I have Cable TV w/ High Speed Internet. Splitter between TV signal (analog) and data feed is outside the house just before the cable (split into the two feeds) enters the basement.
I’d like to split the TV feed to supply to a cable-ready TV in 2nd floor bedroom.
Plan A is to split the cable w/ a high quality splitter just after it enters the basement, and run a new cable inside the house, the run will be about 80’ long.
Plan B, which is harder to do, would be to go up inside corner board (vinyl siding),
then into attic, then down wall to TV for a total run of about 35’.
Suggestions? Does Plan A degrade signal to current TV if new run hooked to TV but 2nd TV is not in use? If Plan A provides a signal that is too weak, are there splitter/amplifier combos?
PS: I know from running the data line that there are different types of Coax, and I bought a different/more expensive type for the data run. Is there an advantage to a particular “better” type of Coax for the analog TV run.
Either plan A or B should work just fine, providing you use a good quality splitter and cables, and that all connections are tightly secured. The difference between a 35’ run and an 80’ run should not be noticeable.
When you put a splitter into a line, you are giving each leg of the line 50% of the existing signal strength, whereas the single TV had 100% of the signal before. The cable signal entering the house should be strong enough to support 2 - 4 TVs or more without degradation, but if you do notice a loss in quality there are splitter/amplifier combos, or standalone amplifiers available at Radio Shack and similar stores.
The highest frequency in a US CATV plant is nearly always between 550 and 750 MHz. Let’s tack the worst case and assume you have a 750 MHz plant. RG6 is generally has about 6 dB of attenuation per 100’ at 750 MHz. So, the 85’ run would have about 5 dB of loss. The splitter would add another 4 dB. This gives you 9 dB loss additional.
US plants are generally designed to supply at least +10 dBmV at the side of the house. Generally, a TV set can work with -6 dBmV input. However, the picture will look poor at this level. 0 dBmV is considered a good level.
Given you already have one splitter on the side of our house (4 dB loss), you could end up with below 0 dBmV at this new set. If your CATV feed is more like +15 dBmV, you should be fine. The best way would be measure the signal level. Much easier is to try it and see how the pictures look – pay carefull attention to the highest channel where the cable losses are highest. Like David suggested, if the level is low, get an in-house amplifier.