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Does live TV even matter anymore?

Think back to 2003. Yes, it was 20 years ago. In some ways it seems like 100 years ago. Back in 2003, your cell phone got most of its use actually making calls. You checked your email once a day or so, and while you were impressed by the amazing speed of your brand-new always-on internet, it was probably about 1 megabit (or less.) Chances are you spent a lot more time interacting with the people near you, and, when you watched TV, you watched live TV. A world without on demand That’s right, on-demand was extremely new back then, as was the DVR. Most people had some idea that these technologies existed, but unless you were a seriously early adopter, you never used these things. Live TV was king, and you were just fine with that. The...
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What does “backhaul” mean?

Hang around satellite geeks enough and you’re going to hear the term “backhaul.” When DIRECTV was launching satellites almost every year, it was frustrating to hear that a lot of satellite capacity was used for “backhaul.” I wasn’t sure what that was, except I knew it meant less satellite capacity for me. Satellite companies like DISH and DIRECTV get their programming from a lot of sources. There are national content providers like Discovery, ESPN and CNN. Then, there are thousands of local channels. All that programming has to go to one of DISH’s or DIRECTV’s broadcast centers to be sent to a satellite before it gets to you. Did you ever wonder how it got there? The answer is backhaul. Backhaul is the process of sending that...
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What’s so bad about VHF-Low?

VHF-Low, or as regular people call it, TV channels 2-6, used to be prime real estate for TV watchers. All the good channels were there. It’s where you wanted to be, whether you were the CBS channel in Los Angeles or the ABC channel in Philadelphia. Back in the 20th century, you really wanted a low channel number. A lot of folks didn’t want to use a different knob to watch channels 14-83. And, they didn’t. After the digital transition in 2009, VHF-Low became a little bit of a problem. See, we were all told that stations would stop broadcasting in VHF and that we could all have these little petite antennas that would be easier to put up and work with our condo board rules. It didn’t work out that way. The problem with pride Station...
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FUN FRIDAY: Earl Hays Press

Who doesn’t love a good movie? Whether it’s on a big screen or the screen at home or in your palm, it transports you to a place you’ve never been. Having watched a lot of bad movies this summer, I’m reminded of how hard it is to make a good one. It takes good writing, directing, and acting to be sure. But, there’s another aspect to good filmmaking: production design. Whether the film takes place in “reality” or some sort of science-fiction, it’s important to create a world which seems real to the audience. The irony is that the actual real world doesn’t work well on film. Production designers do the hard work of creating sets that translate well on film and look authentic. Along the way, a production designer will need all sorts of...
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THROWBACK THURSDAY: That time when I told you ATSC 3.0 was coming

Sure, it’s easy to talk about the next-generation television standard now, but what if I told you that this blog talked about it a decade ago? We’re still probably half a decade away from ATSC 3.0 at this point. It’s been in a test phase since 2017, but it’s only the latest step in a process that began quite a while ago. I started talking about a key component of ATSC 3.0, which is the most likely candidate for a next-generation televsion standard, back in 2014. This doesn’t mean I had any sort of magic on my side, it just meant that I was doing my reading. It’s all about advertising Back then, it was believed that the standard would be called ATSC 2.0, just because that actually would have made sense. You can read about it in a blog...
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BREAKING: AT&T Sportsnet regional networks to shut down by the end of 2023

According to an article at Cord Cutters News, All AT&T Sportsnet channels will be shutting down by the end of 2023, with the possible exception of AT&T Sportsnet Southwest, which may be sold and rebranded. In all other markets, hopefully the broadcast rights will revert to the leagues who can find new partners. The rocky history of Sportsnet The channels now known as AT&T Sportsnet have had several names over the years. Some were originally branded as Fox Sports, later DIRECTV Sports, later Root Sports, settling into being called AT&T Sportsnet around 2017. The reason for the naming change has to do with ongoing changes in the ownership of DIRECTV. At one time, News Corp, which at the time owned all of Fox, operated several sports...
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August Antennathon is back!

That’s right friends, it’s the most wonderful time of the year (for antenna enthusiasts, anyway.) Solid Signal’s Antennathon has returned and it’s better than ever! This year, in addition to the best prices on antennas, we have something special to share with you. Buy a Televes antenna and you’ll get 50% off an antenna mount if you check out with code ANTENNATHON. It’s just a little gift from us to you, and it’s a great way to get the antenna you really want. Spotlight on VHF In the last several years, US broadcast TV has had a big change. Channels 36-51 are no longer used for broadcast television. Those frequencies have been given over to 5G instead, which makes sense given the amazing demand for data we all have. It’s meant that...
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RV Battery Water and your Motorhome

While RVs are big, it’s the little things that every owner has to worry about. Take RV batteries for example. What might work one day can become smoking hot the next. This can be a common problem for many RV owners. So, what causes it? Well, it could be caused by a few different things. Signal Connect reached out to a few folks living the RV life and asked them about this possible issue with motorhome batteries. Their answers surprised us, and they might surprise you, too. Turning to the RV Experts Keep in mind, the RV experts didn’t know the person who had the battery problem. They also didn’t know the make, model, or year of that person’s fifth wheel. All they were told was that the battery in it started smoking after being...
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Why do cables use so many different connectors?

