Wireless charging isn’t new… despite what Apple wants to tell you. If you’re an Android user you probably already have a phone that does it. If you’ve been to Starbucks, you may have already used it since many of their stores have wireless chargers built into the tables. In fact, wireless charging hit the streets back in 2010 (and take a look at the slightly embarrassing video we did back then!) but it took several years before it was actually built into the phones themselves. Now that it’s here… should you use it?
No matter what, wireless charging is slow.
Apple’s phones will charge really slowly because they use an older version of the Qi standard that passes only 7.5 watts to the phone. Samsung and others use the new standard that...
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The post Save $50 on Vehicle Cell Signal Boosters appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
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Everyone’s talking about Starlink these days. I get it. It’s cool and exciting. Why wouldn’t you want to be able to stream at high speed from anywhere? But there’s some stuff they won’t tell you. I’ll tell you though, although I don’t think you’ll like it.
Starlink is more expensive than you think
Starlink advertises itself as costing about $150 a month. Now, that’s probably more than you’re paying for home internet already. (By the way, if you’re paying more than $50 a month for high-speed internet, you need to check this out.) If you’re in a really rural area, though, you might consider that to be a bargain since you probably can’t get high speed at any price.
They don’t tell you that the $150 plan probably won’t keep you happy for...
If you have a Blackmagic camera, you owe it to yourself to update it. You can download the latest camera software here. You’ll find the Blackmagic Camera Software as one of the downloads. It may not be at the top of the list depending on when you read this. But it’s worth the time and effort to do it.
Really? Now my camera needs an update?
I’ll be really honest with you, friends. I didn’t want to believe it either. After all, we surround ourselves with things that need updates. Two decades ago you would buy something and then it would just work as intended, for the entire time you get it. Now, if it has a plug it probably has an update every few months. It’s to the point where I have a laptop I just take out once a month to keep it...
With the advent of the digital age, smart healthcare services founded on the next wave of information technologies have become increasingly essential in improving resident health quality. Using a two-way fixed effects model, this research experimentally investigated the influence of regional smart healthcare services on local health and the underlying mechanism. There has been a surge in scholarly interest in healthcare service innovation in recent years. Superior healthcare services can lay the groundwork for national prosperity and social stability. However, the current conventional healthcare service system is naturally hampered by spatial limitations and unequal division of healthcare resources, rendering it impotent to react to...
ViaSat-3 is designed to expect the unexpected when it comes to bandwidth flexibility
Reprinted with permission from the Viasat blog.
What is ViaSat-3
With the successful launch of ViaSat-3 Americas, ViaSat-3 is expected to be nimble enough to move bandwidth to where it’s needed most.
With two more satellites expected to round out the full ViaSat-3 constellation, it is important to look back on how far we have come, starting with ViaSat-1.
Before ViaSat-1 came on the scene, communications satellites had low bandwidth capacity and were not really designed to scale to meet consumer, business, and government needs.
Viasat saw an opportunity to push the industry forward by maximizing existing technology to create ViaSat-1, then...
Marina owners should always look for ways to make their business more attractive to boaters and boat owners. While it seems that a lot goes into operating a thriving marina, your success comes down to two things: services and amenities. Does your business offer the best of both? You’ll know it when you do because your guests will keep coming back. To help you operate the best marina you can, Signal Connect lists the top marina services and amenities for freshwater and saltwater businesses. We also offer help in a few key areas of marina services. Check it out!
The Best Marina Services
As you know, marina services describes what you have to offer your guests and their vessels. Fuel isn’t the only thing these boats and boat...
It has been a fairly long time since I had anything positive to report about the streaming world. I hate to be Mr. Pessimism folks, I really do. But I call them as I see them. I think streaming video started with such promise, but the economics really never made sense. The whole streaming world was built on the idea that if you get enough subscribers, then it doesn’t matter if you lose money on each one. Sooner or later that whole thing was going to fall in on itself, and let’s be honest: it has. Prices are jumping up by double digits, content is being cut, and profits are still way down.
