What kind of cable for HDTV cable? (1 Viewer)

[Joseph*K]

My house is wired with RG59 cable. I currently subscribe to basic cable services from Comcast. Does the RG59 need to be swapped out and replaced with RG6 in order to receive HDTV cable from Comcast? If not completely required, does picture degradation occur for HDTV broadcasts if using RG59? Thanks!

 

[ChuckSolo]

I just recently, last Thursday in fact, had Cox digital cable installed in my HT room. The tech used the existing wire that was already installed and just added the connections for my TV, i.e., component, Svideo cable, etc. On HD channels the picture is absolutely stunning. The original cable was installed in my home about 9 years ago so I really don't think that your old cable needs to be swapped out unless it is in very poor condition. The tech did however, replace the actual connector at the end of the cable, but not the cable itself. Why he did this I do not know.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Basically RG59 is a bit thinner than RG6 and is not as well shielded. In practical terms you will see more signal loss with RG59 than with RG6. But in your case this might not be a problem—it all depends on the length of the run.