Hi,
I’m trying to help my dad out with owning 4 cable enabled rooms. He’s got at the moment what I believe is a fried Archer brand powered splitter-amp.
It’s not total crap- it worked for a number of years. But I did cable for a short time, and in general I don’t think “quality” when I think Archer brand equipment.
So my question is two-fold.
and
The old Archer distribution amps weren’t half bad, as such things go. But, before you go replacing it with another amp, try a standard 4-way splitter first; you may find you don’t need the amp at all. Typically, the cable company supplies a signal level high enough to supply 4 or 5 sets without an amp. You have to be careful with amps; any improper terminations or other cabling problems can cause backsplash into the local network. This, in turn, cause the cable folks to sniff out the problem and eventually arrive at your house to remove the offending device. Apparently, you were alright with your previous amp but if you don’t actually need the amplification, I don’t recommend using one.
That said, if you still think you need one, I’d go with a brand like Belkin. They’re a bit higher priced, but for good reason.
The cable that comes into my house is split once right after it comes out of the ground, and one end of that is split again, then again. In all, I’m feeding 3 TVs with digital cable (one uses HD) and 1 router with internet access. Two of the TVs and the router are all upstairs, with the cable running up a chase and across the attic, then back down through wall cavities. No amplifiers.
I had a problem a little while back that I thought might have been the result of weak signal, but it turned out the cable company had simply lost track of what services I subscribe to for one of my boxes.
So, I concur with Q.E.D. Try it without an amplifier first.
well, alright I’m hearing you guys but may note some concerns first off.
First off, I’d say that maybe one leg off the “splitter” (that is, a powered amp that no longer cycles juice) is less than 75 ft. Main lead is 2-way split upon arrival in the house (because there is a cable modem involved and the powered amp will not allow a reverse signal) one leg goes to the “splitter” and the other runs to the modem via the attic (as with all the lines).
On the other end of the lines in his room it is run from the VCR to some knid of auto-signal switcher that based on what is turned on will switch the input/outputs appropriately ( for example if he wants to watch a DVD, the appropriate appliance will be fed into the TV.
When I was doing cable we were taught that every break in the cable is a leak for signal, so technically this auto-switcher thingy he has may be convenient, but being as how it was probably purchased @ Walmart and qualifies in my book as a splitter it would seem this would only further degrade the signal.
If none of this really changes you guys perspective then there is still the fact that while your suggestions were helpful they did not truly answer my questions.
I checked Belkin last night and it seems they don’t even make amps and very few splitters even. I am making some progress myself, but it would help alot if I knew exactly what I’m looking for in a splitter to differenciate it from your typical Radioshack style splitter. What defining features really make “nice”?
Ok, somehow my message got clipped and then my 5 minutes apparently expired to edit my message (lame). Here’s what it was supposed to say:
What defining features really make a splitter “nice” and another kind “crap” and what brand names are generally associated with “nice”? In addition, many of the companies that make splitters don’t seem to also make a powered coax splitter.
So it’s possible the names of good splitter brands could be different from those of the powered splitter amp brands.
You need a Drop Amp if you’re splitting digital cable with HDTV. I have one of these (the 8-way one) and it works very well. They’re normally sold to the cable companies, but it is possible to buy one directly or through a distributor. These things provide good low noise amplification, have the necessary bandwidth, and maintain two-way communication which is vital for many of the services offered through your cable company. I think I paid about $35 or $40 for mine.
First thing I’d look at with that many runs is the quality of the cable itself. Is it decent stuff, or the kind of wire that’s thinner than a twist-tie and just as pliable?
If there is a TV shop nearby stop in and talk to them.
Back when I was repairing TVs we used Channel Master and Winegard splitters and amps.
They were first class and worked for years. But so did the cheapy ones.
Its pretty difficult without a signal strength meter to see any difference in picture quality.
best of luck
just
Just to give an update- I dug around and came up with a straight 4-way splitter that I had scavenged from my cable guy days. The result was only partly good.
So now to explain why it’s partly good I have to explain more details about my father’s issue. I was noticing that when I came over and used my laptop wirelessly for the internet that it would make lines across his TV while the computer was pulling information through the air to make the web page appear. On his TV it happens on many channels while I would have to switch to channel 3 in order to make the lines appear on the other TVs.
When I hooked-up the straight 4-way splitter it made a fairly grainy picture on every channel, but it’s now immune to wireless internet activity.
I’m saying, “straight 4-way splitter” just to be perfectly clear that this is your everyday cable company quality unpowered splitter.
Although, I was thinking the powered splitter amp that was being used probably grounds itself through the outlet somehow, while the style I’m using now, I only recall using outside where you were able to tap into an existing grounded wire.
I don’t think this is the fix I want to stay with in other words.
Also, Barbarian mentioned the runs themselves- well I did consider this already and was pleasantly surprised to see that the already built coax that I think I picked-up @ Lowes years back was RG6 grade. I’m not going to redo everything for my dad- I just don’t have the time for that. So I’m prioritizing the TVs the two guest room TVs can suffer for the neglect- I’m just going to try and improve on the main room and his master bedroom TVs. and these 2 seem to have the same RG6 bought coax.
I said earlier I was surprised because most of the stuff we have is RG59 slightly less “nice”.
Anyway, all the TVs are grainy now and I won’t leave my Dad worse off than when I started, so either this stuff needs to be grounded or it really needed the amp from before.
I had a similar problem one time with an old(new then ) satellite dish. I took 2 baluns (matching tranfrormers)and hooked them together (300 ohm leads to 300 ohm lead. In other words I isolated them.
Its been a long time and I don’t remember any particulars but it was a quick easy fix.