I have two regular TV's, a small LCD TV (22 inch) and a DLP (46 inch). I have service through Comcast, using a HD box for the two HDTV's, a digital box for one regular TV and the cable directly into the other TV. I have noticed on all of the TV's, but especially the DLP, that the picture for the "lower channels", 2-60 are really poor. On the DLP it is almost unwatchable. The cable comming into the house is being split into 4 TV's, and 1 router for our highspeed internet service. The cable service guy said that we should install a " +20db 2 way amp" to the cable before it gets split to the different TV's and router. The salesman at the TV store said that the problem is the "junky" splitters that Comcast supplies, and that getting an "ultra high performance TV signal splitter" will solve the problem. The salesman at Radioshack recommended an amplifier placed at the TV just before the signal enters the cable box. Can anyone give some advice as to how to clean up my picture. Thanks for your help.
cableguy
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Well I could, but you might not like it. 1. If you are going to put an amplifier in your system, you definately do not want to put it behind the TV, the best location is at the point where the splitters are located. Never amplify a weak signal, amplifying it before it gets split is giving the amplifier a good clean signal to amplify, and not amplifying junky signal. 2. If Comcast is being paid to supply you with your cable, and I don't know if they charge for service calls cause I don't work anywhere near Comcast to ask them myself, but why should have to pay RadioShack to get better splitters????If you do have to buy through RadioShack make sure of their return policy before you buy, in case you get home, put this " ultra-high performance" splitter in your home. (Ultra-high performance?? does it have turbo-boosters on it or something?lol) 3. Personally I'd have Comcast send somebody out to verify your signal levels entering your house and make sure they are strong and clear of noise and ingress. If they can show you that the signals are good and you need an amplifier, see if Comcast offers a 4 port amplifier. A +20dBmV amplifier is a little extreme, we have single port +15dBmV and 4 port +7dBmV amps, I prefer the 4 port because if you amp on a single port, you then have to turn right back around again and decrease the signal strength through a four way splitter, net result on our single port amp +15 -8dBmv for a 4-way splitter nets +7, a 4 port amp gains +7 but removes the 4-way splitter (add back the 8dBmV you lose through the splitter) net gain is a true +15 dBmV gain...cleaner amplification and better dispersement of the signal. good luck
C. Wendall
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Not to knock radio shack, but stay away from their splitters/amps and the advice to put the amp at the tv. Cableguy basically summed up what to do. I have worked w/ comcast and time warner. Both have the correct splitters with the correct specs (5-1000mhz bi-directional for modem, -3.5 loss per leg). The "ultra" splitters are 5-2000mhz but these are for sat. users.
Thanks for your advice. Here is how I ended up configuring the system, and the picture quality has deffinately improved. Dirrectly from the cable feed into the house I installed a "Motorola Signal Booster", 15db gain, bi-directional amplifier. From the amplifier, I split the signal using a Monster 5-2Gig, 2-way splitter. One output hooked directly to cable modem, the other to a Monster 5-2 gig 4-way splitter. This goes to our 4 TV's. At the new DLP TV I used a Monster 5-2 gig 2-way splitter. One goes to the cable box, the other directly to the TV, for PIP. Is this the right way to configure the system? Again, thanks for all your advice.
I am trying to improve my picture and added a cable amplifier, but the picture is worse then before. I put it before the split. It gets significantly worse when I plug the amp into the wall.
Sounds like you might have a bad signal hitting your house. If you have levels lower then spec and you amp it, all you're doing is amping a bad signal and creating poorer picture quality. I would have somebody come out and check your signal hitting your ground block to verify you don't have a bad cable from the tap to your house.