Cable TV options?

I'm trying to figure out the best way to wire my home for cable TV. Read some conflicting opinions on some web sites and thought I would ask here. Which option would be best or is there a third? Or doesn't it make a difference?

  1. Have one central location where the main cable comes in the house. Split everything from that location and run seperate cables to each outlet

  1. Split the main cable where it comes in the house and run cables to general locations in the house. From there split it further and run cable to each outlet.

Reply to
mgarvie
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Your better off using #1. Its more flexible, easier to troubleshoot, and if you use RG6 its satellite friendly.

RG59 the typical cable company line is very lossy:( You or someone else might want satellite tv someday and the better cable costs just pennies more a foot!

If your into TV check the satellite comanies dish or direct TV and look into a DVR, digital video recorder one brand is TIVO. It changes FOREVER how you think of tv:)

Fast forward thru commercials easily, save 15 minutes of your time each hour, start watching show while its still being recorded, pause tv if the phone rings, run it back a little if the dog barks, everything on a nice grid just click and go.

Reply to
hallerb

New construction or wiring an existing house?

Reply to
Kurt Ullman

2 is easiest to implement and costs less. However it has more connections and more difficult to keep the noise out. But in general noise shouldn't be TOO hard to keep out.

Given the choice in a new house I would do 1. Otherwise I would do 2 and if performance is poor switch to 1 as needed.

use rg6 quad shielded for in wall runs.

Reply to
dnoyeB

Im not a cable professional but I have ran into some problems with comcast running cable. Make sure if you are using alot of splitters, an amp, or long runs that you may have to run the computer line(if you are using one) out of one splitter only so your internet connection works. I guess there is interferance through that equip. At least thats what I was told by the tech, but everything does work good.I hope this info is correct and helps and if it is not, I would like to know. Good Luck

Reply to
steele0825

The best way in my opinion is to put 1 2way splitter at the service entrance, 1 side goes to the cable modem assuming you use high speed internet from your cable, the other side to the appropriate sized splitter then run to each port. The cable modem needs to have a fairly strong signal and in my experience does NOT like to be amplified.

By daisychaining into multiple splitters you are going to run in to too high of a db loss.

Remeber, there are quality spliiters and POS splitters, they are NOT all the same. The brand I prefer is Toner.

Reply to
Brian V

The very best way is to come in on one wire to a 4 or 8 way amplifier then run one cable from that to each room. Split only at the TV for a VCR. Avoid splitters as much as possible but you may need one at the beginning if you have a cable modem or one in a room for multiple devices.

With an amplifier right up front, you can use crappy splitters and salvaged cable and still get a decent picture but if you use too many splitters, the signal will quickly sink below the noise level and when that happens, even a sensitive tuner will see noise on some stations (at random)

The main problem with video distribution systems is not letting noise onto the line but allowing the signal to be reduced below that noise level (SNR) by using too many splitters.

Reply to
PipeDown

Get a good "cable company quality" splitter in a cast aluminum box not one of those POS stamped can ones made by RCA. Check eBay, lots on sale.

Reply to
PipeDown

Cable modems are TWO WAY devices and you are correct that they do not like ONE WAY amplifiers.

Your suggestion is a good way to solve that problem.

But they now make two way amplifers and amplifers that have a feedthough path for the return signal. A cable mode should work fine with those.

Mark

Reply to
Mark

When we wired our home, we had full access from the basement to the living area of the main floor. I spoke to the cable company and was told to provide two runs of RG6 to the central storage room where I did a "home run" of all low voltage, cable, intercom, Cat 5 wiring. The cable company installed a splitter where the cable entered the house.

In the storage room, I installed a 12-way amplified splitter and 8-way combiner. One of the RG-6 feeds went directly to my cable modem and the other to an input of the combiner. I also fed A/V camera inputs to modulators and then to other inputs of the combiner. The output from the combiner went to the amplifier/splitter. That way, each TV camera had its own "channel," being an unused channel from the cable.

This was in the days of analog cable, and perhaps digital cable will not be compatible. I just don't know. If not, consider placing your cable box in the same room and using a remote RF controller for it. The output of the cable box could then be modulated and simply be another channel on your home cable network. In our home, the birdfeeder was channel 86, front door was 88, back yard 90, etc.

