Cable TV splitter... (1 Viewer)

[JoshuaR]

How many times can you split a normal cable TV signal before you start getting visible degradation in signal? I have a 3 way splitter as of now, but will be changing it out to a 4 way soon with the building of my basement. Should I have anything to worry about?

 

[Rick_Brown]

I think you will be O.K. The biggest problem is when people make further splits down the line, e.g., they start with a 3 or 4-way splitter and then split one of those lines with a 2-way down the line.

 

[Neil Joseph]

If you are willing to spend a few $$$ then Monster has some TV cable splitters available that don't degrade the signal. The last one I bought was for around cdn$40 if I remember right. It was a 3 way splitter.

 

[LewB]

See if your cable company will provide you with splitter hardware. I once had the cable guy out to the house because of bad signal coming in. He gave me 3 splitters from the truck to replace the ones I had at no charge ! Get the cheapest splitter that passes 5-1Ghz and has an output leg that claims only -3db attenuation. There are splitters for satellite that go up to 2Ghz I believe, but you don't need them for cable. Stay away from the $3 versions that only go to 900Mhz and don't tell you how much they attenuate. I would think that you could get away with at least 2 'splits' in one line before you see a problem, make sure to use the legs of the splitter that attenuate the least for these. These are lessons I learned the hard way :frowning: Good luck !

 

[Dale.A]

what is this -3db attenuation? Is that the loss in sound output? Sorry, I'm new to HT.

 

[Lee Bailey]

The attenuation is the signal strength of your cable system. I use a Monster 2GHZ 4-way splitter, and my picture is still great. The higher that bandwidth rating, the better.

 

[LewB]

You don't get something for nothing. If you split the signal, each of the legs will get signal but a less strong signal, audio and video. I don't know how they do it, but some splitters manage to attenuate or lessen the signal strength by different amounts on different legs of the splitter. If you have the chance, use the legs that claim to attenuate or lessen the signal by the smallest amount.

 

[Ted Lee]

don't they make ones that are amplified? i thought rat-shack used to sell something like that, but not sure now.

 

[Erik O]

FCC regulations state that you must have 3 DBmv at the ground block. Most cable companies have policies for minimum signal levels at the house and behind the set. FCC reg. for behind the set are a minimum of 0 DBMV. So the policy is usually a minimum signal to power a 3 way. Don't listen to the buy the monster cable splitters, i take them out of houses all the time. All you have to do is tear into one. Monster cable and radio shack have the same guts. They don't even have a circuit board just a components soldered together. Your best bet is to definitely get the cable company to come out and get a 4 way off of him. The good splitters are heavier and have an actual circuit board inside. I could go on and on but just call the cable company out.

 

[Steve Berger]

The amplified type are usually called "amplified couplers". They usually have 0 gain or 0-5 db gain (sometimes adjustable). You usually need a nice clean signal before you amplify or else you amplify noise and get a worse looking ,but technically higher level, signal. They are not very expensive but the name brands (Weingard or Channel Master for instance) will have better signal to noise ratio figures. You can probably find them from $10 & up.

Surprisingly enough a local hardware chain (Menard's) has better quality and selection than Radio Shack although I usually mail order from MCM or Centronics.

The cheap ones will have a shorter lifespan and you might have to go through a few to get a good one. But high cost doesn't guarantee performance. Just like DVD players.

 

[RussKon]

there are splitters available that offer a "power pass" option...for example, on a 4 way splitter, 3 of the outputs would have the 3db drop as mentioned above, but the 4th output would have no drop in signal strength...phoneix gold makes a line of splitters that does this....

additionally, unless you are splitting cable signals for an apartment complex, you probably will not need a booster....

as for setting up your split....always split once if possible....if that is not possible, get a splitter with a power pass feature...

russ

 

[LewB]

From my experiences and that of friends' stay away from amplifiers !
An amp will only amplify what comes in, and possibly add some of it's own badness. This is a case of SISO (stuff in, stuff out). If you put a grainy weak signal in, you will get a grainy strong signal out.
A friend of mine who was running an amp came home to find a note on his door from the cable company. Seems his amp was reflecting noise into the cable line. The cable co. determined that the problem was coming from his house and cut off his service till they could get someone in there to determine what the problem was :b
Have the cable co. out to check that the proper signal is coming in, use good quality equipment. There should be no need for amplification in most residential applications.

 

[Rick_Brown]

Sorry, LewB, I don't agree. I have used amplifiers very successfully in a variety of situations, including some where the cable company was unable to help me. I currently have a digital cable box which constantly gave me heavy pixelation on movie channels. Guess what the cable guy did to fix it? He attached an amplifier to the main cable entry point!

For those people who don't want the hassle of dealing with cable companies a small investment in an amplifier will often take care of things just fine.

 

[Lee Bailey]

Don't listen to the buy the monster cable splitters, i take them out of houses all the time. All you have to do is tear into one. Monster cable and radio shack have the same guts. They don't even have a circuit board just a components soldered together.

The Monster Low-Loss splitters do indeed have a PC board mount inside. I'm not talking about the basic splitters here. I know only from experience on my system that they work very well.