Cable TV Reception

GehRehmee · Post by **GehRehmee** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:13 am

I'm sad. I have cable TV, but the reception is terrible. I feel like I should be grabbing an antenna to adjust and bend somewhere, but there's nothing to be done.

Certain sets in the house have static on certain channels, or just slightly fuzzy pictures on some. Many channels have some nasty ghosting. I suspect that it's also playing a part in some cable modem problems.

I know that the cabling in the house is ancient, and quite poorly put together.

Does anybody have pointers on what somebody should do to get their cable TV setup working better in their house?

JMEaT · Post by **JMEaT** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 3:35 am

Shi'bam!

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/cabletech

Capm · Post by **Capm** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:35 am

Has this been a gradual problem getting worse over time? Sounds like a corroded fitting or your drop has been chewed by squirrels (which would explain the ghosting), if its on all TV's. More than likely you'll need to call the cable guy out.

Thats a pretty neat little FAQ - altho its not too accurate about the Humbars(horizontal bar movinge up screen) - what happened there was he probably did all that at the same time as the guy at the head-end replaced a bad reciever or something. Humbars are usually not a drop problem, and electrical interferance manifests itself differently. This guy was probably just an installer and not a technician.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 12:44 pm

Capm wrote:Has this been a gradual problem getting worse over time? Sounds like a corroded fitting or your drop has been chewed by squirrels (which would explain the ghosting), if its on all TV's. More than likely you'll need to call the cable guy out.

I agree. If it was an internal problem, it'd be a simple matter of re-crimping the ends. Just make sure its not on your end, or they'll more than likely want to bill you. If you feel like it, take a VCR and hook the output to the main input to your house and see if you still have ghosting issues. If you do, its either a problem with the splitter or internal wiring. If you want to take it a step further, use a coax union to connect the VCR to specific rooms and see if you still have ghosting. Rinse and repeat for each room. If it is an internal wiring problem, then it could be fun to replace it all...depending on how the internal structure of the walls were laid out.

Capm · Post by **Capm** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 8:53 pm

Channels 2-6, if they are alot worse than the other channels, then its a connector issue, usually corrosion. If 2-6 are better than your higher channels, thats usually a passive device (splitters, lightning damage, etc)

If channels 3 or 4 are crystal clear, your VCR is on

While the cable guy is there, see if you can get some jumpers out of him, replace as many of your wal-mart specials as you can. Rule #1 is - if you bought it at -mart or -shack, then its junk.
Rule #2 is - if its gold plated, then its junk. (except maybe wallplate barrels, you usually can't go wrong with them) if you have any of that, see if you can get him to replace it for you - usually they'll do it for free, but if they do charge you it usually isn't expensive, and it'll be a hell of a lot better than what you buy at the store.

There is a mathematical formula for ghosting that will give you the footage to where the problem originates, but I'd have to look it up...

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 4:24 pm

Capm wrote:Rule #1 is - if you bought it at -mart or -shack, then its junk.

Well, that all depends on the brand and who's running the place. The local Radio Shack is pretty good at getting decent stuff in instead of the usual cheap crap at the other stores. I've had very good luck with everything I've bought from there. However, your milage will vary.

Though it does help that I'm good friends with the manager.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 7:02 pm

Capm wrote:Rule #2 is - if its gold plated, then its junk.

OMG - you take that back!

I run all "Mission" branded gold-plated, annealed Oxygen-free copper 200 stranded interconnects, on my stereo system and paid around $500 for them. Noticeable improvement in the sound quality too.

BAAL · Post by **BAAL** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 7:24 pm

Mobi, we're not talking about audio here....

Capm · Post by **Capm** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 11:15 pm

Mobi - the only reason you got better audio quality was because of the heavier gauge cable. Think about it - what part of the circuit is the outside part? Its the ground! Does no good to gold plate that.

Now, gold-plated center conductor - that'll help a little (not a ton). In all honesty you'd have to be using solid gold wire to get your best performance. They actually make a silver plated center conducter COAX RG59 - but its extremely expensive and is used only in cable head-ends.

You could have gotten your same sound quality gain by just using bigger wire. Quality connectors don't hurt either - but gold plating the fittings does no good whatsoever - in fact - it may hurt, if the gold reacts with another metal.

So, BAAL, this applies to audio equipment too.

However - you don't get the bling bling effect from regular wire tho