TV splitters

Jstas

OK, I have 4 rooms right now that I have cable drops in for TV. Kitchen, 2 bedrooms and the living room. I have the 3rd bedroom as well as the basement rec. room to put drops in as well.

I can easily do this with a splitter and lots of 75 ohm coax. The problem is signal strength. HDTV signals usually have higher performance requirements. My issue is that right now, standard cable will have a signal drop if the line is split too much. Depending on the number of splits made, the splitter can push the presented range on the signal out of the acceptable performance range of coax. Add to that the requirements of HDTV for signal quality and the splitters can wreak havoc on your signal.

So, the answer is an amplified splitter. You can get one for about $50 from most places. They are quite simple consisting of signal amplifiers for each or a bank of coax outputs. Of course if you are using the signal from broadband, you put the splitter after the modem connection so it doesn't interfere with the data signal even though it shouldn't.

So what I want to know is there anyone here using an amplified splitter for their cable TV signal and if so, are you using it with an HD signal? If you are using it with an HD signal, do you notice any performance problems?

steveinaz

John
Not sure about "HD" specifically, but I do have a direct tv standard def box in the garage which is actually split (shame on me) with RG-59 instead of RG6. It seems to work fine. It's a gigahertz splitter, but not powered. The incoming signal is run on RG6, and one TV is RG6 (bedroom) the other split is the RG-59 leg in the garage. I was worried that the RG59 cable would cause a problem--but again, it's just a standard def DTV box.

If this setup works, I'm sure your powered splitter would be fine.

Knucklehead

If you dont have a weak signal then you will not need an amplifier, even for HDTV. As long as its a digital splitter, your good to go. I use a SVI digital splitter, I have absolutley no problems whatsoever even with HDTV channels and I have 5 televisions, 2 being HD capable.

edit...bad link. I think I bought mine on ebay, I cant remember.

dorokusai

I use an Ideal brand splitter with 3db loss per output for 3 HDTV/ 1 Internet....no issues. You can buy it at Home Depot.

I have RG6 all the way to the splitter inside and depending on the run RG6/RG59(Signal/Belden) to the rest.

EDIT: I should check about PQ...never really occured to me on the smaller televisions as I don't really use them and my wife could care less.

Jstas

steveinaz wrote: »

John
Not sure about "HD" specifically, but I do have a direct tv standard def box in the garage which is actually split (shame on me) with RG-59 instead of RG6. It seems to work fine. It's a gigahertz splitter, but not powered.

Dude, RG-59 is pretty much a small gauge 75 Ohm coax. RG-6 has a slightly larger gauge center lead that typically now is constructed of copper coated steel and the pair of leads is shrouded in foil for shielding. It's still 75 Ohm cable and honestly, the cable TV signal is powerful enough and over such a short distance that interference is minimal.

The issue between RG-59 and RG-6 is bandwidth for data feeds. RG-6 will handle a higher bit rate. But both do not go much more above 2 Mbps per channel. The cable companies still running on the old technology are able to squeeze higher bandwidth rates out of the tech by using complex compression algorithms for the data stream as well as robbing bandwidth from other channels in the transmission line. Which is why when on a cable modem, heavy usage across multiple channels from voice, tv and data as well as connection sharing on your hub can cause artifacting in your TV signal. Mainly because error correction can't keep up with the collisions on the network.

And honestly, the shielding doesn't do much but prevent electronic espionage attempts because the RF and EM radiation are in frequency bands that won't affect many other systems in your house save for maybe a gigahertz cordless phone. Even then, you'd have to be within 5 feet of the cable itself while it was broadcasting at near it's maximum capability to experience any issues.

I did extensive testing with a communications and controls system for airplanes using 75 Ohm RG-6 coax vs 75 Ohm RG-59 coax over token ring for running scenario simulations. RG-59 can experience anomalies that RG-6 won't but for most cable TV situations, it doesn't matter much at all.

Now the new stuff that places like Comcast are coming out with is likely the hybrid fiber coax cables. They use fiber networks to hubs which then use a dedicated coax line running back from your house to the fiber hub. It essentially gives you a multi-channel high-bandwidth (as much as 100 Mbps) connection to what is essentially a digital hub. Kind of like a DSL line where the DSL line gives a direct, digital connection to the phone company's hub. FiOS works the same way but has a potentially much higher bandwidth rate because of it's capability of transmitting directly to copper based gigabit fiber networks. As far as I know, the cable companies cannot compete with that without a major infrastructure redesign.

