Need @Home Cable Modems, and Tv's Installation Advice!

[BuckMaster]

I need some advice here. I just finsihed most of my basement. I ran all RG-6 cable for both my cable modem and Tv's for downstairs. BTW I ran a dedicated line for my cable modem. So heres the problem/question I have a 4 way splitter out side the house.





Main Line to 4 Way Splitter:
-Bedroom
-Living Room
-Upstairs Cable Modem (Temp till I move to basement)
-Empty

Now I have added a 3 way splitter to the basement. This will feed the Tvs that will be in the basement. But honestly the only Tv's I will more then likey use is the one for my TV tuner in my PC and the family room. So that will make 2 more -TV connections downstairs, beside the dedicated like for my cable modem.

So now we have this after reconfiguring for everything:



Main Line to 4 Way Splitter:
- Bedroom
- Living Room
- Dedicated Line For Cable Modem
- Going to 3 way splitter in Basemnt

Basment 3 Way Splitter:
- Computer TV-Tuner
- Family Room TV

-Dedicated Line For Cable Modem still from 4 Way splittler

Of course only 2-TV's at one time will be on at the most. Do I need a Amplifier for this? My cable people are telling me I will loose to much of a signal and will need a Amplifier. There wanting to charge me $59.99 + labor! Should I really worry about this, or is there anything that would help if I bought my own hardware from radio shack or something and install it myself? The only thing Im really worried about is my cable modem line which will be dedicated already. Im open for any advise.


Thanks!
Buck

 

[Ender510]

If it's too much, just bring in another line from the box outside..

 

[iamwiz82]

my cable is split 6 times, plus cable modem makes 7, with no distortion at all.

[EDIT] I'm with comcast in michigan, guess i shoulda mentioned that.

 

[ArkAoss]

well, who is the service provider?? we got ours from att, they ran a new line from the pole for our digital phone, and the cable inet is after a spliter of theirs, and the 3 tv's are split after that, I say try it out your way and see what happens, i think a 4 way split might be worse than spliting it 2 ways one to cable then one to rest of house but i could be wrong, or in simple terms try to have as little cable after a splitter to the devices as possible. instead of breaking it outside the house, break it as close to devices as possible, like a daisy chain, rather than a central hub, if what I under stand about electronics is right.

 

[poop]

We had problems with line quality at my apt. If your house has bad cable wiring, then the cable modem might not work.

Also, you CANNOT use store-bought wires. The only wiring that works consistently is the kind our cable company provides. The ones at radio shack and wal-mart are not properly shielded. You can buy stuff to make your own (like the cable guy does). We were going to do that, but the cable guy gave us some one day when he came to fix a digital cable issue.

 

[Soybomb]

Actually walmart cable isn't that horrible as long as you get the proper resistance. Anyway from working at a cable tv place I can say thats more splitting than I'd like to do but it might work if you use HIGH QUALITY splitters. Walmart splitters are pretty crappy so you might see if you can buy a few from the cable company...

 

[BuckMaster]

I.m using RG6 Cable. It a higher grade cable the the ones for TV cables. Since I needed to run my Cable Modem with RG6 I went ahead and ran my whole basement in RG6 Cable I bought from Home Depot. Also Im running 4 connections and one other for my cable modem and everything works great!

BTW..I was going to get the cable people to run my lines and do all the installs for my basement I just finished. But they wanted to come out an re-run there own lines,jacks,amp, ect.. Which was going to be very expensive after the finally cost. I dont think so!