AKICOLJ: Cable TV

[gerisullivan]

I have cable TV. The former owner had cable connections in several rooms, but when my cable was hooked up, the installer checked, then said the previous generation(s) of cable weren't good and he installed one new cable. Shortly after that, I tried one of the upstairs connections just to see if it worked; it didn't.

My living room arrangement is no longer working. One of the possible rearrangements involves moving the TV 20 feet away, across the room lengthwise from the 6-8 feet of cable it is currently connected to.

Is there a solution for this that a cable neophyte can handle? Preferably one that doesn't involve calling the cable company and paying them to put in another connection?

I tried Google -- from what I can make out of the technical pages my search turned up, I should be able to do something with a splitter. I don't really want to split the signal, though; I just want the cable to be long enough to reach across the room. That's likely to end up being more like 35 feet -- I'd run it along the baseboards and not straight across the room itself.

Fingers crossed there's an easy answer to this!

(Yes, I've been watching too much HGTV. Not that there's anyplace else in my house to put everything if I were to empty out the room for starters as their shows so often do. Lovely though it would be to paint if I did....)

Comments

[fmsv.livejournal.com]

You could probably use a splitter as a connector to join two lengths of cable (connect the "input" connection of the splitter to the existing cable in your living room, and the new piece of cable you'll be running across the room to one of the "output" connections, and don't connect anything to the other connection). I'm not sure if they make simple 1-1 connectors for cable, so that might be your best option.

(And if adding that much cable lowers your signal quality too much, you could get a cable amplifier (in place of the splitter), but they're harder to find. We've got one that Time Warner installed for us several years ago (at no charge); I've since seen some in some specialty electronics stores.)

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It looks like cable amplifiers are readily available online.

(I'd likely go straight thataway unless someone had a spare splitter I could try first, just to see if it worked.)

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I have a spare splitter -- want me to mail it to you?

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Many thanks for the offer of your spare splitter! From other comments, it sounds like I should try a plain (digital) connector instead, so don't mail anything my way just yet.

(And if you find another home for it, please don't feel bound by the fact that I might ask if you still have it a month or two down the road.)

[johno.livejournal.com]

Radio Shack.

Ask for a barrel connector and 25' of coax.

You may loose some signal, but not as much as with a splitter.

For just 20-25'you shouldn't need a amplifier.

Unless you are feed 3 VCRs, a TIVO and a TV.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

One cable box, hooked to one TV that's currently hooked to one DVD player. There's a VCR that needs to be added into the stack; the old one died.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

If you want to tape from the cable, you'll need a splitter to go between the cable box and the TV and VCR (and then hook the VCR output to the TV input).

I have my splitter between the input cable and the two VCRs and then the VCRs and the DVD player are hooked up directly to the TV. This lets me see what's on TV without switching from one of the VCRs back to the TV, which is useful when I'm taping two programs and watching a third all at the same time.

[jolest.livejournal.com]

She doesn't need a splitter from the description she gave.

Wall-jack -> cable-box -> VCR -> TV

The VCR or the TV may already have multiple input options (most VCRs have at least RF and RCA (line) options). Use the RF input for the cable-box signal and use the RCA-in (line-in) connectors for the DVD player. This would require the VCR be "on" to watch a DVD, but removes some extra hardware and also allows taping non copy-protected DVD material on the VCR...

As an alternative, if the TV has multiple inputs, she could hook the DVD straight into the TV. This would allow recording a cable show while simultaneously watching a DVD (an option not available with the first configuration I mentioned). But this wouldn't allow for recording non copy-protected DVD material...

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

You're right, I didn't think of that.

[haniaw.livejournal.com]

If you have digital cable, make sure you get the right kind of connector. A regular one will diminish your signal significantly.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the added detail. I do have digital cable!

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

I may even have the coax in the basement!

[voidampersand.livejournal.com]

Throw away old coax. Buy nice new coax that doesn't have kinks and breaks in the sheathing and gaps where the insulation (inside) has cracked. Unless you really like debugging RF problems and were only waiting for the excuse to buy the test equipment.

[laurel]

It's a simple do-able thing. You can even find long lengths of coax at places like Target and sometimes connectors and splitters and all that stuff that other people have mentioned.

'Course hardware stores and Radio Shack also have 'em, but I was very pleased when I had a Coax Emergency and found what I needed at Target (I suppose it's possible they don't have as much stuff any more, but it wasn't all that long ago that they did).