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Can you use a Sofabaton universal remote with a DIRECTV Gemini?

Most people choose the DIRECTV Gemini for Satellite because they like the remote and they want to simplify. The Bluetooth-enabled remote feels good in the hand and supports voice commands. With a Gemini, you get satellite TV as well as streaming apps, and that means only one box needs to be connected to the TV. But, for those folks with home theaters, you might still need to control other devices. You can use HDMI control for a lot of things, but if you want ultimate flexibility, you might want a universal remote. For years, the holy grail of universal remotes was the Logitech Harmony series. Logitech stopped making those in 2021, leaving a gap in the marketplace for people who wanted truly programmable remotes at a reasonable price...
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Remote Tech Talent in the Modern Workplace

Globalization and technological advancement are causing a rapid increase in remote technology talent requirements. Professionals with expertise can now be found by companies from all corners of the globe, have a wider selection of talents at their disposal, reduce costs, and boost efficiency. Increasing Demands for Remote Tech Talent: Demand Surge Globalization and the evolution of technology have resulted in skyrocketing demand for remote tech talent. Working remotely is possible, if not preferable due to high-speed internet, cloud computing, and collaboration tools. These firms are unrestrained by geographical boundaries when sourcing capable workers who can come from any part of the world. Several factors expedited the shift...
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Weird DIRECTV problems if you take your receiver from dish to dish? Here’s what you need to know

Here’s what’s great about DIRECTV satellite: you can use it your way. DIRECTV offers flexibility that you won’t find in other pay-TV providers, while keeping what makes pay TV great. Other traditional pay-TV companies are trying to move to a 100% internet-based system. Of course they are, it’s the 2020s. But that ignores a few big problems that still exist today. What if you’re somewhere without internet? These places exist. What if your internet plan has data caps? If you’re an RV or mobile user with that new satellite internet, you have data caps. You can run out of data in under a week if you watch a lot of videos. That’s why people have stayed with DIRECTV and that’s why people are coming back to DIRECTV. But this isn’t a...
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THROWBACK THURSDAY: When I actually had to try to convince you to connect to the internet

It wasn’t that long ago really. Back in 2015 I wrote this article. It talked about the interactive features, faster searching, and other benefits of connecting your DIRECTV equipment to the internet. It seems kind of silly now, because I don’t know of too many people who don’t connect. Of course there are those in RVs and boats who don’t have a real-time connection, but for those regular old residential users, it’s not exactly a tough sell. It was a good idea then… it’s a better idea now Since that article ran, there’s been an even better reason to connect that home equipment to the internet. Using the free DIRECTV app you can actually watch programs from your DVR anywhere. All you need is an Genie DVR. If the program is available...
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What does an antenna’s boom do?

It goes boom. (OK, it doesn’t. That was a lame joke.) Sorry, couldn’t help it. The boom is the part of the antenna on the front. It’s the long “nose” of the antenna you see above you, with all the x-shaped parts. It’s a critical part of a yagi antenna. Let’s take a deeper look. OK, what is a yagi antenna? There’s a deep dive here, but in order to keep the article going, let me just say a yagi antenna is one where the part of the antenna that receives the signal is surrounded by other stuff that focuses the signal. The actual “driven element” of the antenna above is a barely visible loop at the back. It might help you if I showed you a picture of it, but I bet you still won’t have an easy time finding it. Here it is in place, near...
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Cord Cutting’s not for everyone

Here’s a story based in my interactions with a customer a few months ago. I spoke to a lady who really wants to cut the cord. She’s on a fixed income, it would seem, and just couldn’t pull off a $100/month bill for satellite TV. She wanted my advice on how to reduce that bill. I asked her what sort of programs she watched. “That’s the thing,” she said. “I really only watch one channel.” Generally when I hear that I know the person is a good candidate for cord cutting. Except, not this time. She was a displaced fan. You’ve heard the term. A displaced fan is someone who lives in one city but roots for a team in another. In this case, this Detroiter rooted for the Baltimore Orioles, and the one channel she watched was MASN, home of all...
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Should you buy a variable gain amplifier?

Amplified antennas aren’t without their controversy. I’ve gone through the reasons you might want one, and I’ve also explained that a poor-quality amp is worse than none at all. In fact I’ve written a lot of articles on the subject if you’re interested. Read them all and you’ll get a really mixed view about antenna amplifiers. There’s a reason for that. Antenna amplifiers don’t do what you think they do. You would think an amplifier just takes a weak signal and makes it stronger. It does do this, but digital signals don’t respond to that kind of amplification the way analog ones do. Once you’ve locked onto a digital signal it doesn’t actually matter how strong it is. I explain more in this video: Variable gain Most amplifiers don’t...
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Ken Reid and Tom Shubilla II

October 24-31, 1964 This week Ken welcomes BACK to the show, author of the new book “James Bond and the Sixties Spy Craze”, Tom Shubilla. Ken and Tom discuss the cold war, spy culture, how we looked at spies different each decade after WWII, James Bond, Euro Spy, Japanese Spy flicks, surfing and spying, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Tupperware parties, Abe Lincoln, wrestling, Johnny Quest, The Saint, Lawrence Welk, Gilligan’s Island, The Outer Limits, The Rolling Stones on Ed Sullivan, Halloween episodes, Bachelor Father, The Addams Family, Don Rickles, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Car 54, Where Are You?, Jack Benny, Children in Danger, Patty Duke, Shindig, computerized election coverage, Steve Allen, Rich Little, The Flintstones...
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Podcast #581: House of the Dragon season 2 is coming. Will you be able to see or hear it?

