Cable coax splitters

[ratdude747]

well, welcome to wiring hell on mona vista court.

anyway, we just had Insight come over and hook up our cable internet/tv. they had to shut down half of the main road and run a wire across the street and down the block since the previous owners had a dish.

anyway, i had a 4 way splitter in the basement, a GE 5-900mhz. they took it out and replaced it with a butt splice, essentially a one way splitter.

i was eventually going to run additional lines in the house... but would my splitter work for digital cable/internet?

my original planned config

main box:

-wire to attic bedroom (pre-existing)
--cable modem
--cable box for my tv tuner card

-wire to 4-way (pre-existing)
--family room (pre-existing)
--basement TV #1 (fitness room)
--basement TV #2 (laundry room/my server room)
--parent's room

if the splitter is a bust, i might just use 2 two-way splitters; one for my room (the modem will be on an 8" cable from the splitter), one so the fitness room has TV (a man thing...)

[bluto]

Re: Cable coax splitters

Didn't the cable co make sure that the devices you currently have were working before they left? I count a total of six devices that you want hooked up (or seven-fitness room?). Ideally you would use an amplified splitter like this: http://www.smarthome.com/7750-8/Ampl...PIA-III/p.aspx to connect all of your devices. But this would also require pulling wires from each location back to the splitter.

Is there a splitter in the main box? If there is I assume that it is a 2-way with one wire going to the attic bedroom and the other going to the '4-way'. The cable modem and digital box in the attic bedroom will probably get enough signal with your proposed splitter in the attic bedroom. The only problem could be if the return signal for the cable modem and digital box can't make it back through the splitters (if they are substandard, bad crimps, bad cable, etc.).

The devices hanging off the 4-way are another story. If they are just analog tvs for basic cable (or expanded basic), they should be fine (there will be some signal loss but the will just cause varying amounts of static in the picture). If there are digital boxes involved, there may be issues with too much signal loss due to all of those splits and no amplification.

[ratdude747]

Re: Cable coax splitters

yeah, but only 2 exist right now, we barely moved in last weekend.

the main box has a 2-way in it, one to upstairs, one to the family room. reason is there were 2 previous satellite locations, un-connected. the line to the family room was originally a butt splice, i swapped for a splitter, they put in fresh connectors and a new butt-splice. all the current lines are rg-6.

right now, we have the modem in the attic and a tv in the family room. thats all. all crimps are good. i will probably buy 2 2-way splitters, one for the attic (so we have both a modem and a cable box), one for the basement (so the family room has maintained connection and the fitness room has a TV).

by the way, that was only part 1 of three of the wiring hell. part two is the mess of 120v-wiring; we have rooms with a mix of duplex romex and plastic grounded romex, a dryer hookup with no outlet even close to it, and switches wired wrong. my family will have an eletrician do it as i do not have the time or the expertise to do it right.

part 3: cat5 fun- whatever dumbass previously occupied this place decided to run a cat5 line form a bedroom to the basement. well, he ran it to a room with no grounded outlets. he must have been pushing cheater plugs... anyway, i installed an 8 port 10/100 hub in the basement, ran a line to where my server will be, and will run a line to my room in the attic. the pre-existing line will be used as that will be my parent's computer room.

however, the other two hells i have covered, its this cable part that had me stumped. i will buy the proper splitters and more rg-6 cable, and finish the job.

sound good?

[Krankshaft]

Re: Cable coax splitters

It depends on your signal strength first off you want the cable modem as close to the service drop as possible. Ideally at the first splitter same goes for any digital cable boxes they are VERY sensitive to signal strength fluctuations.

Stay away from 4 way splitters 3 way minimum (and only 1 of them at the service drop if anywhere) if you're not working with an amplifier.

Also if you have any signal strength problems like the cable box is pixelating or analog TVs have snow you need an amp.

Signal strength varies from place to place the best you can do is keep splits to a minimum and see what happens. If you have signal problems you'll need to install an amp.

I use Electroline Dropamps they're what the cable companies use and they're the best IMO. They don't screw around with digital signals for cable boxes like the cheaper ones do. You can get them for around 35 bucks shipped on e-bay.

Also never hook the cable modem line into the amp while ok for digital boxes and TVs too much signal strength can actually cause problems and slow down your Internet connection. Signal strength at the first split should be fine for the modem.

[ratdude747]

Re: Cable coax splitters

my new plan:

mainbox:
-attic line
--modem (short 8" cable after split)
--cable box
-basement line
--family room cable box
-- weight/fitness room OR parent's bedroom cable box.

there. sound good?

[Krankshaft]

Re: Cable coax splitters

Yup go for it. That's your best bet.

[tmwalsh]

Re: Cable coax splitters

Don't forget there is such a critter as a 'tap' that will allow access for devices very close to the 'split' that leaves the majority of the signal strength intact. That way, when you have a home-run to the attic, and a short run to the workout room, you can tap the cable for the workout room, and send the rest up to the attic at a higher strength than a full split.
If you have on-demand type programming, you want to make sure you have two-way splitters/taps on the signal path leading from the cable entry point{demarc} to the cable box.
tom

[Krankshaft]

Re: Cable coax splitters

If signal strength is that bad just get an amplifier they're pretty cheap and only run on a few milliamps of electricity.

[ratdude747]

Re: Cable coax splitters

the attic line and the workout room only converge at the main box outside the house. the family room and the workout room converge at a splice in the basement. the attic is on its own for a reason; it supplies the line for the modem. signal strength should not be an issue here.