A very conscious and smart decision I made was to NOT extend this type of wiring to the bedrooms or kitchen before we furnished the home and decided where we wanted things to be. Instead, I merely extended it to a spot about under the center of each room and coiled it; it hung from a staple until needed. Then, when we decided where to put the TV or laptop in the kitchen, for instance, I just drilled a hole in the floor and brought the wire up. In bedrooms, I just made an incision in the carpet and brought the wire up near the baseboard. If something was later moved, the incision was "self-healing" and moving the wire could be done in a matter of minutes. If there was a need for 2-3 devices in a room, such as a laptop with antenna input and also a TV, I usually would just split the signal again, using a passive splitter.

What is so good, if your home can handle it, is to home run as much as possible. Doorbells, intercom wiring, home networking, cable, cameras, cable modem, security and anything else can be run to one dedicated room in the attic or basement of many homes. The flexibility this gives you is incredible. It's impossible to anticipate all needs and locations, and this gives you tremendous opportunities.

Mark

Reply to
Mark and Gloria Hagwood

I don't see any difference between these two choices, except that in the second one, the first one or two splitters will be outside the house.

Why might that be bad? Well, I had my cable (which I no longer use or pay for) run through the window frame of the basement window, and another lead run up to 2nd floor (along the downspout so it isn't visible) and through the overhanging closet floor.

I put the box in the closet and ran to a splitter one part went to the tv and other parts went up to the attic (to the bathroom with the tub, and to another bedroom) and another part down into the living room, which had a tv, and then down to the basement family room, to the laundry room and to the kitchen. TV's in all these places. Every second splittler or so (that means I could have a tv on one amp output, and a tv on the other output with a splitter that went to a

2nd tv, and I *didn't* need another splitter for that leg. Add a third tv to the second leg, and I would need an amp probably.) Every second splitter or so seemed to require a signal amp (mostly from Radio Shack) but I never bought an amp until I needed one. If the picture was weak, I needed one.

Later I put my vcr on the other side, my side of the bed, so I could put tapes in and out without getting up, and then I could use the same cables to watch the same movie from any room in the house (except one bedroom and two bathrooms.) One time I had a party and about 33 people stayed to watch the movie I showeed, 16 in the living room, 7 in the kitchen and 10 in the basement family room.

I've been using the various amps (I think I have 3) for between 18 and

20 years, and I never give them any thought.

Whenever they enforce Digital TV, I'm not going out and buying 9 new tvs, so I'll buy a converter and put it next to the vcr. One convertor will serve the whole house. I'll have some sort of Rabbit thing to change channels with when I'm not in the room with the converter, like I do know with the vcr. I have an antenna in the attic that feeds the vcr, and if if the vcr is off or set on "tv" the antenna feeds through to the tvs all over the house. The signal from cable works the same way as the signal from the antenna.

As to doing it the second way. I think you can successfully run the signal backwards through the splitter, put something in an output, and the same thing will come out the other output and the input. For details check with sci.electronics.repair . I think I've done this. A splitter is just

3 or 5 coils in proximity to each other.

Not sure about a cable connection for the computer. check if you can split that too, but I'm pretty sure it's the same as tv.

Speaking of techs, at first installation I asked the tech if, for the sake of appearance, the cable box (used at the time) could be in my closet instead of on the same table as the little tv, about 6 feet away. He said he wasn't sure, but he did it for me and it worked fine. Later when I was snaking cable to the kitchen, I had it running down two flights, then from the rear of the house to the front, back to the back, and to the front again, and up one flight, at least 125 feet, and it worked fine. If the tech had doubts about 6 feet, he didn't know very much. (Later after I finished the snaking, the 125 feet dropped to about 55 feet.

Reply to
mm

BTW, I'm talking about a splitter, not an amp with more than one output. Certainly, most splitters put on the outside would not be amplifiers. Amplifiers need AC and they shouldn't get wet.

Almost everything I said was about TVs. You may or may not want a separate run to your computer.

If you buy one-way amps now, you can replace them with 2-way amps if you move your computer, or get a second. The one=way amps are only about 10 or 20 dollars iirc.

Reply to
mm

Option 1 - I'm wiring all the rooms from a central location using RG6 Quadshield and plan to feed them from a distribution amp like this:

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Reply to
Bob (but not THAT Bob)

That's as good as any but it is only for indoor use per the exposed power connector. It is ridiculously expensive for 3dB gain. It does have a unique IR link for between rooms but do you really need that since you can but both features seperately for less $.

Reply to
PipeDown

Also has inputs for signals from modulators- I'm planning to feed input from security cams.

