A customer recently called us with this question, and it seemed like a good idea for a blog post. I could make it a pretty short one, but I thought it would also be good to explain why the answer is the way it is.
Simple answer: no.
DIRECTV does not have a system like DISH’s Auto Hop or Xfinity’s Commercial Skip. You can skip forward 30 seconds at a time instantly, and since your average commercial break is 3 minutes, pushing the skip button 6 times is pretty easy.
To enable instant 30-second skip:
Press the BLUE button on older remotes or the DASH button on Genie/H26K remotes to enter search.
Enter the code 30SKIP and press SELECT.
Press EXIT to go back to live TV.
It’s that simple. Now, the SKIP button on DIRECTV remotes will...
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Unfortunately, we at Solid Signal sometimes get calls from customers who have lost satellite signal. Because we’re the largest mobile and marine satellite dealer, we get a lot of calls from folks who had service when they left in the morning and don’t have service now. What’s the problem here?
It’s called “line of sight”
The term “line of sight” means the direct line between you and the thing you’re trying to receive signal from. It doesn’t mean you can actually see the thing. Even if you have great eyesight you won’t be able to see a satellite 22,000 miles away. But, you can receive signals from it, miraculously. I think that’s amazing, really.
How do you know if you have line-of-sight?
This is generally pretty easy, because you...
Frustrated with dropped calls and sluggish data? Signal strength might be the culprit! This guide dives into using the Wilson Pro 5G Network Scanner, a powerful tool that goes beyond basic bars. It measures signal strength in detail, including 5G, to help you identify and optimise your cellular reception. Learn how to unlock the secrets of your mobile network and finally experience reliable connections. This blog post will delve into using the Wilson Pro 5G Network Scanner to measure signal strength and uncover valuable insights about your cellular environment. Whether you’re experiencing dropped calls or slow data speeds, this tool can be your secret weapon for optimising your mobile experience.
1: Introduction to 5G Technology
The...
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!
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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...
The post NEW Wireless Weather Station: 15% OFF appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
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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...
A good RV can cost as much as a small house. That’s why I understand why some folks wouldn’t want to go crazy with a drill when mounting electronics. On the other hand, RV mechanics and installers aren’t cheap either. That’s why you might think about doing it all yourself. What if there were a way to do everything you wanted but without having to drill holes?
Cell boosters and satellite TV just make sense for RVs
It’s great to have an RV because you get all the comforts of home. You don’t have to worry about someone else’s kitchen, someone else’s bed, or even someone else’s bathroom. But, there’s one thing missing: entertainment. If you think that the kids are going to be content playing slug bug on those long trips, it’s time to...
Somewhere in your DIRECTV setup is a device that connects to the internet. If you have a Genie DVR, you might connect straight to that using a cable or using Wi-Fi. However, for many people, the internet connection comes from a separate box. That box is called a DECA.
What does a DECA do?
A DECA, or DIRECTV Ethernet Coaxial Adapter, is a simple device that lets your ethernet connection go to your coaxial cable. Once you have a network connection going over that coax, you can share internet connection with all your receivers, DVRs and clients. This makes searches faster and enables interactive features.
If you’ve had your DIRECTV system for a while you probably never thought about the DECA, because it just worked. But if you’ve found...
The Solid Signal Blog is my pride and joy. It’s been going strong since 2007 and for over half that time I’ve personally been shepherding it. A quick check tells me that we just ticked over serving twelve million pageviews to over 9 million unique people. That’s something I’m incredibly humbled to say and I think it is really amazing for something that’s a niche interest. I am sure that certain celebrity-oriented or general-interest sites do that every day. If you think about it though that means that about 20% of the people who have satellite television — one in five — have come here looking for answers. It means that if I stand in a room with any random 200 people, I can probably find someone who’s read this blog (who isn’t me.)...
A few weeks ago, a blog reader reached out to me to ask if there was a grounded power supply for the DECAs that we sell. A DECA, in case you’re not familiar, is a device that bridges the coaxial cable network used by DIRECTV and others with an Ethernet network. It’s a common part of practically every pay-TV system in one way or another.
