Need help with cable reception...

[spunkzz]

so i've been wondering why i've been getting such poor reception in my house in my basement big screen tv and my father's room (2nd floor). the reception at both tv's are very snowy and horrible to watch. I have cadded up my house setup and how the cable wires are run. I'm thinking i have way too many splitters/amplifiers in the system. i've minimized it by cutting out two splitters out the sytem and hooking them up to the existing amplifier. This cable system has been in my house as long as i can remember, and i'm now just trying to help my father fix it. any input would be appreciated to minimize the amount of splitters which i think would give better overall reception throughout the house.

The link to my pictures is here:


also i saw that one of my outputs on my amplifier is missing that little nipple cover. is there anywhere i could find one to replace it. is not having it making my reception worse?

Thanks

bah sorry i cant post a picture yet until i have 5 posts.

[RCbridge]

Describe your set up in detail, (how many splits, length of cable runs etc) with model numbers (if possible), I assume the nipple cover is a load for an unused port!! You can get those from Radio Shack.

[spunkzz]

Thanks RCBridge,

i will try to get all this info soon. but i should cover that port that is not being used, correct? Would anyone know the name of those covers?

Thanks

[spunkzz]

so here is the picture i drew up in autocad.



i currently have optimum voice/online/cable.. the triple play package and just currently got a new tv samsung 32" 3251D which i have no reception problems with at all. It is the other tv's in the house such as the big screen in the basement and tv's on the second floor which are having bad reception. any input would be appreciated. thanks

It is safe to say from where the incoming line from the utility pole drops to my house..the line then wraps about 50ft around the perimeter of my house to the first 3 way splitter. Then from that 3 way splitter i have two lines going another 25' to my room; one for the cable modem, and the other feeding the 4 way amplified splitter. The third split goes to my basement feeding two tv's which get poor reception. The 4 way amplifier splitter feeds a splitter one of which feeds the 3 tv's (split through another 2 way splitter) on the 2nd floor which get poor reception and the other feed goes to the room next door. As you can see very poor design and i think way too many splitters involved.

[RCbridge]

Just a few questions:
Does this include digital cable?
The uncovered ports of the splitters should be loaded (they are called 75ohm type F terminations).

Are all of the channels snowy or just some, if some are they the lower channels?
Is the modem okay?
Is the VOIP okay?
Are your splitters rated to 1ghz?

Let's start with the big screen in the basement if you touch or wiggle the cable (check one end then the other) does the picture change?

[miniz]

You have WAY too many splitters! That is the problem. You need to home run the cables and have a central junction with am amplified splitter.

[spunkzz]

Originally Posted by RCbridge

Just a few questions:
Does this include digital cable?
The uncovered ports of the splitters should be loaded (they are called 75ohm type F terminations).

Are all of the channels snowy or just some, if some are they the lower channels?
Is the modem okay?
Is the VOIP okay?
Are your splitters rated to 1ghz?

Let's start with the big screen in the basement if you touch or wiggle the cable (check one end then the other) does the picture change?

The only Digital cable is the one in my room with the hd cable box, everything else in the house is analog cable, no boxes.

The modem and VOIP are both doing fine.
I will check the splitters today i know some of them are really old. and those i will change out.

The channels are all kinda snowy but more so on the lower end, but still the cable channels are pretty bad. Wiggling of the cable does not help at all.

Thanks again for helping me out.

[spunkzz]

Originally Posted by miniz

You have WAY too many splitters! That is the problem. You need to home run the cables and have a central junction with am amplified splitter.

yea i kinda figured i have splitters all over the place. The hard part of getting it all centralized is then running wires from the main floor to the 2nd floor and the basement.

[miniz]

You need a set-up like this:

pole drop-->ground-->2 way slitter-->one line direct to cable modem-->VOIP modem
-->one line to multimedia drop amp-->2 way splitter-->
one line to HD cable box
one line to large 8-10 way splitter-->connect home run cables for all other rooms

*USE 5-1000mhz splitters and amp or it will not work 100%!!

