Electronic Gurus?

[Barb P]

I have two 25in analog TVs, that I do not want to replace.
One in living room, now has a converter box, that works well for digital stations. It gives me only 2 extra.
I live in the boonies. I cannot get cable, and do not want the expense of sattelite, that went out everytime the weather was bad. (had DISH)
Here's the problem/question.

The TV in bedroom, is connected to a coax cable that might be about 75', not sure...it's really long.
It is split from the living room tv, which is connected to an outdoor antenna.
The converter box, when connected to bedroom TV, brings in only one channel. Right now I get 3, but not digital.
Could the coax cable going to the BR, be too long?
Could the coax be deficient in quality?
If the converter box doesn't bring in the digital signal, what are the chances that a new modern TV, will?

Why would the bedroom TV be different than the living room TV, when they both are on the same antenna?

Sorry, I couldn't be more concise.

[Greg]

A few things that I have found out so far. Keep the cables as short as possible,and Buy the best cables you can find.
I have been told you can add an amplifier (Radio shack) but get an adjustable one, Too much signal is as bad as not enough.
TV tuners vary greatly in sensitivity, I have an RCA and a Panisonic. There are many times that the RCA will not have a channel that the Panisonic does. Greg

[Jim from Canada]

Greg
Careful on the expensive cable routine. Dealers (Best Buy) have been caught selling outlandish priced HDTV cables (Monster Cable) for over $200 to people buying new tv's and tests have shown that the $16 cable is exactly the same quality of signal. I saw the tests and the "sale" of the products on "Marketplace" a CBC consumer show. You can find info on the episode at

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/packing_the_deal/

Jim

[Barb P]

Greg, I do have an amplfier, (Radio Shack, by the way). Without it, there was no signal at all from the outdoor antenna.
It doesn't help that I am on the side of a hill, and at least one of the towers is in the direction of the woods at the top of the hill.

I will try shortening the cable first. It also isn't the same diameter as the cable coming from the antenna to the LR television. It's thinner.

Other than the long thinner coax, I don't see why the converter box would bring in channels on one TV and not on another.

Just reread Greg's statement about the two different TVs. So maybe a new TV with digital tuner, would work better than the converter box, even tho it's on the same coax cable?

[Greg]

Let me reword the part on the cable. I should have said don't buy a cheap cable. There are differences in line (signal) loss with different cables. The cable connectors also play a part in this equation also. the bottom line is you want as little loss as possible. If you already have an amplifier try adjusting it up or down some (if it is the adjustable type) and see if that makes a difference.
Do you have an antenna rotor? It seems to me that antenna aim is a little more crutial with digital than analog.
I am no expert here, I am learning by doing just like you, I just have a few months head start I guess. Greg

[Guest]

You might try replacing all your cable from antenna to the tv's including the splitter. Use RG-6 cable (low Loss) runs over 100 ft. without much loss. A new splitter which is designed for the digital bandwith will help to. An antenna rotor would be very helpful if your stations are coming from different directions. All the above items can be bought at Rat-shack.

Bill W.

[flcruising]

Sounds like you are using RG-59 for the bedroom cable, which has a much higher loss than the thicker RG-6 like Bill W. mentioned.

DTV is an 'all there or nothing' system, so the loss from that long run of cable is degrading the quality enough to not allow the tuner to convert what little information is left over.

Two tests you could do is:

1) Unhook your splitter and connect your cable to the outlet feeding your bedroom tv. This will tell you if there's enough signal strength to get there to begin with.

2) Bring your tv to the living room and hook up a long run of RG-6 cable to see if that would benefit anything.

If it works, you may need an amplifying splitter to boost the signal to the bedroom. Unlike the distribution block you have now which splits the signal after the booster sending only half the strength to each tv.

[Barb P]

Oh cool, more ideas to try. I had a rotor at one time. Didn't help.
The wind is so intense on the hill here, that the antenna kept turning on it's own, until the pro installars screwed the pole itself, to the deck it's attached to.
Now it doesn't turn, the wind just bends or breaks the metal prong thingies. *sigh*

I will try the other ideas. Thank you All.

edit: bedroom cable is RG53U...is that a problem?

[Greg]

Barb, Try Googling "Digital TV problems" there are many sites dealing with it. Greg

[Barb P]

Hmmmm, now why didn't I think of that? I Google every other problem. Never did find out how to fix my recliner, though.