Cable Splitting ?

Ha dad and i have been getting our butt kicked on this for awhile. Cable comes in house to splitter. One line goes to modem, the other 4 to the TVs. Problem is if we have them all going into one 5 way splitter the tv and digital cable works (all the premium channels) but no Comcast. If we bring it in split it then split it again we have internet but no digital tv channels. Going on from their main tv signal is usually strong but TV's 2,3,4 are very snowy and poor picture quality. We got this massive splitter from Home Depot for about 30 bucks that should be able to handle it but no. So any ideas on what type of setup to run?

shawn, the only thing that comes to mind right not would be a cable booster. its a small box that runs off of electricity, and you plug your cable into it.

That's what I needed. It's nothing more than a signal booster. The cable guy put a meter on our line and you can see the signal drop from the outside. Just renenber your internet connection should be the primary line and the cable secondary.

Yeh that is how it is. We have the main line coming into the house and that goes to the splitter box. The first line off of that goes to the internet, the other to the main TV and digital cable and the other 3 lines come upstairs to the tvs their. We are actually going to change the cable from the splitter to the main TV since we have been switching that around and it may be a problem, we do have the booster somewhere in the house, i had bought one for my room along time ago but we just need to find the thinger and see.

First thing I would do if you can is try to run your cable to the 2 way splitter - have one line go to your internet, and run the other feed to ONE TV. Make sure it works fine for that TV with no additional load on your cable line. If this is OK, try the same thing for each of your feeds (directly connected to the initial splitter). In doing this, you can isolate each TV feed to be certain that you don't have a bad cable that is back feeding throughout the rest of your cable system. For example, if you have a bad end on one of your TV cables, where the wire insulation touches the center conductor, it will cause a "ground loop", and will cause this same type of noisy signal. It should be noticeable with one TV or all of them hooked up, but doing it this way will make it easier for you to locate it. Also- it might not be a bad idea to try a different splitter. You could have a ground loop in there too. If you use a splitter with more outputs than feeds, be sure to use a "Coax Terminator" on the open spots on the splitter - this will divert all signal back to the used feeds (i.e. - if you have a 5 way splitter and 4 output lines- add a terminator on the 5th post). BTW- if you do have an open post, you can use that line for an FM antenna. It usually boosts your FM a little bit (you might not want this if you live in a metro area).

If all is OK, connect the splitter back up and connect each TV one at a time. As you connect each TV- check all of the other TV's to be sure they are OK, and to be sure that there isn't a drastic signal loss at any one set. If you see the signal degrade with each successive set, (you might), you have a couple of options. You could try a signal booster. If you try this- it pays to get a good one - especially if you have a larger screen TV. These things amplify the existing signal, so if your incoming signal is weak to begin with, your signal booster will simply amplify a weak signal. You will get a cleaner signal, but it probably won't be the sharpest picture you've ever seen. A better alternative is to call your cable company and have them "attenuate" your signal. There are inline adjustments that they can make in the line that will allow more signal to come into your feed. What happens is this... their network is a big splitter (for your neighborhood), and the signal gets weaker as there are either more users or a greater distance frome their hub. As they add subscribers, your signal gets weaker. Where I live, they will come out and do this at no charge, and will generally fix the problem. Generally... if the problem is inside the house- it's your problem, but if it's outside the house- it's theirs.

Good luck with this...

Well we got the line that helped a ton and now were looking for the splitter.

Fixed its fricking wagon guys, bought this 40 dollar 1 in 2 out signal booster tonight and it works great. Next week when moms in Tn and sisters in Ny dad and i are going to revamp the system starting where it comes in.

Were taking that line in from outside to the 5 way box or so then were gonna run that up stairs and somehow its gonna power the TV or Cable Internet havent decided but i know upstairs were going to use the one in one out booster once we find it for that one into a splitter but were going to tie in my surge protector i bought that has 2 separate one in one out to clear any static out of the line. Its really hard to describe but we got an idea and were rednecks lol so were gonna git r done.

http://accessories.rca.com/en-US/modeldetail.html?maincat=Surge&subcat=Surge+Protection&modelnum=PS83202C2

Got that one.The one i want from Circuit City is like 85 bucks, lol :)

The terminators are a good idea, the booster MAY help, but you need to get to the root of the problem. How old is the cable in your house to start with? Is it RG-59 or RG-6? RG-6 is prefered. What are the operating frequencies of the splitters you are using? You will want splitters that go to 2-3 Ghz, not the 1-1.5 Ghz you normally find. The splitters will say what they are right on them. What type of Cable ends are you using? Are any grounded out? Get all this stuff checked out first and if need be fix the problem right and do not just apply a band-aid solution.