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Looking for the best quality splitter for HDTV, cable internet

626 Views 7 Replies 8 Participants Last post by TheStever, Mar 3, 2005

cdesjardins99

Discussion Starter · Mar 1, 2005

I have Comcast HD Cable and cable internet. I currently have a Monster Cable 1-in, 3-out splitter that feeds my cable to 1. my HD box, 2. my cable modem, and 3. the rest of the house's cable. Unfortunately, the signal loss is hurting my internet speeds a lot. I hate to hurt my HD signal quality, so the lowest loss splitter output is going to that (-3.5db), and the other 2 outputs are -5.9db. Is there a better brand or model cable splitter that will keep my HD signal strong and also give me a strong cable internet signal? Ever since I got HD, my internet is horrible!

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

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IUnknown

· #2 · Mar 1, 2005

Well, my experience is that Comcast SHOULD have installed a special filter with one output for cable and the other for broadband. This is because the broadband is a different set of frequencies. My experience is that Comcast techs don't necessarily know whats what. So you may want to ask Comcast for the proper component. Using a splitter for this would not seem to me to be the appropriate component.

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RCbridge

· #3 · Mar 2, 2005

Unfortunatly you are stuck with those numbers, did you try the HD on the higher loss split if so what were the results?

You can ask the cable company to increase the power to your house just explain to them what you are doing. last you can try using two seperate 2 way splitters which will have 3-3.5db loss then one leg for the modem take the other leg into the second splitter if needed you can us an amplifier between the first and second splitters. ( this will isolate the modem)

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kenglish

· #4 · Mar 2, 2005

I would ask the cable company for a good quality splitter.

The best ones, especially in your situation, are well-shielded (usually by having the rear of the shell soldered, not glued, on) to prevent ingress of external noise, and capable of handling the higher level of signal that your cable modem sends back toward the cable company (the "return path").

They might also add a filter, to keep the return-path signal from overloading your TV set....something that can also affect the internet if it causes magnetic distortion in the input ferrite core of the tuner's RF transformer. The same filter will also prevent any spurious frequencies from your tuner "jamming" the return signals going back to the cable headend (Return-Path noise build-up: a major problem for Cable companies).

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Ken H

· #5 · Mar 2, 2005

Quote:

Originally posted by RCbridge
Unfortunatly you are stuck with those numbers....

Not so.

Call Comcast, and have them come out. Once you show them what you are doing, they can adjust the signal.

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qqqqqqqman

· #6 · Mar 2, 2005

Quote:

Originally posted by kenglish
I would ask the cable company for a good quality splitter.

The best ones, especially in your situation, are well-shielded (usually by having the rear of the shell soldered, not glued, on) to prevent ingress of external noise, and capable of handling the higher level of signal that your cable modem sends back toward the cable company (the "return path").

They might also add a filter, to keep the return-path signal from overloading your TV set....something that can also affect the internet if it causes magnetic distortion in the input ferrite core of the tuner's RF transformer. The same filter will also prevent any spurious frequencies from your tuner "jamming" the return signals going back to the cable headend (Return-Path noise build-up: a major problem for Cable companies).

HOLY CRAP! Am I supposed to know this kind of stuff when I go HD in the future? Jeez, my stuff's not going to work

I guess I have to pay people in the know......waaaaaaahhhhh!

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AntAltMike

· #7 · Mar 2, 2005

I see nothing in the opening post or anywhere in this thread to indicate that cdesjardins99's perceived internet speed problems are related to any suspected signal level problem.

A modulated data stream is not like a high-pressure firehose. The three way splitter that cdesjardins99 is using is an unbalanced splitter that ordinarily connected to give the modem one half of the input signal power, and splitting the remainder of the signal power. This kind of three-way splitter divides the signal power the same way that two, two-way splitters would divide it.

No splitter is going to have any appreciably less signal loss, since a theoretically perfect two-way splitter, which doesn't exist, would lose 3dB and a theoretically perfect, balanced three way splitter would lose 5dB per port..

If cdesjardins99 suspects that he is not getting the speed that he is entitled to, he should call his cable company's tech support line and have them figure out why. He may be on a trunkline that is gettting hogged by other users, or he may have a computer setting problem that can be remedied, or he may have a hardware problem.

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TheStever

· #8 · Mar 3, 2005

I use a bi-driectional distrbution amplifier at the main end. This feeds my interenet, HDTV and two other runs. I can then use a splitter from one of the other feeds to split aditionally if needed. Works great for me! I use the Radio Shack model, and I think it cost $40 - $50. Also has an adjustable gain if you have longer runs.

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