Coax cable tv pixelation

[whatline]

We’ve been experiencing pixelation for over half a year. Cable was out several times and said signal to box was good. They weren’t making inside visits. The cable from the box runs into basement to splitter. Then to tv on first floor. It mostly happens on discovery channels. Tech said different channels run thru cable at different frequencies. Maybe our 26 yr old r4 should be upgraded to r6. A second cable runs from box thru wall to second floor outlet. From there to a spitter one to bedroom tv the other into attic to splitter the to 2 bedrooms. The bedroom one was huge duos and they said it was a cable or splitter issue si I bypassed the attic and that fix the bedroom tv. Does cable go bad or is r4 now inadequate for more than just cable tv... thanks

[toolmiser]

I don't know much about this, but we had an issue a couple years ago, they sent out a tech and he couldn't find anything. I complained again and they sent out another. He found our main splitter was bad, and it was fixed after he replaced it. He did say that they will very in quality, and I have no idea where to find a good one.

Another time the tech was concerned about the "ends" or connectors.

[ianab]

Another time the tech was concerned about the "ends" or connectors.

The connection between the cable and plugs can be subject to corrosion over time. The cable itself is likely OK, unless it's been damaged by mice or nails over the years. But if the connections at the ends are dodgy, then your signal will be too.

[R Clark]

I don't know much about this, but we had an issue a couple years ago, they sent out a tech and he couldn't find anything.  I complained again and they sent out another.  He found our main splitter was bad, and it was fixed after he replaced it.  He did say that they will very in quality, and I have no idea where to find a good one.

Another time the tech was concerned about the "ends" or connectors.

+1.

Back when we had cable, we had an issue with poor picture quality.  Cable peeps sent out a tech who was fairly conversational; he explained that often the splitters are of questionable quality.  He said that if picture quality degrades on a coax-connected set, focus on those splitters first.  He said that often he runs into cheap splitters that people get at the BORG or Wallyworld for $1.99 and they never will be good.

We've cut the cable out here, now, but we still have a number of splitters since I have one OTA antenna in the attic and it feeds a signal to an amplifier and then to three TVs through coax runs.  If I ever have an issue, those connections get the first look.  A splitter is not much more than a concentration of multiple connections.

[TDKPE]

On the subject of splitters, as a general rule each 2-way split cuts signal power by 3.5 dB, or a little more than half-power.  When folks add to a coax network, it's not uncommon to split an existing line that's already been split, then split it again.  Those losses are additive, so if you put four 2-way splitters in series, you can end up with the last two leads in the chain (off the last splitter) both being -14 dB while the first split is only -3.5 dB.  You can and often will get different performance at the various end users, though that also depends on how good each TV is at sensitivity and error correction (assuming digital).

The better way is to use a 4- or 8-way splitter, which will share the pain across all ports while eliminating losses associated with each cable end (splits are internal), with home runs to each TV.  Big splitters are also usually (but not always) amplified, to negate the effects of splitting more than that of long cable runs, since a clean piece of good quality cable doesn't lose that much signal (a pretty fuzzy statement).  

When we first moved in, my cable co. replaced the mess of splitters with a single amplified 2-way splitter with one leg to the modem*, and the other to an 8-way splitter that serves most of the rest of the house (had to add another 2-way off the 8-way eventually).  And just so you know, there are amplified splitters that split off for a modem at the first internal 2-way split, then split the remaining ports for TV.  

*Cable guy said they always split off for the modem first, so it has the cleanest signal they can reasonably provide, then split the rest to the TV's and cable boxes where applicable.  That was almost 20 years ago, and I have no idea what's considered best practice these days.  And now every TV in my house that has cable has a box, since it's all digital and encrypted here. 

[Robert Adams]

I remember when they switched from analog to digital OTA broadcasting. They said you will either get reception or you won't. Well... Yeah they were wrong. When you get a poor signal you will get a partial picture and sound. You will get half ish a screen or other parts when you don't get a full signal. Then when certain channels all the sudden don't come in well and they get complaints they say that they haven't done anything until you find out that they were doing maintenance on another transmitter on the tower and they had turned the power down on the transmitter.

[rudedan60]

I was just experiencing this. Part of the issue is that Cell Tower 5G Frequencies are real close to the new UHF TV signals. You can buy a small filter from Channel Master for this, it has helped some. I also replaced my RG-6 from my antenna with RG-6 Quad Shield. It has made a big difference. I also have had better reception as the trees lost their leaves. I will find out if this was a factor next spring or not. Hope this helps out.  I do have steaming TV on Comcast since I have no choice for internet only.  Dan

[pconroy]

Does cable go bad or is r4 now inadequate for more than just cable tv... thanks

I'm not familiar with R4.  The two types of coax I've seen are RG59 and RG6.  If replacing the coax is possible, and you're not running quad-shield RG6, then that's the first thing I'd do.

Second, like others have said is get any cheap ($10 or less) splitters out of the run.  If you run to Walmart, you can find a 50' run of quad shield RG6 and run a temporary line between the TV and the source.  If the pixelation goes away, you know where the problem is!

Good splitters will be a name brand, like Channel Master, and expensive.
I have an 8 way powered distribution hub from Channel Master. Read the descriptions on the splitters. The cheaper ones will be for splitting an antenna input - not a cable signal feed.