A salesman’s dream, an installer’s nightmare, and a customer’s confusion.  We will demystify television mirroring for you in this article by comparing the practice when utilized by the three major players.

No, this is not what we mean by TV Mirror. But it’s probably a better use than turning it on.

Mirroring is the act of causing two (or more) TVs to have the same picture by splitting a decoded video signal which is intended to be shown on only one TV.  Usually mirroring is done to avoid additional up front fees or recurring monthly fees for receivers.  For all practical purposes, all mirroring is done by using a regular coaxial splitter.  It is possible, but very expensive to split other types of video signals, in particular an HDMI signal.  Since mirroring is often done to save money, the most common method of mirroring (and the method describe in this article) is the coax method.  As such one major disadvantage mirroring across all providers is that no high definition signals can be mirrored using coax.  If you are wondering if it is some how illegal, or otherwise frowned upon by the television service providers, it’s not.  Mirroring is 100% legal, and no service provider would ever suggest for a moment you can’t mirror to as many TVs as you want. Some sales reps or customer service agents may be ignorant on the topic, and as such mis-inform you, but after reading this article, you’ll know better.

Cable television mirroring, is not simply splitting the cable line coming in and sending it to multiple TVs in the house.  That is traditional cable distribution.  Cable mirroring would be sending the line in to a cable decoder set top box, then taking the output from that box and splitting it, sending it to multiple TVs.  I don’t think this is done very often, as traditional cable distribution is usually much easier to perform.  There may be some advantages, for example, some channels are encrypted and need a set top box to be decoded.

I know, I’ll just get ONE receiver, and mirror all 8 of my TVs! I will RULE THE WORLD!!!

Dish Network mirroring is by far the easiest and has the most advantages with very few of the disadvantages of mirror.  The advantages include: RF remotes come with each dual tuner receiver (so customers can easily change mirrored TV stations from anywhere in the home); signals which can be diplexed into existing coax lines for easy distribution; coaxial outputs on all ViP receivers.  The disadvantage, is of course, two or more mirrored TVs still have to have the same picture as all the others on the same mirror.  It’s so easy to perform that installers can often do it without extra cost.  Though they should, in our opinion, always charge for mirroring, as it is most certainly non-standard and does take additional time as well as greatly adding to the liability for the installer.  Customers who are used to Dish Network mirroring will be very displeased if they switch providers and expect to have the same mirroring functions available to them.  Note:  Dish Network’s new Hopper / Joey systems are a whole different story, and are as difficult to mirror as DirecTV.

DirecTV mirroring is horrible.  Which is not to say DirecTV is horrible.  For starters, none of the high definition receivers being installed for most new customers have the requisite coaxial output ports.  To even begin to mirror, the customer must purchase a separate piece of hardware, a composite to coax modulator (usually called an RF modulator) for around $20-$30.  Then, this coax signal cannot be diplexed into the existing coaxial cable coming to a given location (at least, not using the newer SWiM technology).  A whole new line must be ran.  It can be run directly to the TV to be mirrored, but it is better (in the long term) to run the line to the main coaxial junction box.  DirecTV does not include mirroring in it’s professional standard installation, and the technicians do not get compensated for the extra labor.  This means the customer must pay (either directly or indirectly) for the mirror with up front fees which start at $45 minimum, not including any wall fishing.  After all that is done, and the mirror is operational, the user will find that they are unable to change the channel by the mirrored TV because nearly all DirecTV remotes are IR (infra red), not RF (radio frequency).  You need a direct line of sight to the receiver in order to change the channels.  To get around this limitation, the customer would then need to purchase either an RF remote for around $20 (if their receiver is compatible), or an IR to UHF converter for $50+.  All told, for one mirror, you are looking at $85 minimum per mirror, usually more.  It’s almost always cheaper, easier, and gives you more control and functionality to just buy an additional receiver unless for some reason you absolutely don’t want to pay the additional $6-$7 a month.

This is DirecTV on mirrors. Any questions?

So, in closing, if a DirecTV sales rep informs you that you can operate two or more TVs using only one box, just like Dish Network, please understand they are horribly misinformed at best.  While it is possible, it is expensive and difficult, and still limits how the TVs can be used.  Just get the proper number of receivers, one for each TV you wish to have service on.

I wish someone had told me sooner about Kitty Wireless.  You may have noticed the banners we have for their cell phone services on the sidebars (if not, notice them now).  This article will explain the some of the advantages and disadvantages of using Kitty Wireless.  (Full disclosure: We’re a Kitty Wireless affiliate, so we get about $0.00007 every time someone buys something from Kitty Wireless through our link – CHA CHING!).

About Kitty Wireless: they are a a Page Plus Cellular dealer, a Mobile Virtual Network Operator that uses the Verizon Network.  Essentially, Page Plus buys air time from Verizon at a bulk discount, then resell it to their customers.  Kitty Wireless is a dealer who sells Page Plus products and services. In case you aren’t up to speed on cell phone coverage comparisons, Verizon easily has the best overall coverage in the nation, followed by AT&T then Sprint.  For a satellite installer (and many other trades that travel extensively across the country) complete coverage is a must, which means Verizon is a must.  Kitty Wireless has coverage nearly identical to that of Verizon.  But so does GreatCall (if you’re old), Straight Talk, and TracPhone.  Typically, these companies (including Kitty Wireless) allow their customers to operate on a pay as you go, pre-paid, or month to month service plan.

