Improving cable T.V. picture : Do signal amplifiers work? (1 Viewer)

[JasonRH]

I was thinking of purchasing a cable t.v.signal amplifier but wasn't sure if there would be any benefit. Has anyone used one of these? Also, I currently have my cable running through a Monster Power unit/line conditioner and wasn't sure if the amplifier should connect to the cable before or after the cable enters the line conditioner? Thanks for any help.
p.s. I wasn't sure whether this topic belonged here or in the hardware section so (administrators) please let me know if it has to be moved. Thanks again.

 

[MickeS]

If you have cable Tv service, make sure you talk to the cable company and let them come out and measure the signals before you buy a signal amplifier. They might be able to correct the problem. If the signal is low and they can't correct it, you might want to check out an amplifier. If the signal is good, I don't think an amplifier will help you.
I would assume that the signal would have to be amplified before it reaches the Monster Cable unit, but someone else probably knows more about this than I do.
/Mike

 

[Jim A. Banville]

I tried one. It made the picture worse. Ditto on having your cable company measure your signal at the point where the cable comes out of your wall inside your house. They should have a little laptop computer type device.

 

[Han]

I have one hooked up to one of my TVs. Fairfax County Cox in northern VA, uses two cables to carry all the channels. 1-59, and 60 and above. At near the switchover, channels 60-64, the signal was very weak. This was a major problem with me, since those include The Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, and Nick (at Night). Three stations I watch a lot relative to the others. The Recoton signal amplifier made those channels look cleaner, but didn't correct another problem, which was, the signal is so weak that it flashes off and on every 20-30 seconds on really bad nights.
It's weird... cloudy daytimes, I get the best signal, and clear nighttimes are the worst. This is a problem with or without the amplifier. Can anyone make any sense of this?

 

[Dave K]

The previous post is correct in that amps can make your signal look worse. If you have long runs of coax (50-100+ft) then they will help, but over-boosting the signal when you don't need to will distort the picture. You'll get "tearing" or other artifacts.