I wasn't recommending the that vendor's price, just the product or similar - I see them on eBay, often under a hundred bucks.

Reply to
Bob (but not THAT Bob)

I was told by Comcast that when you get the High Speed internet (it's really fast now, up to 16mbps) enabled at your house, they have to amplify something at the pole, Thus, if there is a lightning strike or some voltage spike in your cable line, the modem dies and you have to wait a week for them to come and give u a new (refurbished, previously destroyed by a power surge) cable modem.

You should DEFINITELY get yourself a coax surge protector. When we didn't have one, I was sitting online right next to the modem, heard thunder and saw a spark inside of the modem. It was pretty crazy. And of course, no internet for a week.

Reply to
Elliott P

I ran the incoming coax to a basic unamplified splitter with four outputs. One for the living room, one for my home office, and two for each of our bedrooms. Then I ran the cable to each room and installed a single coax wall plate.

Then, in each room, I connected a cable that ran to a splitter with two outputs, one for the TV, one for the VCR. In the office, I used the same type of splitter for the internet cable modem, and a TV tuner in my computer.

Of course, you could expand on the idea if you want cable in more rooms or want more outlets in each room.

When the cable company came out to hook us up, the installer simply asked me how many outlets I had installed (I said 8, since that's the final count after all the splitters). He adjusted the signal level out at the pole and tested the level inside the house.

The installer wasn't too crazy about my RG59 Cable or home center cable splitters (they use higher quality RG6 and better splitters), but we have great signals everywhere with no noise.

I think the critical thing is to keep the system balanced. You can split the signal four ways, and then again at each end, or you can use a single 8 outlet splitter. But you shouldn't split the signal four ways, and then split one of the single lines four ways too. This would result in a stronger signal at some outlets than others.

Anthony

Reply to
HerHusband

These days, RG6 is VERY competitive in price with RG59. The only reason one would have to use RG59 would be the smaller diameter. In almost every such case it's better to enlarge the holes one has rather than go slack on the cable quality.

The cable companies *think* their splitters, taps, etc. are better, but in actual point of fact they're usually the same. Our cable dude insisted on removing my Winegard splitter in favor of his own, then had to boost the signal levels to compensate.

Reply to
clifto

Think about it. What does that coax protector do? Does it somehow stop, block, or absorb a destructive transient? If so, then it also stops, block, or absorbs another radio wave called the cable signal. If that coax protector really stopped or absorbed massive transients, then it completely stops other radio frequencies that are desireable.

There is no protector that somehow blocks transients. Effective protectors do as Ben Franklin demonstrated in 1752. They earth before those destructive transients can enter a building. No protector required for coax cable. The cable protection is a ground block wired less than 10 feet to an earthing electrode. Which electrode? Must be same one used by AC electric 'whole house' protector and by telephone protector.

You did not know all phone lines have an effective protector installed for free by the telco? Well it is ineffective if a protector inside the NID does not make a 'less than 10 foot' connection to that same earthing electrode.

What does each connection do? Gives destructive transients a path to earth before cable enters a building. Otherwise that transient will find earth ground, destructively, via household electronics.

Ineffective protectors such as an inline coax protector avoid all discussion about earthing. They are not providing effective protection. Why then would they discuss THE most essential component of a protection 'system'? Earth ground.

The cable company - as even required by code - must earth that coax wire to a single point earthing electrode before their cable enters your building. That is the cable surge protection. Protection that is only as effective as the earthing 'system' you provided when the cable was installed.

BTW, if that voltage spike destroys a cable modem, then it has also destroyed those amplifiers on utility poles. Notice how those amplifiers fail so infrequently? Because cable modems are not typically damaged by surges on cable. They are damaged more often by surges on AC electric - those wires higher on utility poles that are stuck more often. If your building does not have a properly earth 'whole house' protector on AC electric, then the modem and everything else in the building is a serious risk. There is no effective plug-in protector - on cable or AC electric. The effective protector makes a 'less than 10 foot' connection to earth. For AC electric, that is a 'whole house' protector as sold in Home Depot or Lowes. For cable, it is that 'less than 10 foot' connection to earth installed where cable enters the building. This is something Comcast has recently taught their installers and that was not understood before Comcast rewired their entire network.

Meanwhile, what do coax cable protectors so often do? Degrade the cable signal. After spend> I was told by Comcast that when you get the High Speed internet (it's

Reply to
w_tom

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