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Anonymous88
Premium Member
join:2004-06-01
IA

1 recommendation

Anonymous88

Premium Member

Good splitter vs bad splitter

Click for full size
Click for full size
Did you ever wonder why some splitters are way cheaper than the others?

Guess which one is Mediacom approved and which one is not.

Also keep in mind that one is soldered and the other one is glued on (the missing cover).
Turbocpe
Premium Member
join:2001-12-22
IA

2 edits

1 recommendation

Turbocpe

Premium Member

Well, since my house uses the one (brand wise, not a 4-way) on the left, and because the fact that the one on the left is also the one I see Mediacom installing, I would assume that is the Mediacom approved unit.

Is the one on the right a Radio Shack, gold??

Edit: Another useful post, Anonymous
Clever Name
Premium Member
join:2005-05-06
Davenport, IA

Clever Name to Anonymous88

Premium Member

to Anonymous88
I would assume the one with the circuit board is the better model. I could use a good splitter, where can I buy a 3 way version of that online?

Anonymous88
Premium Member
join:2004-06-01
IA

Anonymous88

Premium Member

Yeah the one on the left is much better than the one on the right. I would say if it's looks gold plated stay away.

A good place with quality stuff

»mjsales.net/cat1.asp?Cat ··· t1ID=266

sawman
Premium Member
join:2002-04-25
BC KS

sawman to Anonymous88

Premium Member

to Anonymous88
I was guilty of buying one of those gold ones. No wonder the tech replaced it when he fixed the underground I stuck a shovel in. Glad he did! I've got better modem signal numbers now.
wth
Premium Member
join:2002-02-20
Iowa City,IA

wth to Anonymous88

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to Anonymous88
Good Info & Pics If mediacom won't give you one, I'm sure they would sell you one at the office and add it to your cable bill for little.

Anonymous88
Premium Member
join:2004-06-01
IA

1 edit

Anonymous88

Premium Member

Click for full size
This is the picture of the other side of the circuit board and the contents of the gold splitter (not much to see there).

So next time when you go splitter shopping I hope you will remember this thread

mattmag

join:2000-04-09
NW Illinois

mattmag


That's some really good info Anon.

Funny thing is, if you just *look* at the two, the SVI unit appears to be of lower quality, it isn't "gold", and the label looks very generic.

Amazing the difference in the internal components!

How in the hell does the the piece of crap gold-colored one even work? All that has is some twisted-together pass-through wires with a ferrite choke on them....amazing...

-Matt

Anonymous88
Premium Member
join:2004-06-01
IA

Anonymous88

Premium Member

You see that's the problem! People see something that looks gold plated (I seriously doubt it is in this case) and they assume it must be great.

The SVI splitter is used by Mediacom (also Regal brand is used too)

The gold splitter combined with crappy fittings will almost always cause bad picture on local channels. And whats' inside is not the only difference here. The gold splitter is also very light and really easy to break open, unlike the SVI one.

That splitter was installed by some lady (she figured she can do it herself and avoid paying for the additional outlets).

Persona
Premium Member
join:2004-07-07
Calgary, AB

Persona

Premium Member

Here's what I look for: 5-1000 MHz frequency range...not 5-900 MHz.
Solid construction for indoor or outdoor use.
Displayed loss on each spigot.
Chainzz
Aka Snippy
join:2004-07-26
Sarnia, ON

Chainzz

Member

Bad splitter will also allow ingress and noise into the system causing poor pics with off air ghosting channels. Also poor splitters and connections will cause RF leakage. If there is alot of this in the system it can have effects on emergency communications and aircraft. Leakage is mandated by the government and if not fixed and under control they can strip broadcasting licenses to the local cable company. Stay away from radio crap stuff and use what the local cable company uses.
Mook14
join:2005-08-22
Northeast NJ

Mook14 to Anonymous88

Member

to Anonymous88
Frequency response, bandwidth, return and insertion losses, isolation, leakage and other factors are never listed on consumer blister packages, but are very important for performance. You're certainly right when you say cable companies know which ones to use...

About the only check a consumer can make is to look for a soldered back seal, which might indicate better overall quality and performance. A glued on back will have much higher ingress/egress potential.

There really should be some kind of mandatory requirements for products like this that can seriously affect performance and interference...

BTW: The gold splitter may also fail sooner from vibration since the ferrites are only supported by their fine wires.

mattmag

join:2000-04-09
NW Illinois

mattmag to Anonymous88

to Anonymous88

I have the SVI in a 3-way version where the service enters the house. 3.5db port goes straight to the cable modem. Further downstream, I have an "unknown name" 2-way splitter, and then an RCA 3-way again. Maybe I'll hit up the local tech and get a few more of the SVI flavor for those!

Anonymous88
Premium Member
join:2004-06-01
IA

2 edits

Anonymous88

Premium Member

mattmag See Profile that seems like a messy setup. Why do you have so many splitters?

mattmag

join:2000-04-09
NW Illinois

1 edit

mattmag



Yeah, it's messy. Just bought the house about 2 years ago, haven't had time yet to overhaul the cable runs. The first 3-way splits to the modem as I mentioned, then one to the TV in the same room as the modem, and on to the next splitter, the 2-way. It goes to one TV, then down into the lower level to the other 3-way that feeds a TV there, and 2 more outlets above that level which is the living room and another bedroom.

3 kids, 5 TV's and the cable modem......youch!

Gotta figure out a better way when I re-do it, but no matter how I slice it I need a lot of outlets.