In this podcast, we talk about the upcoming season of House of the Dragon. Season one was criticized for being too dark and quiet. Will season 2 be any better? Watch, then shop at Solid Signal - Signal Solutions including HDTV Antennas, DIRECTV and DISH Network satellite equipment and home entertainment supplies and accessories and call 888-233-7563 for the best customer service. 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...
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Can you hook a Gemini Air up to an AV receiver or soundbar?

Recently our help lines have had several people asking this question, and it led me to thinking. DIRECTV’s Gemini Air is a real hit. It’s a small device that’s easy to connect and comes with a great voice-enabled remote. It’s become so popular with “regular folks” that even home theater enthusiasts are taking a look at it. I don’t blame them. A quick look at “home theater” I don’t want to turn anyone off of this article. After all you probably found it through a Google Search because you already have some sort of home theater system. But for those people who found this article another way, I want to define what I mean by “home theater.” There are a lot of ways to define this term and honestly, my definition is pretty broad. I’ll call...
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WARNING: Don’t paint the satellite dome on your boat

The other day, I was talking to one of the marine specialists at Signal Connect. These folks are experts in helping people get the best entertainment experience while they’re out on the water. This person was telling me all about a customer who was having problems with their satellite TV system. It didn’t take very long before we got down to the source of the problem. The customer had recently cleaned up their boat and along the way, had painted the satellite dome. A lot of these satellite domes have been on boats for well over 10 years and I can understand wanting to make them look nicer if they’ve begun to look old. The problem, as this customer found out, is that painting the satellite dome stops the signal from getting in to the...
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Where is the antenna on your phone anyway?

A cell phone needs an antenna. It generally needs a bunch of them, really. There’s one for the traditional cellular frequencies, one for mid-band, one for ultra-wide-band, one for Bluetooth, and at least one for Wi-Fi. So where are they? First a little bit of physics (don’t worry) Everything that receives or transmits needs an antenna. That’s just the way it works. The antenna needs to be a particular size, and that size depends on the frequencies being used. The higher the frequency, the more you can kind of “fudge” that size issue and use one antenna that kind of gets a bunch of frequencies. All cell phone frequencies use the UHF band or a band even higher than that. Cell phones can use frequencies from 600-2150MHz, as well as...
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Is the term “home theater” obsolete?

Language changes. It’s just something we have to accept as we get older. When I was a kid, “Google” was a one with 100 zeroes, or a comic book character. “Twitter” was something a bird did. If you said the word “app” at all, you probably meant “appetizer.” Then again, when we talked about getting great sound, we used words like “hi-fi.” A little later we said “rack system.” We used to talk about 40″ as a “big screen TV.” And, for the last twenty years, we’ve used the term “home theater.” A home theater had great sound, a big screen, and an experience that was at least as good — and as complicated — as a movie theater. But, when was the last time you heard anyone actually use the term “home theater?” When was the last time someone...
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Can commercial DIRECTV customers use the regular DIRECTV app to stream video?

The other day, I was talking to one of our marine customers. Most marine customers have their boats registered as commercial vessels. I don’t claim to understand the tax code, so I won’t go into detail, but apparently it’s the smart thing to do once the boat is over a certain size. You should definitely talk to your accountant about that, instead of listening to a random blogger. If the boat is a commercial vessel, it generally has a commercial DIRECTV account associated with it. Yacht owners love satellite television. It’s better than satellite internet because there’s no data caps and the service comes at a very fair price. But, after talking to that one customer, there’s something that probably needs to be said. Commercial...
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HOW TO DO IT: Sync up your Genie Clients or Geminis

It’s very rare that you would need to replace a Genie Client. I’m sure it happens but honestly, I’ve never heard of one breaking. I still have an original C31 from 2012, the one I used for this review, and it works just fine. It always has. However, if you add a new Genie Client or Gemini you might want to have it act the same as other clients in your house. Consistency is nice. I like all my clients to have the same settings. The same favorites lists, the same parental controls, etc. That way it doesn’t really matter what room I’m in, I feel like I’m home. Even if you do make some minor tweaks, like specialized favorites lists for each kid, a lot of the basic settings are going to be the same. Chances are things like display...
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