best coaxial cable to use from wall to HD cable box?

Question

what about the coaxial cable going into the box from the wall? is that the best way to carry the signal for HD?
what is the best coax cabl eto use for that purpose/ I just got a new TV and where I want to position it requires more coax cable length than I currently have. Does the signal degrade after a certain distance?

Answer 1

Coaxial cables are digital so most of them are going to bring the signal in pretty much the same. Don't go out and buy a super expensive cable because the salesperson says so!



If the cable is going to be longer than 6-8ft, than make sure it has good shielding around it because when cables get that long, other electronic devices CAN interfer with the signal a little bit!



Maybe go with a mid-priced brand from the local electronics store.

Answer 2

Coaxial Cable Box

Answer 3

How do you think you get true HD over the air, from a local station? Answer - the HD video is compressed and then digitally modulated onto an RF (radio frequency) carrier. Well, the coax cable you're talking about can handle RF carriers too. In the case of cable TV you can have a couple hundred different RF channels. Each is 6 MHz wide. Each can carry either an old-style SD analog program, or several digital channels. The cable box tunes to one of them - just like old-fashioned tuning of pure analog TV - and then demodulates the digital signal. Small dishes work similarly, except that generally only one channel at a time comes down the coax from the satellite "tuner." Changing channels is usually done at the satellite tuner, under remote control from the viewing position. HDMI can only be used for relatively short runs. "Through the wall" is usually not practical. p.s.: Sorry Scott, but coax is NOT "transmitting standard definition", any more than is an over-the-air HD station.

Answer 4

Best Coaxial Cable

Answer 5

The best is RG-6 Quad Shield. It's thicker than RG-59 and it has 4 layers of shielding (two aluminum foil shields and two wire mesh shields). Thicker cable has less attenuation than thinner cable. But, for a short jumper like that, the difference between RG-6 and RG-59 would be negligible.



The connectors should be crimped on, instead of the cheaper screw-on types or those with the molded plastic insulation on them. These are cheaply made and will cause problems later. Also, do not use push-on connectors. You should use the screw-on F-fittings. You should also put them on finger tight, and then go one additional 1/6 turn with a wrench for a good connection.



The weakest link in a cable system is the fittings. Loose, improperly connected, or faulty fittings can cause RF signals to leak into the cable like an antenna, resulting in interference and high bit error rates for digital signals (you get pixelation on your TV for digital channels).



The best kind to get is one that is hand made by a cable TV installer. It takes an experienced installer about a minute to prepare a good, solid jumper cable. If you happen to catch a cable TV installer or repair technician out in the field, ask them to make one up for you. Or, go to your local cable TV company office and ask for one. They're free.

Answer 6

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

best coaxial cable to use from wall to HD cable box?

what about the coaxial cable going into the box from the wall? is that the best way to carry the signal for HD?

what is the best coax cabl eto use for that purpose/ I just got a new TV and where I want to position it requires more coax cable length than I currently have. Does the signal degrade...

Answer 7

Paul gave a great answer. Kudos.



Coax is rated by rolling out 100 feet, shoving signals in one end and publishing the signal strength at the other end. Ten or twenty extra feet in your living room is trivial.



Just get a hunk of RG6 coax from Radio Shack.



In truth - loose "F" connectors are the number one cause of poor video quality. The expensive, silver-coated coax does you zero good if a loose connector is messing things up.



If you really want an over-kill coax cable - order a cable for about $18 from www.bluejeanscables.com. Massive Canare "F" connectors and Gigahertz rated coax - for a budget price.

Answer 8

as far as i can tell, you want to spend enough to make sure that you get something that is sheilded against interferance to give you a better overall signal quality, but because it is getting digitized it doesnt need to be specially expensive. monster cables = total rip off btw, once you have sheilding of some form, you are not going to get a major boost by having extra extra sheilding, so its a waste of money :)