Except for Amazon. Amazon doesn’t report profits from Prime Video, because it’s a free service essentially. It’s a benefit of subscribing to Prime...
Reprinted with permission from the weBoost blog.
5G technology is a game-changer not only for individual users but also for the American economy. Current data estimates from the American Consumer Institute expect 5G to generate up to $1.5 trillion in additional gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025, creating 4.6 million new jobs during that timeframe.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce expects small busiensses to be among the biggest beneficiaries of 5G’s improved connectivity and data capabilities, enabling them to tap into cloud computing, more robust online presence, and better operational efficiency.
A survey conducted by Verizon found that 96% of small and medium-sized business owners believe 5G will have a positive impact on their...
Because marketing that’s why.
Before I get any further into this article, let me explain something. There’s no law in the US that defines what “3G,” “4G,” or “5G” even mean. There’s no law stopping you from advertising a cell phone that gets 100G if you wanted to. The only law that really governs any of this stuff is the law that says you have to deliver what you promise to deliver. There’s nothing about misleading names. Got it? Let’s dive into what’s really going on then.
What is a “G” anyway?
The first cellular network in this country was built in the 1970s. Before that point, there were phones you could put in your car, but they were really just two-way radios. You’d contact a mobile operator who would place the call for you. The...
Marketing is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? It’s the art of giving you just enough information to make the wrong impression. There are marketers out there who willingly trade on what you think you know to make you buy something they don’t even understand.
Take the curious case of megabits, megabytes, and mebibytes. Mebibytes you say? What the frack is a mebibyte? Most people haven’t heard of them so don’t feel bad. Here’s a way you can amaze your friends at the same time turn off telemarketers.
Let’s start with the basics.
At the heart of it all is the bit. Bit is supposed to stand for “binary digit” but you know that’s made up — you know that the funny-cigarette-smoking computer guys in the 60s just came up with a food-oriented...
If you’re looking for proof that the internet has pretty much everything you’ll ever look for… here it is.
I was thinking today about the Marantz PMD 420. I happened to use this particular device at a job back in the 1980s and I remember it with great affection. At the time, Marantz was not a well known brand, but they made some of the toughest audio products out there. The sound was pretty good as well, as good as you were going to get from cassette tape.
The 420 was one of several devices from Marantz that were built on the same chassis. The 420 was near the top of the line, with stereo recording and every adjustment you could possibly want. For a portable device, it didn’t skimp. It had backlighting that you could turn off if you...
Back in 2013, we put up a video showing our office staff in action. At that time we were evaluating a little turntable and app designed to do time-lapse videos and this seemed like a good way to put it through its paces.
It’s fun to look at this video now. A lot of the staff are still with us but back in 2017 we moved into a new location that’s about four times the size. You can see even in 2013 that we were busting at the seams and believe me the crowding only got worse from there.
The video is also a reminder that the internet keeps everything forever. Sure, I could delist that video. I could take it down but chances are it’s cached somewhere. So, friends, be careful what you post. We’re proud of what we looked like five years ago...
Looking back, the last time I nagged you about grounding was back in October 2022. So that’s on me. I try to mention it at least once a quarter because it’s so important. Here we are in June and I’m just getting around to it. But hey, the warm weather is here so you have no excuse to wait any longer.
Why you should ground your outdoor equipment
The principle of grounding has been with us for a bit over 300 years, ever since the experiments that proved that lightning and electricity are the same thing. At that time it was proven that if you gave lightning an attractive place to strike, it would. And, if you took that attractive place and ran a wire down to the ground, the electricity would travel down that wire and dissipate...
I was inspired to write this article by two things.
