I agree. My TV watching has been drastically reduced, but I blame it on the multitude of "Reality" shows. I refuse to watch any of this Crap! There just is nothing to watch anymore.
The Short run flat wire is intended to run under your window sill so you don't have to drill any holes. To my knowledge, noone makes a flat RG6 cable for long runs.
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Shadow mask has broken loose inside picture tube. Time for new TV. Picture tube replacement would probably equal or exceed cost of new set.
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Don't use the spliiter/combiner. A diplexer will pass voltages needed for the LNB on the dish where a splitter won't. Any Satellite sales/installer should be able to get you one quickly. Hope this helps