DIRECTV DECAs get power from the EPS10 power supply. This is DIRECTV’s “go-to” power supply for practically every one of its products. It’s simple and reliable. But, it’s a two-prong power supply. It has no ground lug to it. What if you wanted a grounded power supply?
The answer I gave the reader is simple. DIRECTV doesn’t make a grounded power supply for the DECA but you could absolutely find a...
I got to thinking the other day about the idea of video games that turn into movies and TV shows. It’s no surprise, since I’m finally getting around to watching the Fallout series on Prime Video. But this isn’t really an article about that. That sort of article would be more appropriate for my Streaming Saturday series. I was just thinking about how we got here and how surprising it is — or isn’t — that video games are now fodder for dramatic fare.
Pong: the movie?
Video games in the 20th century were relatively plotless affairs. And honestly, that’s how we liked it. Home video games evolved in tandem with arcade games back then, and it was impossible to get a lot of character development if you had to feed in a quarter every few...
OK, so much for the clickbait headline. You have to do something in order to get Google to notice you sometimes. As they say, don’t blame the player, blame the game.
If you have a satellite television system on your boat, chances are it’s over 5 years old. In some cases it could be much older than that. Satellite TV for marine was incredibly popular in the 2000s and 2010s when there was simply no other entertainment option out there. Today you have internet and cellular options, and of course satellite TV is still in the mix. But, even though your satellite system may have been giving you great service for years, there could still be a silent killer lurking that threatens to take the whole system down just when you can’t deal with it...
Do you have great cell signal at work? Do you have to go outside to take a call? Do your friends or kids tell you they tried to text you and it didn’t go through? Up to 90% of people experience bad cell service every day. Are you one of them?
Cell boosters for business: It’s the next wave
I’ve been talking for years about cellular signal boosters for home. Installing a cell booster at home is one of the easiest and most rewarding projects you can take on. However, putting in a cell booster for business can be a little harder. Why? Businesses are a lot bigger. There are a lot more people. It takes special equipment to handle them.
If you have a very small business you could just put in a consumer cell booster like the weBoost Office...
Parabolic antennas are everywhere. From the tiniest little “ray gun” toy to the massive dishes in the desert, they’re a part of our lives and something we almost couldn’t live without. Yet just like most of our modern world, they didn’t exist 150 years ago.
What is a parabolic antenna?
A parabolic antenna is an antenna where a curved “dish” focuses signal on one point. The drawing above is from the original patent application filed by Heinrich Hertz in 1888. He was just trying to figure out how to get better radio reception in the days when radio was a brand new thing. Of course we know now that you don’t really need this kind of antenna for most radio applications but it sure does come in handy with satellite dishes.
A parabolic...
Rain fade is the term for interruption in your satellite service due to bad weather, whether it’s raining, snowing, or doing something else. The weather in front of your dish is so intense that it just can’t let in the signals.
Is rain fade a real problem? Obviously if you’re experiencing it, it is. But realistically both DIRECTV and DISH have over 99% uptime in the markets they serve, and it’s’rare to see more than a minute or two of rain fade even in the worst weather. If you see consistent rain fade, especially when it’s not raining that hard, something else may be at fault – possibly the dish is out of alignment or there is some corrosion in the cable or its ends.
What can you do about rain fade?
Getting rid of rain fade usually...
Are you having problems with the DIRECTV Guide? Is the receiver acting fishy? Are you getting strange error messages like “721?” Refreshing your receiver can fix a lot of problems. The best part is that you can do it by yourself, day or night, right from the web.
Here’s how you do it
First, go to DIRECTV’s “My Equipment” page. (you must be logged into your directv.com account.)
Click “Refresh Receiver” next to the image of the receiver you want to refresh. If you don’t know which one to choose, you can do all of them but DIRECTV’s system may make you wait a few minutes between each.
Try this up to 3 times for each receiver and give it 5 minutes between each to make sure it works.
If that does not work, confirm that the access card...
Back in early 2013, I published an article saying that Nielsen ratings were going to include streaming. I’m sure they do by now, but I don’t think I wrote a followup article. Here’s why: People stopped paying attention to Nielsen ratings. Not all people, just regular people.