The first was a random factoid that caught my attention. Back in the early days of television, I Love Lucy would commonly score a 40 rating. What that means is that 40% of all the humans in the country, whether or not they even owned a TV, were watching that show as it aired live. And this was the run-of-the-mill rating, not like a special event or something. Today, it’s very uncommon for any broadcast TV show to get more than a 3 rating. That’s a huge difference.
The second was this article at CordCutters News. It confirms that trend by pointing out that even if you look at a network-by-network basis the numbers are just appalling. And that’s what led to the headline of this...
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 December, 2022:
FROM OUR CUSTOMERS: How can you get Channel 2 with a UHF antenna?
Off topic: The history of Breakout, and why I owe Larry Leppert an apology
Which Solid Signal Rover Duo should you choose?
NICE AND EASY: Can you take your antenna with you when you travel?
What is an anechoic chamber?
What accessories are available for the Solid Signal Rover Duo?
The right replacement...
When someone asked me this question, my first thought was all the way back to that 1980s sitcom, Perfect Strangers. You know, the one where the catchphrase was “don’t be ridiculous.” But the more I thought about it, I came to a surprising conclusion.
Chances are, a cell booster will help your GPS. At least the GPS you’re likely to actually use.
GPS is…
The Global Positioning System is one of those things we rarely think about but it’s an incredible invention. A constellation of satellites all over the world have only one purpose. (Well, one purpose we know of. There are probably military things going on.) Their purpose is to broadcast out the time in precise increments. That’s all they do.
On the ground, a GPS receiver listens to...
Marine electronics installers, we have to talk to you about the serious issue of fraud and misclassification associated with satellite TV installations!
Have you ever heard of anyone getting into trouble for misclassification or fraud associated with marine satellite TV use? It actually happens quite a bit. Since DIRECTV became part of the AT&T family, the corporation’s team of lawyers is focused upon issues of compliance. This means they’re going after people who violate the DIRECTV’s installation agreements. This is why it’s so important for marine electronics installers to make sure your accounts are properly classified. Since this can be a tricky issue, we’ve taken the time to explain a few things for the benefit of marine...
January 29 – February 4, 2000
This week Ken welcomes fantastic fellow New England Comedian Connor McGrath (GET HIS NEW ALBUM! “KIND, BEARDED, WEIRD” OUT NOW!) to the show.
Ken and Connor discuss Vacationland, Maine, growing up in Portland, The Fine Arts “Adult Theater”/Rock Club, Chyna, Pro Wrestling, human garbage Triple H, the awful sack of pus that is Vince McMahon, Wrestlemania, The Dark Ages of American Culture (Nu Metal, Monster Energy Drinks, etc), Mankind, Mick Foley, The Rock, The Decade of Jeers, why Lemmy from Motorhead was a bad guy, celebrities being injured on film, the age of Divorce, Jerry Seinfeld creepily dating a high schooler, Pat Buchanan, Pets dot com, the dot com boom, Super Bowl Ads, Blast from the Past...
There’s nothing so incredibly sexy about enclosures. Or at least that’s probably what you’re thinking. But I want to tell you about Altelix enclosures. They’re one of our biggest sellers at Solid Signal, and there’s a reason: Altelix enclosures are that good.
What’s the big deal about enclosures?
An enclosure is, at its heart, a box. That’s all it is. But it’s a special kind of box, customized for what you need. And if you didn’t have such a box, most of modern life would just stop working. Because, there are two facts about our modern world that conflict with each other, and an enclosure is the way to reconcile them.
Fact 1: Electronics work best in very specific situations.
Today’s modern world is made possible by computer chips...
Here’s another questions that comes from you, our satellite-loving public. A YouTuber who saw my review video for the Gemini asked if they could take it with them on a trip to Canada. At least that’s what they were asking, although I think the real question was a little different. Why? Let’s take a deeper dive
Can you use DIRECTV at all in Canada?
The official answer is “no, you are not allowed to.” The DIRECTV satellite service is only available to US customers. You must have a valid US address to even activate the service. Canada has its own satellite providers and has not certified any US DIRECTV equipment for use in Canada.
