Cost of Comcast running cable

Could you cobble something together from a Slingbox and a router? Then just put it anywhere hidden. Apple TV wouldn't work with cable would it?

The OP used the magic word "dish."

You can do what you suggest with cable TV service (i.e., Comcast, Time-Warner). You cannot do it with satellite TV (i.e., DirectTV or Dish Network).

snipped-for-privacy@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz wrote: (snip)

OMFG! A thousand bucks?!?! All my TVs and stereos together barely add up to that much money. Nice concept, but definitely still at the rich early adapter stage. Maybe in a few years when it is down to a couple hundred bucks, it might look like a viable alternative to stringing cable.

I didn't look at the price of that one. I've seen similar for $100, or so. OTOH, I really haven't done much research.

Does anyone remember the story a couple months ago? Man needed a hole through the exterior wall for his cable. Wife is on the other side, waiting to pull cable. He got a gun, and shot a hole through the wall.

Sadly, he wasn't observing gun safety. Know what is your target, and know what is behind your target.

Now, he's waiting to get out of prison, and his wife is dead.

Incidentally, you should be able to figure that question based on knowledge of bullet performance. FMJ, look it up. What kind of hole does it make. Versus JHP. What kind of hole do you need, for a wire?

Baloon construction. Fireman's nightmare.

Up till recently Dish was a good value company. As of Feb 1st 2010 that all changed.

extra receivers fees were jacked up from 5 or 7 bucks to 17 bucks, when you cancel service they charge you 15 bucks per receiver to mail back their leased receiver, if your leased receiver breaks during the time you have it they charge you for repairs.

their contract stated dish can change anything at any time. Channels are dropped often if its your familys favorite your stuck, they dont let you out of the contract and phone reps are no longer allowed to give credits to make people happy.

After being a sub for 13 years I cancelled over the fee jacking my bill went up 30 bucks overnight. I was a dealer for a while too, but given the new dish wouldnt recommend them to anyone. they have gotten greedy and the CEO admitted on his latest charlie chat were expensive keep sending us your paychecks. He appeared impaired on the air and the chat wasnt complete, it appears a technical person pulled the plug after what was being said on air....

incidently gross profit was way up, but they churned 750,000 subs last quarter and shrank by 19,000..... thats fewer subscribers people arent stupid

Its very sad seeing a once great company being ruined by beancounters greed, and management that appeared impaired on air......

Direct TVs extra receiver fees are still 5 bucks each, that reasonable.

I went back to cable, and got a TIVO, that and comcast on demand works great.

My bill was about 130 bucks a month for Dish before the fee jacking.

Now I am paying about 130 bucks for TV, Internet 16 meg down and a unlimited phone line

Dishes greed got me shopping a dumb thing to do with any customer.

Of the 750,000 churned subs it cost them about $700 bucks each to replace all those subs leaving

Dish stock will tank when the next quarters sub loss becomes public.......

There used to be a tv distribution unit that used single untwisted pair #28 os finer cable to send the signal to wherever you wanted it. VCR Rabbitt was ons such device = so THAT technology exists. Could run that cable in under baseboards, fish it under carpet, and hide it in corners very easily.

There IS wireless TV distribution available in the consumer market as well - would have to do some searching, but I think X10 had something. Then there is always the "powerline jack" technology - also a "smart house" product - possibly also sold by X-10

Just checked - AITECH and X-10 both have product listed. Then there is also TERK Leapfrog.

Why not? You would need to change the "splitter" but why not use the cable?

Nope - not balloon. Balloon requires LOOONG studs. In my house, for example, the center bearing wall is offset about 3 inches. To pull cable from top to bottom I tied a 3/8" nut on a peice of fishline and dropped it down the wall from the top.(beside a heat pipe) A bit of swinging it around and it went down onto the main-floor wall, till it hit the sill at floor level. Metal-detector type studd finder located the nut - I punched a hole up from the basement into the wall, stuch a mechanics magnetic pickup wand up the hole and pulled the nut down through, tied on the cable and pulled it up.

About an hour's work, and no holes in the drywall. Choosing a stud bay that had piping in it made sure I did not need to contend with cross-ties (aka fire-stops)

Because the wire from the satellite dish to the receiver does not carry only RF signals. It also carries command information and about 50 volts. The satellite dish is NOT just an antenna that grabs signals from the air and conveys them to a receiver; it is an active electronic device.

Without proper additional electronics, tapping into the wire going to the dish would be equivalent to multiple walkie-talkies on the same channel. Or worse.

A better analogy might be a multi-station intercom system with everybody having and open mike.

Is it different cable than cable tv uses? If not, you can use it. Mabee only one outlet at a time, but that would be true whatever cable you used, and no matter how it was installed, not???

my directv dish is pointed se-ish.

Generally, yes. Cable uses RG-58 and Satellite uses RG-6. The cables are mostly interchangable however (they differ in some electrical characteristics).

You can move the satellite cable connection from one receiver to another - if you're careful to avoid being shocked (remember, the satellite cable carries upwards of 50 volts).

Unless it is an unusual system, neither satellite or cable ever used RG-58 . That is a 50 ohm cable and usually 70 ohm cable is used for both systems. Perhaps you mean RG-59. That cable is not used anymore by most systems. Just about everything has switched to the RG-6 type cable. It is a low loss cable of 70 ohms. There are several versions of it depending on the ammount of shielding.

The cable system needs beter shielding than satellite systems. This is to keep all the signals in the cable and to keep signals out of the cable.

All the unused connectors in the rooms or splitters should be terminated or capped off with the special resistor type terminators. There are several reasons for this.

Actrully, my cable is RG59 - bonded foil 7% braid - (F5967 BVV) - supplied and installed by rogers for digital TV and internet. When I had a distribution amplifier on my line I also had 50 volts DV on the coax.

I know nothing about ComCast other than that they are a TON slower than RoadRunner, at least in CT. My DH was stuck in CT during a 6 month computer nerd contract, and for whatever reason, the complex he rented an apt. in would NOT allow RR, just CC. Well, they showed up on time, were very fast, but the connection was so HEINOUSLY SLOW, he realized that it was FASTER to stay home here in NY and use the RR connection instead of being just .5 miles from the site. He scrapped the apt and is now home 25 days a month and just rents a hotel on the few days necessary. Yes, if he is in an office in CT it's still 20% faster than if he's home in NY, but being in the apt. in CT was about

So...maybe comcast sucks, maybe not, but their service, in my DH's experience, is EPICALLY SLOW. Of course, YMMV.

You are right. Thanks for the correction.