The Nielsen monopoly
The company originally named for its founder. Arthur C. Nielsen, was founded in 1923 and by the 1970s was one of the most powerful media companies on the planet. They exist for a sole purpose: to know what people are watching. The business model was simple: get regular folks to record their viewing habits in paper journals. Then, gather all that information together. Once a quarter, sell it to TV stations who would then know how much to charge...
This week Ken welcomes actor (Alias), writer, producer, and co-host of the “Did You Do It?” podcast, Kevin Weisman.
Ken and Kevin discuss L.A. weather, growing up in the Valley, how filthy with Boston people old L.A. was, the insanity of the man named Griffith, shooting apples off of heads and why it is never a good idea, Equity Waiver plays, the “no more on stage than in the audience” rule, stand up, performing for people who don’t want to see a performance, Edinburgh Festival, Kyle Gass, The New Beverly Theater, Jacob’s Ladder, comedians in serious roles, Tim Robbins, The Actors Gang, Buffalo Knights, Dead Man Walking, Mr. Madonna, the wonders of High Hair, rarely going into L.A. proper, Zuma Beach, Valley Girl, playing drums, John...
Almost every commercial DIRECTV installation needs a trunk amplifier. The right one to choose for today’s needs is the STA-R0-09. No, it doesn’t have a catchy name. But, it’s top-quality and works with all current DIRECTV installs. It’s still possible to get some of the older amplifiers out there but to be really honest I don’t recommend doing it that way. The STA-R0-09 is fairly priced, well-built, and futureproof. It’s also the most powerful amplifier out there, giving a normalized output up to a scorching 0dBm. This should let you easily get 300 feet from amplifier to multiswitch.
The amp itself is dead simple to use. Connect it up and in most cases you will see six green lights indicating that the amp has enough signal to work...
Everyone wants a phone that’s both bigger and smaller. In the last half decade, sadly we’ve seen phones get larger and heavier, after a long period of seeing weights go down even as screen sizes went up. It seems like around 2017 we got to a point where those smaller batteries just couldn’t keep up with those bigger screens. Phone makers have done everything they can to keep thickness and size down. They’ve introduced higher quality batteries with more energy density and integrated frames. It all comes down to saving a millimeter here or there. But, the biggest thing that most manufacturers have done is to take stuff out of phones that they think we won’t miss.
Don’t believe me? Phones used to have headphone jacks. They used to have...
DIRECTV has been working hard to update its new menu system for Genie DVRs and clients. When it launched back in 2017, it wasn’t exactly a hit. After six years, it’s become a comfortable way to work with the DIRECTV DVR system that most people have.
Sorting programs
If you have a long playlist, you’re going to want to sort and filter it. The new menus make it easy to filter, by going to the left side of the playlist. You’ll find built-in filters for movies, TV shows, sports, and kids’ content. But what if you just want a simple list? There used to be several options for that, but now those options have been reduced to two.
Sort by latest (default)
When you pop up the playlist, you’ll see a list of programs with the newest at the...
This list was updated on May 7, 2024
After a delay of several years, DIRECTV is actively removing standard definition local channels from service. They’re doing it to make the most of the capacity they have at their 101 satellite location. With fewer SD channels, this opens up capacity for HD national channels. Since the 101 satellite is more resistant to rain fade, that means more channels that perform more of the time. They’re also doing it so that they can better serve larger accounts like airlines whose systems only work on the 101 satellite.
Is this a problem?
When most people think of standard definition, they think of big boxy tube TVs that they brought to the dump years ago. Since 2009, the US has used a digital standard for...
You probably don’t need me to tell you that Starlink for Marine is here. It’s changing the boating experience. But, it’s not always a 100% replacement for satellite TV. There are a lot of reasons you might want to keep your existing satellite TV service rather than simply replacing it with Starlink. But you probably already made that decision before you found this article through Googling. So let’s get straight to the meat and potatoes, shall we?