But let’s say you were within 50 miles of the US border, as a lot of Canadians are. Let’s say you somehow...
Take a look at the image above. If you have an RV or boat, or even if you have a friend that does, it’s probably a familiar sight. You find these things all over the place on RVs and boats. Some boats even have three or four of them attached. But here’s a silly question, what is it called?
I mean, if you listen to different people talk about marine satellite dishes, you’ll hear a lot of confusing words. You might hear the system pictured above described as a dome, an antenna, or a dish. What’s the right way to talk about it?
Is it a dome?
While some people will call this thing a dome, that’s only about half true. The “dome” is the white gumdrop-shaped outer shell of this system. To be very specific, it’s a “radome,” which is a sort...
More signal is better signal, right? For those of us who grew up in a world filled with analog signals, that’s definitely true. But satellite TV is digital. Does that still hold up? It’s an important question to ask if you’re dissatisfied with the picture quality that you’re seeing. It’s really a pretty complex question and there’s a lot to discuss before I can really give you a yes or no answer.
What is picture quality, anyway?
With digital signals, picture quality can be a little hard to explain? Why? Because there’s no one single measure. A high-definition picture can be 1920×1080 or 1280×720, and right there you can see that there are two different quality levels. But that’s just scratching the surface. The best way to measure...
DIRECTV’s latest move just might be sheer genius. Want to find out more? Listen, then call 888-233-7563 to sign up for DIRECTV for Business.
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.
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Option 3: Download the podcast in MP3 format.
Option 4: Paste the...
The new DIRECTV Gemini is here, and it’s creating a lot of buzz. That makes sense, because it’s a first for DIRECTV. It’s one box that gives you live satellite TV and apps all at once. There’s one remote, no changing inputs, and everything just works great. But, even though it’s so new, people are asking questions as if it’s been on the market for a while. I get it folks, you’re planning ahead. Makes sense to me.
This is the right power supply.
Like pretty much every receiver and Genie client made in the last decade, the Gemini uses the venerable EPS10 power supply. You can get one now at Solid Signal. This one adapter has been in use since the H25 came out in 2011. In that time, it’s been redesigned to be a little smaller, but the...
So, let’s say you’ve tried out over-the-air antenna TV and you’re hooked. I don’t blame you. In most cities, there are over 100 different programs you can get live. You can get them all no matter the weather, and they don’t cut out because the internet gets congested. But I don’t need to tell you that. You’ve already figured it out.
The only thing you can’t figure out is how to get really good reception, when your property is surrounded by trees. The answer is: get an antenna tower.
Yeah, I know.
You never imagined yourself as the sort of person who would spend thousands of dollars on an antenna tower just so you could stop paying the cable company hundreds of dollars a month. But really the return on investment is pretty quick once...
Solid Signal is closed today but of course our online ordering is still open. Our shipping and fulfillment centers, as well as our customer service department, are all closed for the day so our team members can spend time with their families. (That, and our shipping partners are closed too.)
A time to remember
Memorial Day is a time to remember that freedom isn’t free, that our way of life didn’t just happen. Real people — people who may only be as old as your kids or grandkids — went to faraway lands and did tons of things they didn’t want to do so that here at home we are free to play games on our phones. Someone actually died for that.
Personally, I’m lucky enough that none of my direct relatives died in war that I know of, and I...
The post Finally, an Electric Screwdriver for Small Meticulous Jobs appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
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The receiver you see above you is KVH’s M10 marine receiver. Take a good look at it, and if it doesn’t look familiar to you, thank your lucky stars. If it does, it’s time to say goodbye.
The story of the M10
Satellite television for mobile and marine was pretty new in 2005 when this receiver was created. In many ways, it was still the “wild wild west” of mobile satellite. Different companies were trying new things, figuring out what worked and what didn’t.
