The Solid Signal Blog

Get the latest on the world of Technology from our friends at SolidSignal.COM
Toggle sidebar

Should you choose a chimney strap?

Congratulations! You’ve decided to go with an outdoor antenna. You’re serious about cutting the cord, that’s for sure. Outdoor antennas will help you get reception up to 70 miles away, and you’ll pull in the strongest possible signal. They’re the real deal. Almost immediately after you decide though, you’re struck with a question: How do I mount this thing? Good question. Obviously there are a lot of choices out there. Smaller antennas tend to work best with J-mounts, which attach easily to the side of the house or to the roof. If you’re desperate not to drill a single hole, there are non-penetrating mounts, which rely on cinder blocks or other heavy objects to keep them in place. Although they are most often seen on flat roofs...
View full article »

Congratulations to our YouTube channel for hitting 10,000 subscribers!

That’s right folks. It’s taken over a decade of hard work, but the Solid Signal YouTube Channel now sits at 10,000 subscribers! It hit that landmark about two weeks ago with a sudden rush of subscribers in the middle of March. (Chances are that had something to do with DIRECTV’s satellite problems around that time.) But, I wanted to take the time to reflect back on the history of the channel and why I’m so glad to report 10,000 subs when other channels have millions. Our YouTube channel circa 2012, and now I took over our YouTube channel in 2012 when there were a grand total of two videos on it. Specifically, this one and this one. Those videos received a total of about 8,000 views in the four years between the time they were posted...
View full article »

Fix Gemini Air audio issues in 5 minutes or less

Our customers tell us all the time how much they like the Gemini Air. There’s just something about having a remote with real buttons. People understand what they need to do, and it’s a real source of comfort for people who are moving over from cable. Plus, it’s not just about great DIRECTV programming. The Gemini Air is a full-featured 4K streaming device powered by the Google Play Store. There are a few people who have said that they’ve experienced audio drops. It’s hard to know where these audio problems come from, but there’s an easy way to fix them. The issue is Dolby Audio When you get your Gemini Air, it’s set to use Dolby Surround as the default. This means that your content will sound great when put through a surround system...
View full article »

STREAMING SATURDAY: The 3 Body Problem Problem

Netflix’s supposed blockbuster 3 Body Problem has come and gone, and I think it’s fair to say that it didn’t have the impact that we all thought it would. For months, we’ve been primed to think that this was going to be the next Game of Thrones. The problem is that while it’s stylish, it’s not thought provoking or really even unique. Season one ends without any real resolution (no surprise there) and there were scant few really interesting things about the show along the way. So what went wrong? (Vague spoilers ahead, you’ve been warned) Problem 1: Netflix dumped it all at once The entire season was available on day one. In most cases that’s fine. I actually like when streamers do this, because it lets me take things on my schedule...
View full article »

What is OBD-II?

Your car is smarter than you think. It knows how you drive, in many cases it even knows where you drive. Today’s cars are really miracles of modern technology, full of computers and diagnostic tools. Of course it wasn’t always like this. There was a time that a qualified mechanic needed a collection of arcane tools and a keen intuition in order to understand what was going on with a car. Those days are gone, and today’s mechanics rely on computer diagnostics more than their eyes and ears. You may think that’s a move in the wrong direction, but sometimes progress doesn’t work the way you want. In order to make it easier for computers to interface with cars, you need to have a standard interface. Otherwise, a repair shop would need a...
View full article »

FUN FRIDAY: Why did it have to be snakes?

Ask anyone of a certain age what their favorite adventure film is, and there’s a good chance you’ll say Raiders of the Lost Ark. Forget for a minute that, apparently, Indiana Jones is completely irrelevant to the events of the film. Forget also, that the film itself is an homage to films from 40 years earlier, hardly original, and a little hard to follow the first 6 or 7 times you see it. None of that really matters. What matters is that somehow, that recycled plot, those hack actors, and that irrelevant main character somehow add up to great fun, something that was as short in supply in 1981 as it is today in 2024. It’s no wonder that the film still has its ardent fans. How else could you explain… YouTuber “Gluecement” has put...
View full article »

UPDATED: What channels require the international dish for DIRECTV?

This article has been updated and contains very different information than it did in 2018 when it was first posted. It’s here so that Google doesn’t pick up older or dated information. DIRECTV has hundreds of international channels. If you’ve moved here from another country you can get a real taste of home right on your TV. These aren’t just foreign-language channels based in the US, these are rebroadcasts of actual channels from all over the country. Take a look at a partial list, as of April, 2024: MediaSet Italia Rai Italia Rai News 24 Rai World Premium VGN TV Tviet Viet Face S Channel Vien Thao Vietv Film 24H Honvietv NHK World News Phoenix TV Phoenix Info News CCTV4 CGTN Charming China CTI TV CBO TFC – The Filipino Channel GMA...
View full article »

Do you need an empty dome for your marine Starlink system?