Starlink uses the same frequency ranges as DIRECTV Satellite
In the US, all consumer satellite communication takes place within two frequency ranges. The Ku band of 12-18GHz is used most commonly, but the Ka band of 26-40GHz is also getting more common because there’s a lot more unused...
After 15 years, there’s finally a solution that lets you watch real over-the-air television in your RV without tying up your internet connection. Listen to The Solid Signal Podcast to learn more, and then shop for the item you need here. When you want excellent customer service, call us 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...
The world of marine satellite TV is an interesting one. Even though most equipment used on boats is the same as what’s used on land, often times the installations are very different. Marine installations combine the challenges of a large commercial building with the challenges of fitting everything you need into a tiny space. It’s meant that marine installs are often a little behind in technology, and some of the challenges we saw in the 2010s in commercial installs are just coming to the marine world.
How marine installs are different
The biggest difference between a marine satellite TV install and a traditional commercial install is obviously the satellite dish itself. Boats and even oil rigs need satellite antennas that auto-aim...
For whatever reason, I find myself spending a lot of time on reddit. I avoided the site for years because it can be a pretty rude place if you’re guilty of some minor crime like not reading a 500 page wiki from top to bottom or if you post a picture of yourself for any reason. But, you take it for what it is, and if you can stay away from a lot of the really despicable places, it can be pretty entertaining.
One of the things I occasionally find myself looking it is the way other companies treat their customers. I don’t want to get sued so I’m not going to name names. But I will tell you that some of the largest sellers in the world have whole subreddits full of people complaining about the service they got.
You have to be aware that...
Our tech support department recently got a question from a customer who was very worried about the DATBOSS LR MIX antenna they’d bought from us. They asked us,
If you take a look at this photo, you can see what they mean:
If you look closely, you’ll see that the top and bottom braces of this antenna connect straight to the mast. This is fairly unique to the Televes LR series of antennas, and it’s needed because the antenna is simply so big and relatively heavy. But is that a problem?
Quick answer: no. Here’s why
Believe it or not, the only part of that giant antenna that’s attached to the antenna cable is the bit of metal protruding from the orange plastic. Here’s a photo – I colored the actual receiving element blue to make it...
The post Tap into the NEW TV Signal: ATSC 3.0 appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
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I know I have talked about the skin effect several times on this blog and yet I never did a whole article about it. It’s time to fix that. But before I even start, I have to cut through some confusion. There are two uses of the term “skin effect” and I’m only going to talk about one of them.
The skin effect and AC cables
The term “skin effect” is used when wiring homes for alternating current. It describes AC’s tendency to move away from the core of the wire toward the outside. This increases the effective resistance of the wire, and can lead to problems if you don’t account for it in your wiring. However, that’s not what we’re talking about here. The very same term, “skin effect,” is used in the world of RF wiring and it has a...
The biggest change in DISH’s technology happened with the rollout of the Hopper 3 several years ago. DISH rolled out a new LNB series called “Hybrid” to make it easy for the 16-tuner Hopper 3 to get what it needs. Traditionally DISH technology used one wire per recording tuner, and that tech was flexible enough to handle the 5 tuners required by the older Hopper DVRs. However, the need for 16 tuners in 1 box changed everything. Hybrid LNBs take care of the problem and also make it easier for Hopper to distribute programming to the Joeys. Hybrid LNBs are a little different in the way they work, but different isn’t necessarily bad.
Making this simple
The only DISH product that flat out completely needs the Hybrid system is the Hopper 3...
You might have heard of “hardlines.” If you have it’s very likely to be from an action movie, believe it or not. You’ll see a sequence like this:
and you’ll think to yourself, “Hardlines? What’s that?”
Even if you’re a hardcore home theater geek you could be forgiven for not having heard of hardline cable. In fact, it’s something that mostly exists in action movies. It’s sort of like how every time you see someone get off their cell phone in a movie, you hear a touch-tone as they hang up. Phones don’t do that anymore except in the movies.
And that’s the point. Hardlines don’t exist anymore, except in the movies and a few other places.
When copper was king
Until the 1990s most signals were transferred from place to place using...