Then, as now, most satellite systems used a separate antenna control unit that did the work of controlling the dish. This is the way that practically every mobile satellite antenna has worked since. (The exceptions, like KING’s satellite systems, have the antenna control hardware...
in the big picture, there are two kinds of DIRECTV customers: residential and commercial. Which are you? Sometimes it’s hard to know for sure. After all the equipment all looks the same and acts the same. The prices for the programming are about the same. So does it really matter?
Here’s why it really does matter
Commercial customers and residential customers are different, not because DIRECTV wants them to be, but because they have no choice. It comes down to copyright. We’ve all seen that slide at one point or another that says something like, “The broadcast is the property of the National Football League and is licensed for private use only.” Or something like that. It’s not just the NFL. It’s all content providers, whether they...
The RV community is finally getting wise to cell phone signal boosters. It used to be that an RV was designed for “getting away from it all,” but that term doesn’t mean what it once did. We don’t want to get away from the internet, as much as we say we do. We want to stay connected. Sometimes it’s even a requirement. People who work remotely are free to do their work in an RV, but only if they have an internet connection.
The problem with RVs is, they’re almost perfectly designed to block cell signals. From the fiberglass on the outside, the metal frame, the wiring, and even the hardwood cabinets, it’s a wonder that any cell signals get in at all, honestly. But that’s where cell phone signal boosters come in. They take signals from...
This week, I’d like to dive back into the archives and talk about a movie that you’ve either forgotten or never heard of. It’s streaming on the Roku channel, which is why I’m talking about it today.
Note: This film isn’t new, so I’m going to be a little loose with spoilers here.
Looker, written and directed by Michael Crichton, is a fairly stock standard tech-adventure tale. The story is fairly straightforward: a plastic surgeon turns detective when he discovers that an evil corporation is making young women get plastic surgery and then killing them. Along the way, there’s all the typical shenanigans of this sort of film, from exaggerated special effects to evil henchmen to scantily clad women falling from buildings.
Talking about...
When it comes to home entertainment, streaming is extremely popular. No matter what someone’s primary source of TV entertainment is, almost everyone invites a streaming service into their home. People who like original movies and series tend to get Netflix and/or Amazon Prime, while TV show and second-run movie junkies flock to Hulu, etc. As popular as streaming is, have you ever wondered why you never see these services in bars, pubs, or restaurants? There are a few reasons for this, which Signal Connect is happy to share with bar owners.
Commercial Streaming Isn’t a Thing… Yet
There’s a lot of technology that goes into making streaming happen. There are also plenty of laws, rules, and contracts, and the lawyers to enforce them...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
“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...
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...
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...
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.
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Our RV customers love satellite TV, and I can see why. But one of the questions I often get asked is, should I pick DISH or DIRECTV? In the end it comes down to personal preference, but there are some things to know. I’ll discuss the positives of DIRECTV in a different article, but in this one I’m focused on DISH. Signal Group is a DIRECTV National Accounts Dealer and a DISH Premier Local Retailer, so I can’t really say anything bad about either. It would be like picking one of your children over the other. It’s your choice, I just want to give you the tools to decide which is a better fit for you.
DISH for your RV
Choosing DISH for your RV means flexibility. You can choose to add a receiver to an existing system if you want, or you...
Here’s something that’s pretty amazing: marine satellite television. I mean think about it. You’re on a boat that’s moving constantly in 3 dimensions. There’s a system that’s able to point an antenna at a spot in space 22,000 miles away, and receive a signal that’s weaker than a night light. This signal gives you hundreds of channels of live TV. If you’re like me, you’re probably amazed that it works at all.
But work it does, at least 99% of the time. When it doesn’t, there are some simple steps you can take to get things back up and running. Most of them take no technical expertise at all, so let’s take a look.
1. Look out the window
That’s right, look out the window. Most satellite TV outages are caused by extreme weather. You...
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