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What’s the difference between a DIRECTV SWM and a DSWM?

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...
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Does your TV work with MPEG-4? Here’s how to know for sure

If you’re planning to expand your commercial satellite TV setup, you’re going to need more TVs. It’s pretty tempting to go to your local big-box or department store and pick them up at a discount. But will you end up regretting it? There’s a really good chance that you will, especially if you don’t think about what that TV is capable of. A little bit about MPEG All televisions made today are designed to take digital, over-the-air signals. That means they have a technology called MPEG-2 built into them. What’s MPEG-2? Back in the 1980s, software engineers realized that if people were going to get into digital video in a big way, there would have to be some sort of standard way to compress that video down to a manageable size. Even the...
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Sustainability in the Workplace: How Electronics Can Reduce Environmental Footprints

Sustainability is a noble, praiseworthy goal for modern business. Achieving more sustainable operations will resonate well with consumers. One in four consumers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products, and 11% say they make purchases based on carbon data availability. However, achieving sustainability in the workplace can be tricky if you do not already track your emissions. It may even feel like an impossible task to go green when you’re producing paper waste and high emissions every day as part of your day-to-day operations. Eco-friendly gadgets like IoT tech can streamline the sustainability process and help you achieve your ESG goals sooner. This is crucial if you want to start branding yourself as eco-friendly, as...
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THROWBACK THURSDAY: Five Years of weBoost Drive Reach

When you have a piece of tech from five years ago that’s still a top seller, you know you have something special. It’s pretty rare if you think about it. Would you be happy with an iPhone 11 or Galaxy S8 even if you bought it new today? Would a five-year-old laptop suit your needs, even if it’s new in box? Chances are you wouldn’t be pretty happy if you were stuck at 2019 levels of tech on most of the things you use. weBoost Drive Reach That’s why it’s so amazing that weBoost’s Drive Reach is still the king of the hill for mobile cell boosters. You can read the original announcement from 2019 here. A couple of months later I got my hands on one. I did an unboxing video as well as a full instrumented review. In the last five years...
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When should you use a Broadband DECA?

What you see above you is our DECA Broadband, also called Broadband DECA. The two terms have been competing for years. It doesn’t really matter what you call it. (At one time it was called a Cinema Connection Kit, but that term has gone by the wayside.) It’s a device that connects your entire DIRECTV system to the internet. Once connected, you have access to on demand programming, enhanced search, and interactive TV features. It’s a pretty good deal, although it’s also getting rarer and rarer? Why? Because all modern Genie DVRs have the capability built in. You can connect your Genie over wired or Wi-Fi and get the same features as if you’d used this DECA Broadband. So why would you still use one? Let’s talk. One reason: maybe your...
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Fix marine satellite reception problems in one easy step

Are you reading this article while your boat’s in the marina? Are you reading it because you turned on your satellite TV and got the dreaded “loss of signal” message? I’m here to help. There are a lot of reasons this could be happening and most of them can be solved without needing to make a phone call or send an email. There’s one super easy step you can take that will help you understand signal loss issues quickly. Step 1 (and this is the only step) Here’s all you have to do. Go out on deck and look around you at the other boats in the marina. Is it possible they’re blocking the southern or western sky? Chances are that’s the cause of your signal loss. Marine satellite systems expect to get a clear view of the sky and if you have...
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Ken Reid and Rolfe Kanefsky

This week Ken welcomes writer, director, producer Rolfe Kanefsky (There’s Nothing Out There, Nightmare Man, Pool Boy Nightmare) to the show. Ken and Rolfe discuss Fangoria, Gorezone, the Catch 22 of trying to get a distributer without press and press without distribution, Brett Piper, going to film school, Hampshire College, watching horror on TV, Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, making a Russian movie into an American movie, My Family Treasure, Dee Wallace, moving to LA and staring over, directing soft core films, parodies, Playboy’s Inside Out, USA Network, The Hitchhiker, Playboy TV, Tomorrow by Midnight, the lost film, Clerks, Mad TV, Seizure, starting in B movies, making movies for Life Time...
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Best of the Blog 2023, Volume 11

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 November, 2023: Your phone is more powerful than the PC you had in 2018. So why can’t you use it as a PC? NICE AND EASY: What is an “STB?” Can you take your Gemini Air with you when you travel? What are your options if you have no cell signal at all? What do the different color lights on a Gemini Air mean? OPINION: The importance of broadcasting How to fix Wi-Fi problems with your...
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Do you need special cable in order to ground your equipment?

