Cable Splitters

bobman1235

OK, so I have the cable coming into my house, and I need to split it basically to three or four TVs AND my Broadband modem. Obviously I want the least amount of s plits before the modem first and foremost. So I bought a three way splitter, and I was goign to go one directly to the modem, and the other two split once more to two TVs each. I just noticed on the splitter that one output says "4dB" and the other two say "8dB". What do these numbers indicate? Is this some kind of signal strength loss? Anyone know?

Thanks in advance.

audiobliss

I'd say they indicate decibels.

Seriously, though, it makes perfectly good sense that that would be the signal strength. I'm not quite sure how they'd know what the signal strength is, not knowing what you're hooking it up to, but I don't know.

sealin

The labels on splitters indicate the DB loss at that port. You might see some 4 way splitter that have a 7db loss out of the 1st 3 & an 11db loss out of the last. The marking of DB's is not the signal strength, but the loss out of each respective port. Depending on the type of cable system you have, you can add an amplifier. Digital cable typicaly requires less DB's than standard cable. To keep from overdriving some areas (shorter cable runs) & under-driving other areas (longer cable runs) you can purchase attenuators which can limit the amount of amplification at each TV. A nice DB meter is 5-8K, so it might be worth it to hire the cable guy for 75$ to measure all of your signal strength. He won't have attenuators though, but you can pick those up at a home security system distributor open to the public. I have learned all of this the 'hard way'. In regards to your system, I would use a 2 way splitter first with one to the modem & one to the rest of the house. Connect the one for the rest of the house to the smallest possible splitter you can find & give it a try. If you add an amplifier, make sure it is not amplifying the cable modem (they don't like it). Good Luck. I used to live in an apartment that had a 30DB amp just to fire up 1 TV.

sucks2beme

Be carefull. Normally, a 2-way splitter cuts the signal level in half, a 4- way cuts the level in half again internally. To keep the cable modem up and running, go visit your local Radio shack for an amplifier. The model you're looking for is ultra wide band and bi-directional. The cable modem sends its data back upstream at lower frequencies. Some splitters don't work well at these low frequencies, or block it all together. The gain of the amp I got was just about the same as the spitter losses. It says it works with cable modems very clearly on the package. Home Depot has one with 8 ports instead of 4, but costs twice as much as the 4 porter I got. If you already have a splitter, they also should have just the inline amp. If in doubt, ask them if it's the model that works with cable modems. My cable modem was up and down all the time until I added this amp. $50 well spent!

Dennis Gardner

Your splitter is made to customize the signal. If it is a 3 way, you have 1 line split into 2 giving you the 4db down side. The other side is split again giving you 2-8 db down outputs. Put your modem on the -4db side to get the best signal possible. If signals seem too low, I suggest what I run, an Electroline drop amp. These are what some cable providers use to serve apartment complexes. Mine gives +7 db on 4 outputs.

Here is the model I use on ebay now: Drop amp