August 2012


It’s now “DRE” and “DRE Plus”

A little bit of new nomenclature I read about… for all those commercial types who follow DIRECTV Residential Experience. The base level of DRE is now simply called “DIRECTV Residential Experience.” This is the version without…



Hands on with the Sonora SWM-A2 Amplifier

You can’t always get what you want. That certainly applies to D2 Advantage installations. If you’re a commercial installer, you understand this. The distribution closets aren’t always where you need them to be, and even though…


Is This the Tipping Point for Cable TV?

The Tipping Point. It’s the subject of an excellent book by Malcolm Gladwell. He talks about the tiny little changes that cause an idea to go viral, a social change to occur, or a product to succeed. The…


DIRECTV App for iPad 1.6: Your exclusive Hands-On review

DIRECTV’s app for iPad continues to impress. They’ve been busy adding “watch everywhere” content, but this latest app brings some much-appreciated functionality and integrates more tightly with DIRECTV’s support experience. True Multitasking: This is the absolute killer…


What cable comes with the HD-BLADE?

If you’ve been following our cable shootouts, or if you took our Cables 101 course to learn about different types of cables, you’ve learned a lot. So, like me, you’ll be excited to learn about SolidSignal.com’s new Razor Thin…


HD-BLADE… it’s just that thin.

How thin is HD-BLADE? Take three sheets of copier paper and put them together. It’s just that thin. If you’re a numbers type, the answer is: .0017 inches, or 43.18 microns. It’s about the thickness of…




Signal Labs tests the HD-BLADE

We’ve extensively tested the HD-BLADE against its most common competitor, and we’re pleased to provide cold, hard data. It’s not just a matter of whether the HD-BLADE works for one person in one case… the…


Seems like Time Warner’s losing customers to antenna

DIRECTV may have lost some subscribers but Time Warner’s got them beat. According to their own financials, released today, They lost 169,000 subscribers in the last quarter. It doesn’t seem like the people who dump Time Warner…


DIRECTV Announces Second Quarter Results

DIRECTV continues to grow in Latin America, and they continue to increase profits. While the tendency is to say, “Take that, Viacom” it’s not all completely rosy. It’s hard to get a real picture from these…