OT: High Speed Internet/Cable amplifier question

I have high speed internet and cable coming into my house....i recently got a 40" flatscreen LCD TV at the picture seems to be fuzzier than my 1989 Zenieth...WTF!

through some asking and searching I found out that it is a possible my signal amplifier could be going bad and that I could remove it and the picture may get better.....

Haven't had the time or desire to get into the ceiling to reroute the coax lines, but today the cable guy was at my work hooking up new service (we switch ed companies). I asked him about the theory and he said, its anybodies guess, and could be a number of things but its not all that uncommon to have the amps go bad....he asked me if my amp has 2 ports of 4....I told him I was sure it had 4.....

few minutes later he comes up to me with a brand new one in package, and says, "here, if you had us come out, this would be the first thing we would try...its no charge, its all part of local service plans"....

Ok, so now I have this new shiny amplifier......and i am thinking (probably over thinking)....

Should I just go ahead and swap out the old one with new? OR put the new one in behind the TV (with only about 6ft from amp to TV)

Would putting it that close to the TV help? or hurt? Would it be pointless because the run is already far from the source splitters? would it boost so much signal that my TV would start smoking like bacon in a fry pan without the benefit of a good smell?

thanks in advance

swap out the old one.if its bad,its bad.
adding an amplifier to a bad signal wont help you.

autofrite said:

swap out the old one.if its bad,its bad.
adding an amplifier to a bad signal wont help you.

Click to expand...

True, but if my old amp is good, but have a poor signal to begin with, or the long stretch between old amp and TV is where the signal is lost then the extra amp may work in theory?

The job of that amp is to overcome cable- and splitter- losses. Therefore, you always want to "push the rope". Putting the amp at the TV is bad. Putting too much amplification in leads to loss of dynamic range and possible distortion. If you try it and it doesn't help, it will hurt.

Spencer in NH said:

The job of that amp is to overcome cable- and splitter- losses. Therefore, you always want to "push the rope". Putting the amp at the TV is bad. Putting too much amplification in leads to loss of dynamic range and possible distortion. If you try it and it doesn't help, it will hurt.

Click to expand...

that was my fear....

looks like I will be crawling around in the ceiling tonight

thanks

The idea is to find the strongest signal you can deal with, and put the amp there. All splitters after that. As long as you are in the attic, check or simply remake the connections. Are you wired with RG-6? 59 was used in many installations, but the current thinking is using 6. It's slightly larger, and less lossy than 59. After some time, connectors can degrade and you will see a loss at that point as well.

I do quite a bit of this at a local hospital and their satellite clinics (I moonlight) , and I can recommend snap-n-seal connectors over any crimped connections. Much more durable, and better connectivity. Not cheap, but very good. I think that last year, I used about 30,000 feet of coax for TV in a couple of expansion projects.

I'd make sure the main TV was getting the best possible signal level. At the first splitter, run one off the TV. It's better to run smaller splitters "early" in the run than after running a 4 way or 6 way. There are significant losses with splitters.

Also, the new display will show the lack of signal quality much more clearly than the old one. Are you viewing the "analog" or "digital" channels of the cable? Using a box, or direct to the TV? During the transition decade, both signals are available. You can probably configure things to skip the analog duplicates.

Chip

Thanks for the info/tips

Nope, no box, just right from the wall to TV.....not digital either.....

When I had slow internet speeds, my cable company came out on put an amplifier at the incoming signal to the house. It cost me $70, but he said I could take it with me if I moved, so I paid for it but got free installation.

Tom