TV Cable splitter = less quality input?

[ODiN]

I'm in a dorm room and I need to split the cable somehow so it can go to both my computer for my upcoming Marvel G400 and my roommate's TV card. Any ideas of how to do this? if I used a simple cable splitter, would there be any degredation in TV input quality? Thanks in advance.

[Grigory]

The quality may drop only if a TV receive a signal that is reflected from the other TV.
The image may become double contoured, and have reduced resolution.
The visibility depend on the lenght of cable, counting fro one TV to another, and the level of reflected signal. If cable splitter, and both TV's have correct input impedance, there will be no reflections, and the quality will not change.

Cable splitter works fine for me at home.

Grigory

[Mark F]

Typical 2way cable splitters drop about 3.5DB to each side. If you have a "healthy" signal to begin with that shouldn't be a problem. If the signal is of marginal strength, it'll push it over the edge, then a signal booster might be in order.
My cable co "garanties" 3 units minimum. When they hooked up my cable modem and split the signal from the TV, there was too week a signal, so I needed a booster. They had to suply it themselves (at no charge to me), because the TV and computer were only 2 devices.

Mark F.

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OH NO, my retractable cup holder swallowed a CD

[ODiN]

Thanks guys.....

My room is pretty small and the cord would be about 6 feet in length. Anyway, is the cable splitter simply connected at the outlet, or is it connected to the cable box? Also, how much can I expect to pay for one at say Radio shack? Thanks again.

[DrMordrid]

First of make sure you get the RIGHT cable and splitter.

Older US cable systems use RG59 cable, but these are not up to spec for new cable installations. A new grade of cable called RG6 what is now recommended, especially for use with digital cable. It offers much lower losses/ft of run.

Splitters have also been changed for new cable runs and are now rated for use up to 1000mhz.

Just to be safe use a 1000mhz splitter and RG6 or RG6-U (U=underground installable=DURABLE) cable.

Both are available at Radio Shak. The splitter will run a few dollars and a 6 foot RG6 grade cable the same.

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by DrMordrid (edited 20 October 1999).]