[GeekGirl]

one line to large 8-10 way splitter-->connect home run cables for all other rooms

"home run" means direct connection with nothing in between. It should be an "amplified" splitter, such as the Channelvision 8-way http://www.smarthome.com/7750-8.html or you will get too much loss. It's a bit pricey, but that's what you need. 8-10-way is 9-10 dB insertion loss.

[miniz]

No, it shouldn't be an amplified splitter. There is no reason to amplify high speed internet. That just causes problems. You need the amp after the high speed connection as seen in my diagram above. Home run... means all run to a central location too, not that there is nothing in between.

[spunkzz]

Originally Posted by miniz

You need a set-up like this:

pole drop-->ground-->2 way slitter-->one line direct to cable modem-->VOIP modem
-->one line to multimedia drop amp-->2 way splitter-->
one line to HD cable box
one line to large 8-10 way splitter-->connect home run cables for all other rooms

*USE 5-1000mhz splitters and amp or it will not work 100%!!

sorry for being a newb but what is a multimedia drop amp? do you have a link to one? and thank you very much...now i just gotta find a way to route all these cables.

[golovemd]

I don't think you mentioned this, but perhaps I missed it. Has the picture always been bad on these two particular tv's? There are several things that could cause the issue, from too many splits, to old and degraded wire, to bad fittings on the wire. The initial thought is of course that the signal is too low because you have too many splits. If your diagram is accurate, and you splitters are typical 5-1000mhz, then it looks like you would be losing approx 7 to 10 db's to the basement tv (possibly a db or two more for the length of wire and such). Without knowing the amplified splitter, its hard to tell, but you could be losing 15 to 20 db's to the upstairs tv, that is somewhat offset by the amplifier (typically 15db boost). So IF I am correct, the splitters may not even be the issue. I doubt you are close, since cablevision covers a wide area, but where do you live? If you were local I'd try and help you out.

[spunkzz]

i live on long island, new york

[miniz]

Ask your cable company for a multimedia drop amp. They should provide one free of charge.

[hometheaterguy]

They call those things "terminators", they not only have a weather proof cover, but inside they house a resistor to control ingress.

Cable companies use a 2-way splitter, one port goes to the modem, then the other to the final 8-way splitter. Because you get a insertion loss AND a split loss going to one splitter after the 2-way for the modem will for sure clean up the picture on all TV's. If you can re-wire the entire home with new RG6 coax and compression fittings.

[rokdude22]

You need to cut back on the number of splitters. Every time you split the signal there is loss and every time you split you add connectors and increase the chance for trouble.
Home run everything to one 8 way splitter and feed that with a 10db forward and return amp.
The amp will accomodate two way communication for the box and the modem.

All you want to do with an amplifier is negate or minimize the loss of the splitter(s). An 8 way splitter looses ~12 db and there is no way around that. That 10 db gain should provide enough juice to overcome the loss without overwhelming any component.

Running the set up Miniz describes will likely provide too much signal to the cable box and too much signal can be just as bad as not enough. It will also lose 7-8 db before it hits that amp and depending on where you started it may not be enough and you'll end up amplifying garbage.

The practice of runing HSD off one leg of a two way and everything else off the other leg started because when cable modems were first introduced most houses were wired just like yours and it just wouldn't work after three splitters because the return path would get so dilluted the modem just wouldn't work. The only reason that it was done was to keep the installer from having to rewire the entire house. I've run every thing in my house off including hsd and recently VOIP phone service off of one 8 way and a two way amp for 6 years and have never had any issues.

[miniz]

Running the set up Miniz describes will likely provide too much signal to the cable box and too much signal can be just as bad as not enough. It will also lose 7-8 db before it hits that amp and depending on where you started it may not be enough and you'll end up amplifying garbage.

I'm running a set-up simliar to the one I typed out in my own house and it works great!