Anonymous88
Premium Member
join:2004-06-01
IA

Anonymous88

Premium Member

Just home run it. It's going to be a lot of work and may not be always possible but you will have to do it someday.

mattmag

join:2000-04-09
NW Illinois

1 edit

mattmag



OK, that's what I was figuring... all to a single (6-7 way?) splitter then?

Anonymous88
Premium Member
join:2004-06-01
IA

3 edits

Anonymous88

Premium Member

Maybe a two way to a four port amp with another two way. Or a two way to an amp to an eight way.

I had a pic of my setup (modem and six TVs) somewhere.

Here

»/speak ··· Mg%3D%3D

Also my signal is great

Downstream SNR 38.4 dB
Downstream Power Level 1.2 dBmV

Upstream Power Level 48.5 dBmV

mattmag

join:2000-04-09
NW Illinois

mattmag


That's very nice! Do you happen to have part numbers for those pieces? And I see the official Mediacom cable ends on all. Can a person request made-up lengths like that? What is the power supply for the amp?

My signal is OK too, but not fantastic.

SNR is 31dB
Down power is 6dB
Up is 47

Anonymous88
Premium Member
join:2004-06-01
IA

2 edits

Anonymous88

Premium Member

Unfortunately I did not purchase them so I can't tell you. I'll try to find few stores with some good stuff and let you know.

BTW I had to rewire my house and could not wallfish (50 year old house) so I had to run few cables on the ceiling in my garage but it's all good. So if you have to improvise go for it.

I'll post some pictures of the equipment I use tomorrow.

I'm surprised to see that SNR. Is it QAM256?

martmann
join:2000-12-11
Federal Way, WA

martmann to Anonymous88

Member

to Anonymous88
Channel Vision are circuit board based splitters, and are high quality. I just used a few of them (a 6-way, and 2 2-way) to completely redo my home cable system, in preperation for a new Plasma.

I bought mine here> »www.hometech.com/video/s ··· ers.html

and I highly recommend them, lots of usefull info there, fast shipping, great prices.
Chainzz
Aka Snippy
join:2004-07-26
Sarnia, ON

Chainzz to Anonymous88

Member

to Anonymous88
That snr of 31 is getting low there, especially if your area has noise issues. Most downstream signals are 256qam now anyways.
CyberTrip
join:2004-11-22
Ridgecrest, CA

CyberTrip to martmann

Member

to martmann
said by martmann:

Channel Vision are circuit board based splitters, and are high quality. I just used a few of them (a 6-way, and 2 2-way) to completely redo my home cable system, in preperation for a new Plasma.

I bought mine here> »www.hometech.com/video/s ··· ers.html

and I highly recommend them, lots of usefull info there, fast shipping, great prices.
Those are quite expensive.

You can some good quality cheap splitters on ebay. They have alot of Regal on there. Don't see SVI very much tho.

Hey Anonymous, are you an installer or a tech? I'm an installer out here in So Cal. You know a guy named Rick? He moved out here from somewhere in Iowa.

martmann
join:2000-12-11
Federal Way, WA

martmann

Member

$18.50 is expensive for a 6-way, high quality splitter?

I don't do ebay.
SpeedSk8X
join:2004-12-01
Columbus, GA

SpeedSk8X to Anonymous88

Member

to Anonymous88
Anonymous:

In your picture the amp is powered by another
coax cable. Is there some conversion to this
cable where it plugs into an AC outlet or is
that powered coax coming off the pole?

I'm thinking about running my house like you have
yours setup.

Anonymous88
Premium Member
join:2004-06-01
IA

Anonymous88

Premium Member

said by SpeedSk8X:

Anonymous:

In your picture the amp is powered by another
coax cable. Is there some conversion to this
cable where it plugs into an AC outlet or is
that powered coax coming off the pole?

I'm thinking about running my house like you have
yours setup.
There is a power adapter and it uses coax cable. It comes with an amp. The only line that comes from the pole is the 'main feed'.

burner50
Proud Union THUG
Premium Member
join:2002-06-05
Iowa

2 edits

burner50 to Anonymous88

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to Anonymous88
Click for full size
For those Amps there is also a power inserter that you can backfeed the DC into the RF Out on the amp for if there is not AC Accessible near the amp.
But i'm curious, Why do you have the HSD off a 2-way before the amp. That Amp will amplify 5-55Mhz reverse path.

here is my setup, I dont have any fancy pictures or anything but you get the point.
Spurge
Premium Member
join:2002-01-04
Columbia, MO

Spurge

Premium Member

You must have different amps than the one in Annon's picture because all of our amps here that look like that are only return passive they do not amplify the return path. I'm glad they don't do it either cause it would be a nightmare to hunt problems down with those in-house amps trashing the return path with noise.
CyberTrip
join:2004-11-22
Ridgecrest, CA

CyberTrip to burner50

Member

to burner50
said by burner50:

For those Amps there is also a power inserter that you can backfeed the DC into the RF Out on the amp for if there is not AC Accessible near the amp.
But i'm curious, Why do you have the HSD off a 2-way before the amp. That Amp will amplify 5-55Mhz reverse path.

here is my setup, I dont have any fancy pictures or anything but you get the point.
the problem i see with using an amp and a cable modem is that most of the amps are 10db amps. most signal coming in is fine for a cable modem after a 2 way split and using an amp can actually make your forward signal too strong. if the signal is too weak coming from the tap, well, then obviously you need a maintenance tech out to change the tap to a lower value. amps should not be used to make weak signals stronger. they should be used to make good signals stronger so you can distribute your signal to more outlets.

Anonymous88
Premium Member
join:2004-06-01
IA

Anonymous88 to burner50

Premium Member

to burner50
burner50 I really don't need to do that because I prefer to have my down signal at 0.