Analog signal boosters - do they work?

We still have UPC Analog. We have one cable coming into the house with a simple splitter on one end feeding two cables off it to a television each. As a result the picture quality can be quite poor (especially when both tellys are on the same channel for some reason). Is there any way to improve the signal to what it is when the splitter is removed and it's only feeding one telly? Because picture quality is quite nice then!

I've been looking into signal boosters/amplifiers. Would this do the job? Thanks for any help!

The Cush

Deleted User wrote: »

I've been looking into signal boosters/amplifiers. Would this do the job? Thanks for any help!

Yes it should work, you should be able to pickup a distribution amp locally.
I used one on UPC analogue cable in Dublin previously.

When buying ensure that it covers the VHF range also, the analogue channels will probably start at 174MHz VHF so one that has a frequency range 174-862 should suffice.

Can you recommended a good make please? I got one before from eBay and it was the greatest pile of ****e you ever did see. Want to do things right this time! I found some Irish sites with "Proception" amplifiers....good crowd?

The Cush

Deleted User wrote: »

Can you recommended a good make please? I got one before from eBay and it was the greatest pile of ****e you ever did see. Want to do things right this time! I found some Irish sites with "Proception" amplifiers....good crowd?

Proception should be OK but be sure it covers the required range e.g. on TV Trade they carry 2 ranges of Proception distribution amps but only the white range appears to be VHF/UHF.

If you're around the Limerick city area you could drop into Urlan TV on Clare St, they should be able to set you straight. B&Q/Homebase etc. also carry a range of amplifiers.

Oh yes I forgot about Urlan TV! Cheers.

zg3409

You need to, buy a specialised cable TV amplifier. These are designed for the type of signals on the system.

If you are in an area that offers broadband and phone then you need one with a return path. If not then broadband and phone may affect the signal. One designed for this use will block those (upstream) signals and stop problems.

If you are in an area that does not offer broadband and phone then you need a different amplifier.

If you are paying for multiroom, you should insist UPC provide a good signal to every TV, however I have first hand of them saying "get digital" as their analogue service was weak. They should provide decent analogue too, but often they fail to do so.

If you have analogue TV only, you should upgrade to "Digital Value" box. THIS IS ACTUALLY CHEAPER THAN ONLY ANALOGUE. This is the small grey box that does not record. You can't order it through their website but you can order over the phone. Last time I checked analogue was 25 ish and Digital value was 23 Euro. In addition you also get all analogue services still.

Back to the subject of amplifiers, I have use this one.
http://www.mediacables.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=51

a search on ebay for "Cable TV Booster" will bring up similar yellow units. Only go for the yellow ones with one output. You can split the output afterwards. NEARLY EVERY OTHER MAKE AND MODEL IS NOT AS GOOD.

I would not recommend buying one from your local electrical outlet. These nearly always are not designed for use on cable TV systems.

If you have a cable TV modem (for internet or telephone) I would normally recommend putting this before the amplifier as close to the outlet as possible.

With the above yellow unit I have sucessfully fed 10 TVs from one UPC outlet along with a broadband modem. The old picture was snowy, the new picture was perfect except for CH4 which in the old days was normally bad anyway.

If you are feeding lots of TVs I recommend using specialist equipment to test the signal to make sure every TV is getting an even amount. If the signal is too weak the channels will be snowy, if too strong the picture can break up and overload.

If looking at similar it is yellow, with THREE adjustments on the front. The ones with 2 adjustments are nearly as good. Ideally it needs to be set up with specialised equipment, but twiddle the knobs until all channels look OK. If you are in an anlogue only area I can recommend a different device.

It should be mounted as close to the UPC oulet as possible. If you have 2 UPC outlets use the one with the best signal. Ideally ask UPC to come out and improve the signal first if possible. Often they can replace the download (the cable outside) which can help if it's more than 5 years old. A UPC visit is free. However if you are only paying for one outlet, they will only guarantee one TV connected to have a good picture, so when they arrive only have one TV connected and show them the snowy picture.

oscan

I'm wondering if the Konig booster would be useful in this situation.

So from the wall I'm going to the UPC provided F type splitter, one output goes to the UPC dvr, the other goes to Coax-In on a vcr. The output of the digital box is a scart that also goes to the vcr. The coax-out from the vcr is split three ways (cheap coax splitters) to feed three tvs.

The analog tuning on the tvs is near perfect (Ch 4 is still a bit snowy, BBC2 could be a little bit better), but the video channel itself is almost complete static (you can barely make out the shadow of an image) be it analog or scart selected. If you remove the coax-in from the vcr then the picture becomes perfect, but then you're only left with the digital signal. With the coax in and scart out you have the same poor picture. It's the same if the 3 splits are removed and replaced with a single cable direct to a tv. I've also tried it with a different vcr with the same result.

Before I had the UPC splitter I just had a generic F type splitter and the tv analog signal was poor but watchable (removing the 3 splits for a single cable improved it on that one tv). Also TV3 on demand is mostly unusable due to choppy picture, which might be indicative of a poor signal.
I'm in a fully enabled digital/broadband area, but only have the digital (non-HD) service.

This setup was more or less fine up to about a week ago; the output from the vcr was perfect, the analog tuning on the usual suspects (Ch4, BBC2) was less than ideal but otherwise okay (and likely would have been fixed by having the UPC F splitter in place of the generic; got the UPC splitter from family, haven't been on to UPC yet to be told "get digital").

So would the Konig be useful in this situation?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

zg3409

oscan wrote: »

If you remove the coax-in from the vcr then the picture becomes perfect, but then you're only left with the digital signal.

That suggests the VCR modulator frequency clashes with another channel on UPC. You should move your VCR modulator frequency to an unused (probably very high) channel number. If you state the exact make and model number of your VCR we may be able to advise how to do this. Basically your VCR generates a new channel while playing and thos channel seems to be also used by UPC for TV or internet information. If you modify the channel or frequency used then you should get a clear signal from UPC and the VCR

oscan

Thanks. Model is Sony SLV-SE700. Other possible is a Sharp VC-M304.

zg3409

Sony manual is here:
http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/SLV-SE700/manuals
ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/manuals/consumer/SLVSE500_RO.pdf

It's in romanian, but on page 14 it shows how to change the RF channel. Remember after changing it, all the TVs would need to be retuned. I suggest trying a high number first.

oscan

That did the job. Thanks very much zg3409!

Now just to figure out how to tune in stations on the old Philips that's missing its remote.