One of the big downside to these Verizon re-sellers is that they don’t allow their customers to use the latest high speed 4G network, and have a very limited selection of smart phones (or sometimes no options for smart devices at all).  While Kitty Wireless current doesn’t have access to any 4G data or devices, they do have full access to all 3G services.  But what really sets Kitty Wireless apart from the other three mentioned above (GreatCall, Straight Talk, and TracPhone) is nearly every smart phone device which will work with Verizon’s pre-paid services is allowed!  That means all 3G android devices can be used, like the Droid X2, Droid Incredible, Droid 2, Fascinate, and on and on.  This is huge for satellite installers who need to have access to work orders and emails on the road.

I can send a telegram with this sucker!

So, if you want the latest and greatest 4G phone from Verizon, you’ll have to go directly through them.  But who can afford that?  To get 4G access from Verizon, with unlimited minutes, text, and data you’re paying around $120 a month… For two years.  (That whole contract thing is just terrible in an industry where you never know if you’re going to be ‘separated’ from your employer because your coax cable drip loops were only 3″ and 1/2″ instead of 4″.)  Kitty Wireless has no contracts, and their premium unlimited talk, unlimited text and 2 Gb of data (essentially unlimited data) is only $55 a month.  That’s half the price.  For me, it was a no brainier once I found Kitty Wireless.  Half the price, no contracts, all the smart phones I wanted to use…  And the customer service is literally legendary.  Maybe satellite installers could afford a $2400 two year contract five or ten years ago, but not today.  You’ve gotta pinch Lincoln until he screams now-a-days.

Hello, dispatch? I’m calling to place myself onsite.

So check them out, we highly recommend them, and there is one other highly specific reason we use them:  Automatic, in-phone call recording of all calls made or received while using a Bluetooth headset.  We haven’t gotten that quite working yet, so we’ll save that modern miracle for another day.

All comments welcome!

Very few people know that there is anything legitimately free in the world of satellite.  Of course, it’s one of the first things you learn as an aficionado but most people in this world are anything but passionate about any subject at all much less free satellite television.  (Just because you and all your friends and family know a thing, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s common knowledge.)  The free satellite channels available are referred to as “Free to Air” or simply “FTA” for short.  This article is a brief synopsis of what is free and what is not, and what it takes to actually receive the stations here in the United States.

As you may know, very few things in life are truly free.  To receive these FTA channels, you’ll need to buy a satellite dish, a receiver, and pay to have it installed (or install it yourself).  Most FTA systems cost around $200 for the dish and the receiver, and another $125 to $150 to have it professionally installed.  The shipping on these dishes is substantial, as the dish needs to be at least 75cm (around 30 inches) in order to reliably bring in FTA programming.  Your old Dish Network or DirecTV dish will not work (for more reasons than just it’s diminutive size).  All told you’d be looking at $200 (for self install and local pickup to save on shipping) to $400 (professionally installed and shipped) to get up and running.  It will cost more for a digital video recording box (DVR) or for a high definition box (HD).

The (only?) good thing about Free to Air Satellite

So, this will get met 200+ channels, but what kind of channels?  This is where FTA so often times falls short of the pay per month systems available like Dish Network and DirecTV.  Over 100 of those channels are not in English.  In fact, only about 70 of them are English, and those English stations are Christian specialty programs.  You won’t find any CNN, ESPN, FOX, MTV, etc.  Over 50 stations are in Arabic, then there are 20+ Farsi stations, about 5 Vietnamese, 9 Thai, and on and on…  See a complete list here. So there is a niche group of people who would have a very high interest in the systems, namely Christians, Arabs, Persians, and other foreigners.  There are only a couple of channels that are high definition in FTA, versus 100+ high definition channels on pay television.

There are some general interest channels like Fashion TV, but it’s hard to justify the price tag for just a handful of channels if you aren’t interested in the bulk of the programming.  Do keep in mind, with Dish Network and DirecTV you’ll be paying somewhere around $1600 to $2000 for a two year contract, compared to a FTA system’s cost of $400 over that same time period.  It gets worse the longer you pay that monthly bill…  $1000 a year on average with pay systems, and $0 a year with FTA.

Most people who are passionate about Free to Air television turn it into a hobby, by occasionally (or constantly) scanning the different satellites in the sky with their FTA receiver(s) to see if anything new shows up.  Sometimes new channels will appear (or disappear) without warning.

The FTA described in this article is for what is known as the Ku band of FTA, and only requires a one meter dish.  There is another world of FTA available in the United States called C-band FTA, but this requires a very very large satellite dish, at least 6 feet in diameter.  But that is an article for another time.

C-band satellite dishes do pick up more channels of general interest in the US market. And extra terrestrial alien twitter feeds.

Take a look at the list of channels, and see if anything sparks your fancy.  Then pull the trigger if it makes sense to you!