Hi Everyone,
I have Comcast digital/HD service. They gave me a Scientific Atlanta 8300HDC DVR with HDMI, Composite, Component, Coax, digital a/v, and optical audio connectors.

On the old system I used 2 daisy-chained composite/s-video distribution amplifiers to rout SD signals around the house.

I'm still using them with the Sci Atlanta to rout composite signals to my old SD sets. Output cabling for the amps runs 25-30 ft or so. (For my HD set I'm using the component video connections with no amplifier(s) in line, cabling only a few feet long.)

Here's my question: should I bother with those distribution amps or just use switches to rout the SD signal around? I've been hearing that unless those things have just the right bandwidth and low-freq cutoff, they could cause signal loss.

The amps are CE Labs AV 400 SV, 1-in 4-out composite/s-video. Here are the specs given by CE Labs:

"AV 400 SV Composite/S-Video Distribution Amplifier, High Performance, Low Distortion, True One-To-One Ratio.
VIDEO
Gain: 1 Volt, Unterminated 2 Volt
Input Impedance: 75 Ohms +5%
Video Response: 50 Hz to 10 MHz <.4dB
Ch. to Ch. Isolation: 50 Hz to 10 Mhz 32 dB
Out to In Isolation: 50 Hz to 10 MHz 60 dB
Return Loss: 50 Hz to 10 MHz 20 dB
AUDIO
Gain: Unity
Input Impedance: 22 K Ohm
Output Impedance: 100 Ohm
THD: 0.05% at 1.0 Volts
input level Frequency Response: 10 to 50 KHz + 1 dB
Channel Separation: > 75 dB @ 1 KHz
Out to In Isolation: 60 dB
Signal to Noise: 100 dB (re: 2 Volts out)"

Anyone know if this is a good idea?

Thanks for taking the time to read this long message,
Big Al Mintaka

... I'm still using them with the Sci Atlanta to rout composite signals to my old SD sets. Output cabling for the amps runs 25-30 ft or so. (For my HD set I'm using the component video connections with no amplifier(s) in line, cabling only a few feet long.)

Here's my question: should I bother with those distribution amps or just use switches to rout the SD signal around? For SD and the distance you're talking about, I wouldn't.

In a previous house, I had long composite cable runs of ~100' with no amp. Instead, I just used regular RG6 (antenna) coax for the composite runs, terminated with RCA connectors. You can also use F-to-RCA adapters on the ends. I saw no visible signal degradation.