There’s been a lot of interest lately in retro gaming. I don’t know if it’s just because people are getting older and gaming was part of their youth. Hard to know why, but it seems like you’re hearing about retro gaming from a lot of different places. Several legitimate manufacturers are putting out licensed consoles that play old games. Some, like the recently released “Atari 2600+,” look like the old consoles they emulate. The difference is that they have modern connections and work with today’s TVs.
There are also quite a few consoles and handhelds available from online stores that fall into a different category. These devices boast 10,000 games or more from a dozen or so different systems, and can generally be found for under $100...
Friends, I had this space reserved for my review of Rebel Moon Part 2. But, for the life of me, I can’t bring myself to watch it. The reviews have been scathing, although they imply that part 2 is still better than part 1. I’ll say that’s a pretty low bar since part 1 really seemed like a Star Wars fan film with a huge budget. If you haven’t seen it, I’d say you shouldn’t. I have honestly been kinder to part 1 than most critics. I mostly say I was bored by it, while others actively disliked it.
The role of the film critic
In generations past, critics themselves were stars. Whether you preferred the erudite Pauline Kael or the populist Roger Ebert, film critics were the late-70s version of influencers. Treated to early screenings, they...
The medical sector is growing faster than practically any other industry, and it’s not expected to stop. There are more seniors now than at any time in history, and that puts a lot of strain on understaffed doctors’ offices. And of course, we all remember how quickly some sort of new “bug” can come out of the blue. There’s no question that the demand for quality medical treatment is growing faster than the industry can keep up.
What does that mean to the average person? Unfortunately it means longer waits in the waiting room, for one. It means longer waits throughout the process. And let’s be honest here… it means unhappy patients. No one wants to be in a doctor’s office, and when we go to one it’s generally because we’re already...
Do you remember the first time you heard the word “meme?” The word itself comes from some serious research in the 1970s. In the book The Selfish Gene, author Richard Dawkins used the term to describe a fundamental building block of philosophy and culture that transferred from person to person.
The idea of a meme became a meme in and of itself in the 1990s when the science of “memetics” was proposed to explain how ideas transferred from person to person. Why did some ideas take root? Were some ideas inherently more interesting? How was society affected by them? These were serious questions.
And then came Hampsterdance.
Wikipedia says the Hampster Dance web site was created in 1998 and started to take off in 1999. It was nothing but a...
Controlling the TV volume is something basic that every remote should be able to do. The folks at DIRECTV agree, and that’s why their remotes have always had that capability. It’s something that is generally set up when you get the receiver, but if you have a new remote or a new TV, you might need to do it again. It’s easy, and this tutorial is going to take you through the steps.
All DIRECTV boxes will prompt you on screen to program the remote if the volume control isn’t programmed. If that happens, just follow the instructions you see on screen.
Note: You might have to reset the remote first
If you are changing TVs or sound equipment, you might need to unpair or reset the remote before programming it. It’s best to try programming...
Ah, the model year tango. We’re used to it with cars. We’ve seen it with TVs and other appliances. Cell phones — seems like we’re permanently wedded to it. What am I talking about? Every year it seems like there is some awesome new feature, something that’s going to make the thing you have seem like complete rubbish. You just can’t wait to get the new thing, and if you bought the old thing at the wrong time, you’re stuck with it. In the meantime you’re looking jealously at everyone else. This happens all the time.
Next year’s antennas?
Should you worry that the 2025 antennas will wipe the floor with the 2024 models? New antennas come out all the time. It could happen. But I’m here to tell you, it probably won’t. There will be some new...
By now, if you’re a DIRECTV fan, you’ve heard the term “SWM.” Most people pronounce it “swim” and have since its release in 2009. It’s a technology that DIRECTV uses to allow for one wire to carry all DIRECTV information. This makes installations a lot easier. But the last couple of years you might have also heard the term “DSWM” pronounced “d-swim.” Is this the same thing as “DIRECTV SWM?” Well yes and no, and in order to understand the difference, you have to get some backstory.
Disclaimer: DIRECTV’s SWM technology is so proprietary that there isn’t a lot of good information on how it actually works. I got a lot of this from my training as a D2 certified technician, but there could still be errors based on the way the information was...
