The Solid Signal Blog

Stuart Sweet · May 25, 2023

Thanks to the eagle-eyed folks at SatelliteGuys.US who noticed this before I did. The deal is done. Commercial customers who want NFL Sunday Ticket will be able to get it through DIRECTV as they always have. According to the press release available at DIRECTV.com, the company has reached an agreement with EverPass Media, holders of commercial rights for NFL Sunday Ticket, which will keep the package on Satellite TV for years to come. Owners of bars and restaurants can now breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the quality television service they’ve enjoyed for over 20 years will continue. A lot of establishments count on live sports to bring customers in and keep them in their seats. Your typical sports bar more or less makes it their...

Stuart Sweet · May 26, 2023

Satellite TV may not be the hot new tech, but it still gives great value. When you look at what you get, it’s a much better value than a bunch of streaming apps. In fact, DIRECTV offers crystal-clear high-definition and 4K pictures and Dolby Digital sound. Yet there are people who are afraid to upgrade, or once they do they just watch the standard definition version of a channel anyway. But Why? There are people who will swear that they need standard definition channels because they are more resistant to rain fade. That’s kinda true, but mostly not true. Standard definition signals come from the satellite at a lower frequency (referred to as the Ku band) and those Ku band frequencies do a better job penetrating the clouds than the...

Stuart Sweet · May 26, 2023

Occasionally I will do something really geeky like look back at my browser history for no reason. When I do, I sometimes find things I’ve read that I enjoyed. Generally I’ve completely forgotten about them. Here’s one such case. While looking through the history, I ran into this article. It used to over at Paleofuture, where I used to like to hang out on Fridays instead of doing work. Gizmodo sort of took over that site at one point I guess. At any rate, the article claims that one of the weird and wonderful inventions of the 1930s was essentially a one-eye VR headset. Because the article is lacking pictures it must have had at one point, I had to go looking. This ended up being an hourlong rabbit hole while I should have been...

Stuart Sweet · May 25, 2023

Signal Connect does more RV satellite activations than anyone else in the world. When you do them all day long, you get all sorts of requests. Some people want a tailgate setup, others want a system that works while you’re moving. Some what the ultimate experience while others are content just to watch something on a small screen. No matter how you enjoy your own RV, it’s always going to be the right way. This time I want to talk to people who want killer sound from their RV satellite system. It’s possible, of course, but only if you have the right equipment. This is the right equipment DISH offers a manufacturer-approved way to get great sound from your Wally receiver. Check out this DISH Wireless Audio Bluetooth USB Adapter for...

Stuart Sweet · May 25, 2023

Everyone loves to talk about Starlink. I’ll be honest with you, it seems like really cool technology. It’s certainly going through some growing pains, though, and that means I still can’t recommend it to the majority of our marine customers. Why? Take a look at this information (data gathered May 8, 2023 and may not be accurate when you read this: Cost of marine equipment (before installation) $2,500 Lowest priced internet plan: $220/month Neither of those numbers accounts for installation, weatherproofing, the cost of an empty dome to make the Starlink equipment look like it belongs there, and that’s really not the biggest problem. Here’s the biggest problem. You might end up spending that same amount next year. Starlink is an...

Stuart Sweet · May 25, 2023

I’ll admit that by 2018 I was pretty much done with picture-in-picture. That’s why I wrote this article, probably one of the more passive-aggressive ones on this blog. It’s worth a read now that you know that, because you’ll detect the buried rage at having to answer questions about PIP for the three people in the world who seemed to care about it. Oops, there I go getting passive-aggressive again. The promise of PIP Picture-in-picture debuted in a lot of TV sets in the early ’10s as manufacturers tried to get people to replace their 3-4 year old flatscreens. TV makers had gotten very rich very quickly thanks to new technology that everyone wanted, and PIP was one of the things they hoped to use to entice people to keep buying. They...

Stuart Sweet · May 25, 2023

Phones today are more expensive than ever. Apple and Samsung’s top-line offers are well over $1,500. That’s a record, unless you count the luxury offerings from Vertu, which are tarted-up Androids with luxury materials that can top $20,000. I don’t count them because they are not mainstream products and never will be. So, if you close your eyes and think about the that superphone you’ve bought, sooner or later you’ll hear the voice of a parent or grandparent saying “so, is it any better at making calls?” Here’s the tough pill to swallow: it probably isn’t. Superpowered phones are actually probably worse at making calls than a 1990s flip phone. Why? First of all older phones had pull-out antennas or big external antennas that did a...

Stuart Sweet · May 24, 2023

This one goes out to those relatively few people who don’t like the new Gemini remote. I get it, folks, it’s a new thing. And maybe it’s not your cup of tea. If you’ve been using an older DIRECTV remote or a universal remote for a long time, you’re comfortable with it. But, there are some things you’ll need to be aware of. 1. You’ll need to use the remote in IR mode. Universal remotes and the older DIRECTV remotes can communicate with the Gemini in IR mode only. They’re not compatible with the Gemini’s Bluetooth technology. That means you may have to point the remote a little more carefully. If you have an existing remote, you may need to reset it so it uses infrared, not RF. Here’s a tutorial to help you do that. 2. Some of the...