Jstas

Knucklehead wrote: »

If you dont have a weak signal then you will not need an amplifier, even for HDTV. As long as its a digital splitter, your good to go. I use a SVI digital splitter, I have absolutley no problems whatsoever even with HDTV channels and I have 5 televisions, 2 being HD capable.

edit...bad link. I think I bought mine on ebay, I cant remember.

dorokusai wrote: »

I use an Ideal brand splitter with 3db loss per output for 3 HDTV/ 1 Internet....no issues. You can buy it at Home Depot.

I have RG6 all the way to the splitter inside and depending on the run RG6/RG58(Signal/Belden) to the rest.

Yeah but I'm looking at potentially 6 or more feeds with HD programming capabilities on all of them. Think it'll be a huge issue?

dorokusai

No, I don't forsee a problem.

Can you RG6 the rest of the feeds? The less loss the better in all things AV. IN regards to standards and such, I'd over engineer it if at all possible and run some CAT6 alongside.

Knucklehead

dorokusai wrote: »

No, I don't forsee a problem.

Can you RG6 the rest of the feeds? The less loss the better in all things AV. IN regards to standards and such, I'd over engineer it if at all possible and run some CAT6 alongside.

+1...wish I had run cat5 or 6.

Jstas

dorokusai wrote: »

No, I don't forsee a problem.

Can you RG6 the rest of the feeds? The less loss the better in all things AV. IN regards to standards and such, I'd over engineer it if at all possible and run some CAT6 alongside.

Well, since the house has one floor, running cable is simple enough. There's no restrictions on where you can run network signal cables as long as insulation and jacketing meet building codes. Just can't run it near plumbing or heat sources like the furnace chimney. If I do run new feeds, I'll probably just pull bundles up a center wall in to the attic and drop feeds down walls that way. But yeah, the sky is the limit on what I can do...well, more like feel like doing. I'm just more concerned about TV signals right now. I do the computer stuff for a living so the network isn't a concern but at the same time, I like my home stuff simple so I don't have to perpetually maintain it. Otherwise I'd feel like I never left work. Besides, I have a bunch of Wireless-N stuff that I'm going to put together for the house for now anyway. At 600 Mbps, there is ample bandwidth for what I would be using it for at home.

dorokusai

I'd run RG6 then John...piggyback what you already know and get some cool wall plates. I would suggest some Chinese made, LED tube socket lit, 6DJ8/6922 wallplates.

Jstas

Oh and this is what I was thinking of:

http://www.amazon.com/Bi-Directional-Amplifier-Splitter-Booster-Passive/dp/B000WDR94U

steveinaz

Jstas wrote: »

Dude, RG-59 is pretty much a small gauge 75 Ohm coax. RG-6 has a slightly larger gauge center lead that typically now is constructed of copper coated steel and the pair of leads is shrouded in foil for shielding. It's still 75 Ohm cable and honestly, the cable TV signal is powerful enough and over such a short distance that interference is minimal..

My point was, I have less than an ideal setup, and it works. I'm fully aware that both RG59 and RG6 are both 75ohm spec'd cables.

Jstas

steveinaz wrote: »

My point was, I have less than an ideal setup, and it works. I'm fully aware that both RG59 and RG6 are both 75ohm spec'd cables.

Dude, don't get your panties in a bunch. It wasn't clear from you post. It was just discussion and besides, there's probably someone else out there that doesn't know but is too intimidated to ask. Now they do and life is grand.

steveinaz

I only wear boxer's.

Jstas

steveinaz wrote: »

I only wear boxer's.

OOOO!!!! Really? Lemme see!

unc2701

I had signal strength issues at my old place (some of the runs were rg-59) & got an amplified bi-directional splitter... no issues after that. Probably don't need it now- strong signal, less gear (due to distributed av system), and RG-6 everywhere... but since I've got it, I'm still using it. Will post the model when I get home.

unc2701

Channel Plus DA-8200BID: does IR distro, too.

billbillw

Are you trying to split/amplify over the air HDTV signal or feed from cable company?

If its OTA, I'd recommend getting a good signal preamp to mount up with the antenna. It will have much lower S/N ratio than the one you linked. I use a Channel Master Titan 7777 preamp that is mast mounted, then that feeds a 6-way splitter that goes to every room in the house. It works flawlessly in every room and gives me nearly 100% signal strength on all my tuners.

If you are trying to split Comcast (or similar), they will almost always provide you with the necessary signal strength to overcome any splitter loss you have in the house. If needed, they will add a signal amp, which is usually of much higher quality than the one you linked above (I'm talking the types that cost a few hundred). Back when I had Comcast, they installed one for me no questions asked.