The 2024 boating season is in full swing now in much of the country. If you haven’t gotten your boat out of drydock for the spring, you’re probably thinking about doing it soon. And, you’re probably thinking about the upgrades you’ll want for this year. Boating isn’t the cheapest hobby, and it seems like there’s always something you want to spend money on. This year, it’s all about internet upgrades. Let’s talk about Starlink for a second You’ve already heard of Starlink, I’m sure. It’s the satellite internet system created by SpaceX (Elon Musk’s company.) It uses a fleet of thousands of small satellites to deliver a high-speed experience that’s as close to traditional fiber as possible. In 2023, Starlink officially started supporting...
View full article »

Bluetooth Hate, part 3: about a year later

One of my favorite articles on this blog is called, “I hate Bluetooth, because it hates me back.” A few months ago I revisited my old enemy with a new article on the subject. So why am I revisiting the topic yet again? Is it just a slow blog day or is there really something to say on the subject? Let’s find out together. What brought this all on I’ll admit that I still read engadget. It’s certainly not the must-read blog it was 15 years ago, but I do peruse it every other day or so. This morning I noticed an article I hadn’t seen when it posted a few weeks ago. It’s an article with the guy who is arguably the lord and master over Bluetooth. (Worth a quick scan, if you’re interested.) Reading through this long article, I came to a...
View full article »

Can you make a giant omnidirectional antenna from two HDB8X antennas?

I was recently asked this question and I thought all our readers deserved a chance to chime in. Our 8-bay Xtreme Signal HDB8X antenna is a real superstar, picking up channels from up to 70 miles away. It’s one a very small number of antennas that can pivot in the middle, and that means the two sections can move enough to cover an area almost 180 degrees. If you took two of them, could you have a giant, monstrous omnidirectional antenna? Let’s talk it out. The difference between omni and directional An omnidirectional antenna, or omni for short, uses a wide flat element to pick up signals from all directions at the same time. This technique isn’t really very efficient which is why this KING antenna can only claim 35 mile range even...
View full article »

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Articles that stand the test of time

This week for Throwback Thursday we’ll take a break from making fun of the bad decisions of the past and actually point out something that we got right. The year was 2011 and the country was deep in recession. Everyone still wore those really skinny glasses and thought the iPhone 4 was cool. The word was a different place. In May, 2011 we published an article about installing a preamp. You can read it here on our blog or see it in its original form at the Internet Archive. Either way, it’s a surprisingly good article. (I didn’t write it, by the way.) You can see that there is a simple way to install a preamp and you get a very simple diagram. Sure, it doesn’t go into much more detail than that, but if you need to learn more you...
View full article »

Can’t run the Xfinity app on your Gemini? You’re not alone

I’ve recently been told that DIRECTV’s Gemini is now officially among the hottest selling products on SolidSignal.com. Whether you choose the Gemini for Satellite or the Gemini Air for streaming customers, getting one from Solid Signal means you’re one of the many folks who really appreciate the latest and greatest technology. With Gemini, you get live TV as well as thousands of apps from the Google Play Store. But, it turns out, you don’t get all the apps. There are a very small number that you can’t get. The apps you can’t get with Gemini This list is a lot shorter than it used to be. At launch, I was blocked from loading more or less any app that offered live TV channels to compete with DIRECTV. However, on my Gemini for Satellite...
View full article »

What is broadband, exactly?

You hear the term “broadband” a lot and it’s getting harder and harder to really define it. It doesn’t hurt that people use it as a throwaway term meaning “High Speed Internet.” The two things are not the same. It can be confusing so let’s jump in and try to figure it out. First of all, here’s what broadband definitely isn’t. We can say for sure what the opposite of broadband is: it’s narrowband. Narrowband is a term that refers to very targeted frequencies over the air or through a wire. AM and FM radio are excellent examples of narrowband. Each radio station uses a very small amount of the total frequency range and you get a lot of different stations in the same area. That’s the purpose of narrowband broadcasting, to fit a lot of...
View full article »

Can you use a diplexer on a SWM-30?

Recently, our techs were asked a fairly interesting question. It’s an interesting question so I thought it would be good to dive into the answer. It is a little complex getting started and I want to add a little background for those folks who aren’t up to speed on the current technology. What is the DIRECTV SWM-30? The SWM-30 multiswitch is the latest in AT&T’s arsenal for large installations. DIRECTV has used multiswitch technology for over 20 years to allow for larger installations. The original DIRECTV dish only allowed for two receivers at most, and a multiswitch solves that. The difference with the SWM-30 is that, like the SWM-32 before it, it’s not really designed for in-home use. About 99% of DIRECTV residential customers...
View full article »

When do you need a “Legacy” dish for your DIRECTV installation?

This Reverse Band 5 Legacy LNB for DIRECTV is the best, baddest LNB ever made for DIRECTV service. It’s also the biggest. Blame all the many different electronics inside it. This one device is capable of picking up three different frequency ranges from five different locations, in two polarities. That’s a lot for it to do. Most folks don’t need something that big and fancy. Even if you see 4K in your future you probably only need a Reverse Band 3 LNB which is smaller and much easier to wire. Commercial installations use this LNB to get virtually unlimited receivers from one dish, but the Reverse Band 3 will reliably handle up to 13 tuners – which translates out to an HR54 Genie, two HR24 DVRs, two receivers, and three clients. Or, you...
View full article »
You must log in or register to post here.
Top
Back