more TV help please

[psycobusa]

i recently purchased a 46" lcd tv and as of this moment it is hooked up to regular analog cable tv. the problem is that the long cable lines that run thru the attic combined with the multiple splitters so all the rooms can have cable, has caused the signal to become weak, which produces a poor fuzzy picture on my new tv.

i went to wally world and purchased a 12db cable tv amplifier and it helped a little but the fuzziness is still substantially noticeable.

i was searching the web and came across the Monster Power Conditioner...

link to power conditioner

i was wondering if this product would clear up the fuzzy screen or would i need to purchase a higher db cable amplifier???

 

[psycobusa]

or what about this product

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/INLINE-AMPLIFIER-CABLE-TV-CATV-SATELLITE-SIGNAL-BOOSTER_W0QQitemZ140090299325QQihZ004QQcat
egoryZ11726QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">inline amplifier link</a>

 

[mymaster]

Remember, Analog is nether Digital or HD.
If it's really just analog, your only going to get so much out of it, even if it's jacked up.
Regardless, the lower quality the signal is, the worst it looks on a good TV.
The first item is just a fancy Surge Protector, the second one thats on ebay looks like junk but for 5 bucks, who knows?
I'm sure none of this helps?

 

[Professor]

First you might want to look at your house cabling. Instead of trying to amplify a weak signal, see if you can find the point of loss. When you start amplifying a weak signal you are amplifying any noise that might be there as well.

There are a lot of houses that are wired/cabled with cheap coax. Find a source for Beldon 1189a and the connectors. This cable is commonly used from the Satellite dish LNB to the box runs. You’ll need crimpers made for the connectors. Ask around and find someone who is installing Direct TV or Dish network systems, the might give you a source or install it. You can even run the cable and get them to terminate it for you.

Some houses are wired in a tree formation 1 wire coming in split to 2 go 20 feet and each is split into two again. Little futher and 2 of those 4 are split again.

They should be wired in a hub formation 1 cable coming in and a good quality high bandwidth splitter. Each room will connect directly to this splitter. Make sure all unused inputs are capped with a terminating resistor. Only split for how many rooms you are using. Don’t connect 14 rooms to a splitter and if you are only using 4. Connect them to the splitter as needed.

To see if any of this will help, start by running a single cable from your tv to the incoming cable without a splitter and see if it improves.

If you have analog cable and a digital HD tuner, also get a decent quality antenna and put it in your attic pointing toward Houston. Run a single cable (remember the good stuff) to another HD antenna input. Houston should have some over the air HD signals you can pickup from your location.

 

[Sloto200]

When i bought my 46" lcd it took a while to get used to watching analog channels on it... i dont have problems with lines or noise in the signal but i bought one of those rather expensive monster cable power strips that has the noise filters in them. It works to because i can plug the vacuum cleaner in and run it and the 46" tv has no distortion at all but the one in the bed room has all the snow on it. I know that doesnt answer your question about the amplifier but like professor said... if your wires are old, loose, corroded or any combanation of those it can cause signal loss or allow "noise" to be introduced into the signal giving you poor reception. You might just have old cables or loose connections in the attic... good luck with it!

 

[psycobusa]

i hooked my bedroom cable straight to the main incoming cable and didnt notice any improvement. the house is 8yrs old so the cable is the same. i guess ill go and by some of the good stuff and see if that makes an improvement.

if it doesnt help to much, then would you suggest a bigger signal amplifier or the monster power strip

if the signal amplifier amplifies the noise as well as the signal, then how about using the amplifier and routing it into the monster strip to filter out the noise?

thanks for the help guys

 

[Professor]

Try a piece of the good stuff like the 1198a, commonly called quad shield. If the signal strength is still not good, call your cable company and complain. It will never be even close to the HD like you saw it in the showroom, but you should have decent signal strength to you house to allow a decent picture without amplifying it.

 

[Sloto200]

its starting to sound like you have an issue with the cable coming into the house. you pay for service and if you call them they should send someone out that can check your signal strength and fix the excesive noise problem. theoretically (if i spelled that right) if you boost the signal then get the noise filter after the amplifier you should come up with something better. i'd call the cable company first to see if they can clear the signal up first though before i spent anymore money. i'm looking into getting direct tv right now actually because here in the very near future they will have ALOT of HD channels... more than any cable company will. I pay $10 extra a month to get 9 HD channels... i can do better with dish network or direct tv and am thinking about the switch... let us know what comes of your adventure...

 

[BusaCruise]

you never mentioned the brand of LCD.... there are still many crappy brands out there...especially if you've been shopping at Wally World for more than just amps.

I have a decent splitter (8 ports) that I might be willing to part with ...it's not meant for those requiring an HD signal .... but it's great for everything under that kind of frequency. That way you can make home runs from the rooms back to it.
I'll get some details on it tomorrow.

 

[psycobusa]

its a Sony Bravia LCD.....its not the splitter causing the trouble. i hooked my room straight up to the main incoming cable line and it was still fuzzy

 

[omslaw]

(psycobusa @ Mar. 01 2007,16:20) its a Sony Bravia LCD.....its not the splitter causing the trouble. i hooked my room straight up to the main incoming cable line and it was still fuzzy

If you hooked up to the main (which was gonna be my suggestion before reading this post) and it's still fuzzy - I would definitely contact your cable provider and have them check the signal out.

You're not gonna get HD with the analog channels, but it should still be a fairly decent picture.