m...
I had to rewire when I got a HD box. some channels were unwatchable until I did so. Also had a 4-way passive splitter in the ceiling in the basement, replaced it with a 2-way which finally solved all problems. every little bit helps I guess. (was only using two drops, one for TV in basement and one for cable modem. Would have had to go with a powered amplified splitter if I'd ever run cable up to the bedrooms I guess.)
nate
Hey, I can't comment on your experience. I can only comment on mine, and what didn't work, and what made it work. The "cable guy" looked at the cable that was initially installed (by rogers, 20+ years ago) and said simply "that will have to go", went out to the truck and grabbed a roll of the "good stuff" along with the compression style "F" connectors and the installation press used to compress them. In a matter of less than half an hour he had the new cables in for the main floor and basement, and he pulled on the cable that went upstairs and asked "where's this go?" I said "upstairs". He asked "pulled or stapled?" I said "pulled" He said "let's do it" and he put a coupler between the bottom end of the old cable and the new cable and said "go give it a pull". Within less than 15 minutes we had the wire up to the upstairs - all the cable replaced - and at NO COST.
Then he took a look at the 6 way (IIRC) splitter that had been installed by Rogers about a year or two earlier and said "we can do better than this" and came in with the 2 3 ways and cascaded them in, ran the modem power test, and told me that should be the last cable trouble I'll have for a few years. I think that was about a year ago, and it's been 100% trouble free ever since. He said the high frequency digital signals and 80% shielded wire just do not work well together. Needs to be 100% shield - that's foil and braid, not braid only.
You need to remember, there's over 100 channels, likely 20 or more of them High Def, PLUS the internet on that cable - and in many cases telephone too.
And you cannot use an amp with a digital box eiter - because that is ALSO bi-directional..
The "line amp" is only good for basic cable service.
As long as there's no digital box upstairs they will work just fine.
I'm running basic cable upstairs, digital box on the main floor, and basic cable to TV and computer in the basement plus internet
Nah, I doubt it, because the last thing I did to solve my issues was to replace the 4-way passive splitter (with the two unused ports terminated) with a 2-way passive. prior to doing that, even after replacing all the cable, I was still getting pixellation on a couple of the HD channels on the TV in the basement. I just went to all this trouble because a) I knew the stuff was OLD - when was the last time you saw *tan* coax? and b) I didn't want the cable co. to have any excuse to charge me if I called them out to troubleshoot and it turned out to be something inside the house. As it turned out after I replaced everything I got all channels loud and clear.
I imagine that if I ever had got around to pulling cable drops to the bedrooms that I would be back where I started - not sure if it would have been possible to ask the cable co. to turn up the gain a little so I could continue to run a passive splitter or if I would have *had* to go powered, simply because I never investigated it.
nate
om...
We've got 280+ channels here on Cablevision. And among my neighbors and friends, I don't know a single one that has had to re-cable to get HD.
The one time I did have re-cabling done was when they first rolled out cable internet. That would not work. They sent out the cable TV guy who knew nothing about internet. He decided the signal strength coming into the house was low, despite the fact that the TV worked perfectly. I explained to him that the existing cable was only 3 years old, but he said it didn't matter, it was bad.
So, they sent out a crew with a cable pulling tractor and pulled 300 ft of cable through the woods and all the way around ths house. Upon hooking it up, the TV still looked great and the internet still didn't work. They sent out more technicians. On about the 4th visit, a guy with a notebook PC finally showed up. He determined that it was the cable modem that they provided, which was a refurbished one, that was faulty. I got a new modem and it worked.
Good chance you DO have the full sheild cable then.
FYI: Cable amplifiers that handle bi-directional needs are common now. They provide a path for the return signals (low frequencies) to bypass the amp in the return direction. I believe some even amplify the return signals. I almost bought one a few years ago, but then solved my problem a different way (new cable into the house to replace the one sliced by the condo association landscapers) so I have no real experience with the bi-directional amps. I just know they exist.
I have a powered 8-way that provides and unamplified return path. I haven't seen one yet that provides bidirectional amplification, but this isn't really my area of expertise, nor have I put a lot of effort into researching this.
nate
Not to ignore your questions, bu, based on things someone else didn't know once:
a) Be aware that a splitter decreases the output strength by the same factor whether you are using all the outputs or not. That's probably why they suggest using a 1 to 2 splitter at the start, because that means your (one and only) cable modem will get a pretty strong signal, as opposed to one that is split between 8 outputs. Of course if you've already done it the other way and it's working fine, this might be just a theoretical question. OTOH, it may be "working fine" but still at a lower speed than you might want for your computer sometimes.
b) be aware that a) you have to have a terminating resistor screwed on to any splitter output you are not using or it further decreases the signal coming out of the ones you are using.
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