About 5 years ago, I had Comcast come out and replace my drop line since my internet was always slow, and I had built a shop that the wire would interfere with. While they were at it, I had them bury a conduit and wire from the back of the shop to a exterior dist. box on the house.
So my question is the title of this post. Would a long run (100' easy, maybe more) of RG59 be responsible for poor HDTV reception?
I have just purchased a new Sharp 60" LCD. I'm getting bad pixellation on some channels, especially watching any kind of sports. Its a Motorola DVR, connected to the interior wall plate by RG59.
I just checked the splitter at the house, and it was rated for 1000hz.. Is that good enough?
I did call Comcast, and the girl reset the DVR remotely, but I didn't notice much of a difference. Any ideas?
Usually wire isn't the problem unless it's waterlogged or otherwise damaged. Bad connectors or improperly engineered splitting is more often the cause.
RG-59 is not the best choice for modern applications as it's frequency response is lacking. Not sure if it is the cause of your problems, but upgrading to RG-6 would be a good place to start.
No, this is not something you can test. It's simply the design of the cable. It's fine for OTA, and security systems, but once you move into areas that need a wide band of frequencies it really suffers. Best just to replace it.
Here we go again with the 'frequency response' argument. at 870MHz the loss of RG59 is only 1.5dB more per 100 feet. Not enough to cause a major problem if everything else is working right. http://www.net-comber.com/cable-loss.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by olyteddy /t/1528450/can-old-rg59-be-responsible-for-poor-hdtv-reception#post_24633936
Here we go again with the 'frequency response' argument. at 870MHz the loss of RG59 is only 1.5dB more per 100 feet. Not enough to cause a major problem if everything else is working right. http://www.net-comber.com/cable-loss.html
What about noise interference? What about the actual bandwidth of the cable? What about insulation?
From what I've read, RG6 has about twice the bandwidth rating compared to RG59. Considering the current levels of data coming into our homes, it seems like they may be pushing data levels which are above what RG59 can handle at all. Certainly if data levels are well under RG59 capabilities, then it's a non-issue at typical lengths, but if data levels are encroaching upon the upper limits of RG59, or are exceeding them, then RG59 shouldn't be suitable at all for use. At bandwidth levels that come close to what RG59 can handle in a perfect environment then any interference can impact the signal integrity, which would otherwise have plenty of room with a RG6 cable.
Just randomly picking one set of specs off the web, This manufacturers RG6 has a loss of 6dB per 100' at 870 MHz, versus RG59's loss of 7.54dB per 100' at 870 MHz....that's nowhere near 'twice the bandwidth'.
The term bandwidth seems to be thrown around a lot without a clear definition of its meaning.
FWIW the difference between RG-59 type and RG-6 type cables is for the most part just a difference in loss at a given frequency. It is a matter of geometry. Given similar construction, the two are otherwise pretty much the same. There are RG-59 cables that are quite adequate for operation at any frequency cable companies are using today or likely to use anytime soon. There are even RG-59 cables that perform in all respects nearly as well as the RG-6 quad shield cables that are highly touted in these forums. But in general, all factors except type being equal, it is just a matter of how long a run the cable will support before the signal drops below an acceptable. At typical cable frequencies, the difference is only a few dB per 100'.
If the signal level is inadequate, tell the cable company to fix it. The reason cable companies want customers to use RG-6 is that is saves them money. Almost everybody using RG-6 instead of RG-59 means they have to spend less on plant.
Of course, without a better description of what is happening, I think it is possible what you are seeing may just a result of heavy compression.
Well, it's a combination of things. My internet speed never tests anywhere close to what tier I'm paying for. I'm in the 30Mbps tier, it regularly tests at 20+-3. Sometimes 17, sometimes 23ish.
Second, my TV is a Sharp LC-60LE650U. Got it from Costco a week ago or so. It seems to have pixellation on more than a few channels, especially sports. Any time the ball or puck is moving while the camera is panning, it pixellates around it. Maybe that's not the correct term for what I'm seeing, but it looks like parentheses around said ball or puck while in motion. Never really happened with my old Sony Grand Wega, but that's probably comparing apples to oranges.
Third, I'm seeing occasional strips of video lag, or "not rendering", and then clear up after a second or two. And on any SD programming, it looks like absolute crap, not sure if any of these things are related, but.....
Oh, and Netflix streamed to my TV also looks like poop. Whereas streamed to my PS3 on the same TV looks fine...... That could be a router issue, I haven't looked at that yet.
There can be a host of things impacting your signal and speed. Is the RG-59 it good quality? Is it in a noisy electrical environment? Are the connections in good shape? Are they done correctly? Are there a number of splitters? Is there water in the line? Is it properly grounded?
Lots of possible issues, the cable company really is the one to address this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikedmt /t/1528450/can-old-rg59-be-responsible-for-poor-hdtv-reception#post_24635370
Second, my TV is a Sharp LC-60LE650U. Got it from Costco a week ago or so. It seems to have pixellation on more than a few channels, especially sports. Any time the ball or puck is moving while the camera is panning, it pixellates around it. Maybe that's not the correct term for what I'm seeing, but it looks like parentheses around said ball or puck while in motion. Never really happened with my old Sony Grand Wega, but that's probably comparing apples to oranges.
Quote:
Oh, and Netflix streamed to my TV also looks like poop. Whereas streamed to my PS3 on the same TV looks fine...... That could be a router issue, I haven't looked at that yet.
That's not a problem with your incoming feed if it looks good on one Netflix implementation. If your PS3 is wired and the TV is wireless, it could be an issue with your home network (poor wireless signal).
I checked the only splitter. looked good. I only have connections to my Modem, and DVR. It's not a whole house affair. All of the RG-59 was replaced 5 years ago, or so. The exterior wire itself is sealed in conduit, and doesn't appear to ever having been waterlogged. The one and only splitter says 1000Mhz on it.
What do I do about the compression?
And, the PS3 and TV are both wireless. 20 feet from my Netgear router.
You cannot do anything about compression except change providers. It is the way the cable company crams as many channels as it can into available bandwidth.
FWIW if you have any unused ports, on the splitter or elsewhere, they should be terminated with 75 ohm resistors. Otherwise you run the risk of signal reflections which will distort your signal. If the splitter has any unused ports, you should replace it with one with the number of ports you are using. Otherwise you are giving up signal strength for nothing.
Sealed in conduit doesn't mean moisture won't get in if it is underground. You need to use cable intended for direct burial, even if it is in conduit.
I think it would be a good idea to get the cable company to drop by and tell you if what you are seeing is normal. They can put a meter on the outlet and tell you whether the signal level is adequate. Based on what you what said, my guess is part of what you are seeing is due to differences between the old set and the new one, and some due to your looking more critically at what you see because you have a new set you expected to be an improvement.
Sort of reminds me what happened to me years ago when HD first came to my area. Lots of pixelization. Being HD was new, they sent a army of techs to my home. Kept saying nothing is wrong with my cables. I kept saying something is wrong with your equipment. They finally all disappeared and the picture got better. Never found out what they found on their end.
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