There’s an old song that goes, “I don’t care how you get here, just get here if you can.” I’m tempted to say the same applies to grounding. Grounding is so important and people will use almost any excuse not to ground their equipment. They will say it’s hard, they will say it’s expensive, and they’ll say it doesn’t make a difference. More often than anything else, they’ll say that they don’t have the right supplies. Let’s get this out of the way now If your excuse is that you can’t find the proper supplies… let me introduce you to the great selection of grounding supplies at Solid Signal. You’ll find everything from ground blocks to straps and rods, to all the ground wire you need. But let’s say you urgently need to ground something...
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Is it legal to get TV and radio broadcasts from another country?

Friends, I get a lot of my best article ideas from people who call Solid Signal with questions. If you haven’t tried our help line at 888-233-7563, you really should. Our US-based team has tons of knowledge about the products and services we sell. And, whenever I hear about a question that I haven’t covered on this blog, I try to write about it. I’ve actually talked about this topic here and there but I haven’t ever done a whole article about it. So, here goes. A little about the technology of broadcasting Radio and television broadcasting is obviously one of those things that exists in the real world and so it follows certain laws of physics. Why do I even mention that? Because one of those laws has to do with the way energy...
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NOW IN STOCK: The first ATSC 3.0 converter box at a fair price

Here on this blog we’ve been talking about the next generation of television broadcasting for a decade now. In most of that time, there’s been very little movement. Even recently, it’s seemed like a faraway dream that may never happen. But, here’s the good news– there are a lot of test ATSC 3.0 broadcasts and there’s finally a way for you to check them out for yourself. This is the ADTH converter box. Chances are, if you’ve been looking for something like this, you’ve heard about it because it’s also offered at a large major retailer. Now it’s available at Solid Signal for the best price online, and it’s one of the lowest priced converter boxes we’ve ever sold. If you’re not familiar with it… This is a small device about the size...
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REAL-WORLD TESTING: Solid copper vs. copper-clad steel

This article originally ran in 2018. It’s been revised with links to current products. If you read this blog a lot you’ll probably notice that I talk about solid copper center conductor RG6 cable a lot. I even link to it at SolidSignal.com, a great place to get custom lengths of cable that work well in a variety of professional situations. Have you ever wondered why? The magic of copper Copper is a great conductor of electricity. It’s almost as good as gold, and even though it’s expensive, it’s not as expensive as gold. It’s very flexible, easy to form, and it’s readily available. Copper is, in many ways the perfect choice for sending signal from one place to another. However, copper is generally a lot more expensive than steel or...
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Podcast #576: Nothing to stream already and it’s only April

This week, our podcaster really begins to feel the impact of the strikes last year. Are you feeling them too? Listen to find out what you can do. As always, 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 to live your best digital life and call Signal Connect at 888-233-7563 for the kind of customer service you never thought you could get again. 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...
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What’s the best preamp for an FM antenna?

Solid Signal loves to cater to enthusiasts. There are plenty of places for “mainstream” people to find parts for their “mainstream” hobbies. The fun of working with Solid Signal is that I get to interact with people who love really esoteric things. Take, for example, FM lovers. Most of us listen to FM radio in our cars, maybe. More and more people are streaming in their cars and I could go on a whole rant about why that is. (Not the point here.) There are some folks though, who really dig FM radio. They want FM radios in every room, and they put up roof-mounted antennas to help them get the best reception. And I completely support them! You should absolutely find a hobby that really makes you happy and then dive into it. If you’re an...
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