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Although I do not have a home theater system, I need to redo the in-house wiring for telephone service, and want to have the wiring contractor upgrade my cable TV/FM wiring as well.First question: For one TV and 4 FM outlets, do I need an active signal amplifier at the condo's cable entry point, or will a high-quality splitter do the job? (Should the installer have a signal-strength meter to check the signal for me??)
Second: Should I terminate at wall-plates and use coax "interconnects" from the wall to each tuner? Or should I leave long runs pushed through the wall with the extra length coiled up between the hole in the wall and the tuners. (This is how the cable company installers originally did it).
Using an external FM antenna is not practical - they are not allowed in the complex, and there is a steep 850 foot high ridge running between our condo and most of the SF area stations. The base of the hills is only 1/4 mile away.
Dave VH
Hey Dave,1) I don't know, I have 4 outlets that use 2 ways splitters as they move from room to room. It works fine but the last one in MY bedroom. I think it might be a loose wire as it comes and goes, but I don't watch it often and then don't want to crawl up in the attic at midnight.
2) Take your pick. In theory, fewer connections are best. Their signals are so strong, I doubt there'd be much difference by terminating and it looks nicer when not in use.
now you're getting into areas where I can help a bit - The best bet is to use "home-run" cables (4 separate coax runs from where the service enters the building to the 4 areas where you want outlets. Insist on "plenum-rated" coax (fire-rated - insurance companies like that) - A good 4-way splitter should be all you need (5-1000 mghz) - Putting an amp at the source isn't always the best idea since they have a tendency to overdrive the signal - I've taken a lot of big power amps out of service and improved the picture quality by leaps and bounds in 20+ TV systems.
Terminating the coax in a wall plate is fine - The pass-thru connector won't degrade the signal hardly at all and the overall appearance is much better (SigOther quotient)
Quality coax, quality connectors installed and crimped properly, quality splitter. All just a matter of paying attention to detail.
my cable tv supplier " Substandard Cable" , takes pride in their consistant poor quality of signal and service. I've tried fixing the ground, putting the rat shak amps in (much worse) and read somewhere that rat shak sells terminations for the unused cable ends. I bought a bunch because they're nearly free (and gave them Richard Nixon's address and phone number) but did't see any effect.So what's the deal on tweaking your cable service? I mean, besides dumping it altogether?
Well, I'm one to talk since I dumped cable 2 years ago in favour of DTHS but if your cable feed is "that" bad, you're probably getting a very poor signal delivered to your door - There's ways to check that, the cableco can and should do it - You're paying for a decent signal, I'm sure they're obligated to provide you with a minimum signal strength that should be of consistent good quality. If you're not (and check with the neighbours to see how they're signal is) - Scream bloody blue murder
Well, I'm one to talk since I dumped cable 2 years ago in favour of DTHS but if your cable feed is "that" bad, your probably getting a very poor signal delivered to your door - There's ways to check that, the cableco can and should do it - You're paying for a decent signal, I'm sure they're obligated to provide you with a minimum signal strength that should be of consistent good quality. If you're not (and check with the neighbours to see how they're signal is) - Scream bloody blue murder
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