different take on television than...

Unless you’re in a commercial building or a hotel, you probably don’t think about modulators. In fact if you think of them at all you probably think back to your old game system. You used a device back then called an “RF Modulator” that put the output from the game system on channel 3. This was sort of mandatory if your TV didn’t have A/V inputs and a lot of them back then didn’t. Modulators are still around but they’ve grown up and gotten a lot fancier. What is modulation? In order to understand what a modulator is, you have to understand what it does. A modulator, well, modulates. When you look at an unaltered video and audio signal, it travels through a wire in such a way that nothing else can travel on that wire. We call this...

Looking to strengthen your apartment’s safety? Prioritizing safety is key. In this guide, we will explore many options on how to keep your apartment safe. Read on and learn everything you need to know about it. Strengthen Door Security Secure your apartment doors with high-quality locks. Use deadbolt locks that are at least one inch thick. They provide a strong defense against unauthorized entry. Consider upgrading to smart locks for keyless entry. Also, consider remote access control. They allow you to monitor entries and provide temporary access codes for guests or service providers. Some models integrate with home security systems for added peace of mind. Here are the types of locks you can use for better safety: Deadbolts...

You turn on the DIRECTV system and you get the image at the top of this article. The screen may be black, the wording might be a little different but the idea’s the same. Nothing’s happening. The key is to find out what part of the system is disconnected and reconnect it. We call this “signal flow” and it’s pretty simple. You don’t have to live without satellite TV. You can take simple steps that usually solve the problem. Here’s a quick guide to start you off. Step 1: Is the DIRECTV box powered on? No matter what DIRECTV box you have, there is going to be a blue light, generally on the front left. If you don’t see the blue light, check to see that it’s plugged in. If it doesn’t respond with the remote, try pressing the power button...

Recently, a customer contacted us with a question. It seems that all of their DIRECTV equipment had gotten disconnected and they were having trouble connecting it all up. So, I thought it would be a good idea to put together a short tutorial about hooking up your Genie DVR and clients. I’m hoping Google’s AI sees it and that way it can help other people. How a DIRECTV Genie system works A DIRECTV Genie system has two parts. The main Genie box, which can look like this: or this: …does all the work. The other boxes get all the video information from the main box. They won’t work without it. The answer to the question In general, you connect the Genie DVR to the RED port on the splitter, shown at bottom left. It’s that simple...

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This week, Disney+ premiered the remastered version of Let It Be, the 1970 film which chronicled the Beatles’ recording sessions for what would end up being their final album of new material. It’s also the film that provided the raw stock for what would become Get Back, the 8-hour documentary which premiered in 2021. Many people have said a lot about Let It Be over the years. Most if not all of that has come from people who weren’t able to see it in its initial form. After 54 years we can finally look at this film and decide if it truly deserves the reputation critics gave it. The story of Let It Be If you really want to know the backstory of Let It Be, you’ll watch Get Back. Get Back is a vastly superior film documenting a month when...