What you see above are TNC Connectors. Depending on your device, they’re probably shown much larger than actual size. There’s a slight possibility you’ve seen them before but you’re probably more familiar with other connectors like the F and RCA connector you see all the time. It’s used for high-frequency antennas, so you might have seen it if you have a router with replaceable antennas. Otherwise it just might look totally unfamiliar to you. In my opinion, one of the really annoying things about modern life is the sheer number of different cables out there. Just on the USB side there are 4 or 5 common ones, and then let’s not even talk about all the different connectors for all the different wall warts in your life. And if you’re like...
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Tips for Hiring the Best Truck Drivers

There’s currently a truck driver shortage in today’s job market. Many trucking companies have jobs, but there aren’t enough truckers to fill them. Are you experiencing this? Signal Connect can help you find the right employees so your company doesn’t have to turn down paying loads. We’ve talked with fleet managers across the country to get tips for hiring the best truck drivers. The advice we share here should help you find the right drivers to sit behind the wheel of your company’s big rigs. Truck Drivers Wanted! Before you hang this sign in your shop window, you need to know what you’re looking for. There are some very basic qualifications that ever professional truck driver must have in order to be employed. To qualify for...
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Ken Reid and Hugh Howey

This week Ken welcomes author (Wool), showrunner (Silo on Apple Plus) and all around interesting guy Hugh Howey to the show. Ken and Hugh discuss post apocalyptic fiction, the oldest stories in the world, how America loves and Apocalypses, 70s dystopia, Ken’s wish fulfillment theory, society’s collapse, the evolution of the stories of the unknown, sailing, human stories, fear of God, authoritarianism, fascism, Russ vs Hobbs, rebirth is painful, Dawn of the Dead, blogs, digital journals, how people are the same, how politics actually isn’t as violent as it has been in the past, the theory that sci-fi isn’t a pure genre, the Alien movies, character vs plot, the 80s pre-pocalypse, Nuclear War, the Cold War, Lucifer’s Hammer, Watchmen...
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Podcast #538: Why is anyone still broadcasting in 720p?

720p resolution was a 1990s compromise and they didn’t think we’d ever notice the difference. Here in 2023 it’s really obvious that 720p resolution is much worse than 1080. Listen to this rant then call the experts at Signal Connect at 888-233-7563! 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 Google Podcasts Overcast TuneIn...
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Best of the Blog 2023, Volume 2

The Solid Signal Blog is your resource for thousands of articles and reviews, with new content coming every day. 2023 marks our seventeeth year since our humble beginnings, and today over 250,000 people read the blog every month. Every month, the staff gets together and gathers articles that really seem like they have long-term appeal. Here’s the list for February, 2023: Do you need to plug the DVR into the red port on the splitter? (DIRECTV) Here’s why I’m not worried about ChatGPT (yet.) Did you know that KING sells…? How many things can you plug into one USB port? What is LEO Satellite Internet? UPDATED: Can you use an H44 receiver with a round dish or RV dish? Which is better, mounting to a wall or mounting to the roof? Do you...
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NICE AND EASY: How to run a “check switch” on your DISH receiver

Cards on the table here: DISH equipment is pretty reliable. You hardly have to do anything to maintain it. That’s a pretty impressive thing to say about a device as powerful as most computers that spends its entire life in a dusty, stuffy cabinet. But, occasionally, you do need to do a little maintenance. If you’re changing equipment, it’s usually detected automatically. Sometimes… it isn’t. And so DISH has a little procedure they call “check switch” which will force the receiver to confirm that its setup is what it should be. Generally you’ll have to do this if you’re going to a new location. Most people don’t do this a lot but if you’re in an RV, you may be doing it a lot. It’s not hard to do at all, but you have to know how. Newer...
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Should channel blackouts be illegal?

As I write this article, DIRECTV is currently feuding with Nexstar Media Group. The contract between the two has expired, and just like the last two times, they failed to come to any sort of meaningful agreement. This means that Nexstar has the right to ask DIRECTV to take down programming from Nexstar-owned stations. It’s likely that the dispute will last all summer, as it has in the past. But is that even legal? If it is, should it be? Who is Nexstar, anyway? This article isn’t really about Nexstar, but let’s take a minute and explain how companies like Nexstar control a lot more than you think they do. There was a time when no company was legally allowed to own more than five TV stations, period. It was thought that if you had big...
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