Stuart Sweet · May 24, 2023

Don’t take your Genie DVR on the road, unless you have a dish that can work with it. Most mobile and marine dishes mimic the round DIRECTV dish seen on homes in the 1990s, not the Slimline style seen today. Genies just won’t work with that style dish unfortunately. Here’s the issue Several years ago, DIRECTV changed their installation screens so that you couldn’t select the 18″ round dish when setting up a Genie DVR. They did it as part of an overall upgrade that allows Genie DVRs to detect and set their dish types automatically, and to cut down on customer service calls. Since the round dish can only get standard definition programming anyway (with a very small number of exceptions) it didn’t seem like a good fit for the Genie...

Stuart Sweet · May 24, 2023

Here’s the kind of problem that I hope to have some day. I hope to have a boat so big that I need to worry that one cell booster isn’t going to cover it. It sounds like the stuff that dreams are made of, right? But the struggle is real, and I’ve been asked this very question multiple times. In order to understand the answer, you need a little background. Why boats have bad cell reception It is, in fact, a myth that boats have bad cell reception. Cell reception on the water is much better than it is on land. Where you need to be 1.5-2 miles from a cell tower on land, you can often be as much as 10 miles away from a tower if you’re on the water. It comes down to all that open space between you and the towers. The signal isn’t being...

Stuart Sweet · May 24, 2023

February 15-21, 2003 This week Ken welcomes comedian and man behind the solo show “Solo: A Show about Friendship”, Gabe Mollica. Ken and Gabe discuss what they would be talking about anyway, not being comedians talking about comedy, how Edinburgh ruined Gabe’s life but he has to go back, long form stand up, growing up on Long Island, ridding yourself of your regional accent, Ken’s all time favorite stand up special Johnny Vegas; Who’s Ready for Ice Cream, John Cleese, performing for nobody, celebrating a 100th/200th/300th episode, The Simpsons, syndication, home town people never leaving, Long Beach NY, bad UK pizza, missing cannolis, corner Sicilians, what you’d watch as a kid vs what you’d watch now, Nickelodeon All That, The...

Stuart Sweet · May 23, 2023

“Max”, the latest iteration of the streaming HBO concept, launched today. This is a “hot take.” The good news: it seems to work The app didn’t crash on me. It didn’t make me log in again, or authenticate. I thought it was supposed to auto-update, but it didn’t. I was able to play something. So the app does get high marks for the basics. But, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be able to say much else good about it. The bad news First things first. I get my Max subscription as an HBO subscriber through DIRECTV. This is my personal experience. Yours may differ. In fact I hope it does. And further, I hope this is all just some bug, some teething pain that will get sorted out in the next few days. But something tells me it’s not. Problem...

Stuart Sweet · May 22, 2023

If you’re looking for portable satellite dishes, you’ve probably seen a lot of options. You can get ones that look like regular satellite dishes, but they’re on a tripod. Then there are large ones that permanently mount on a vehicle. Somewhere in the middle, there are portable self-aiming ones like the KING Tailgater Pro. There’s no doubt it’s the coolest looking one, on account of its transparent radome. Watching all that stuff work is kind of neat. But when it comes down to it, what makes this system so special? Let me run it down for you. It does everything you want This system delivers high definition TV to your RV or truck when paired with a Wally receiver from DISH. That’s what you want, right? That’s its whole purpose. It...

Stuart Sweet · May 23, 2023

One of the things I like most about DIRECTV’s Gemini isn’t what it “is,” it’s what it “isn’t.” It’s not a DIRECTV receiver, even though it acts like one. It’s technically not a Genie client either, even though it does all the same things. It’s a streaming box that runs an app called “Gemini.” That app acts just like a DIRECTV receiver or client, so much so that you think you’re using the real thing. Not only that, it’s faster than any DIRECTV receiver or client even though it’s pretending to be something it’s not. However, this does mean that there have been some changes. This article goes through the differences that are baked into the new remote. One of the things that’s mentioned there is that you can use the right arrow button...

Stuart Sweet · May 23, 2023

The news of the week is that cable companies are giving up on providing local TV service at all. Is this a sign that cable TV is dying? Or is it just a sign that there’s too much greed out there? Listen then shop at Solid Signal - Signal Solutions including HDTV Antennas, DIRECTV and DISH Network satellite equipment and home entertainment supplies and accessories for everything you need. 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...

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The Solid Signal Blog

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Breaking: Businesses continue to get NFL Sunday Ticket through DIRECTV

Why would you ever intentionally choose to watch standard definition?

FUN FRIDAY: Television Monocle… The 1930’s VR headset?

Theater quality sound… in your RV!

Don’t pay too much for internet on your boat

THROWBACK THURSDAY: When picture-in-picture was still (almost) a thing

Does an expensive phone mean you’ll get better cell service?

IMPORTANT INFO for Gemini users with universal remotes

REMINDER: You can’t use a Genie with a round dish (or portable dish)

Can you have multiple cell phone boosters on a boat?

Ken Reid and Gabe Mollica

EDIT: Apple TV “Max” users: You just lost 4K streaming on Max. Thanks, Zaslav.

What makes the KING Tailgater Pro so special?

Can you skip forward 30 seconds with the Gemini? Can you use 30SKIP?

Podcast #529: Cable companies giving up for good? Could it be?

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