The amplifier stops the two way communication capabilities of your digital cable box and therefore renders those services unavailable. There is no amplifier that I am aware of that will work with digital cable. You may be able to pay for a signal boost (Optimum online has this, for instance) if you experience significant decibel loss but in most cases it is not needed. I suggest that you use the newest cables (RG6) with compression fittings - best done by your cable professional and if you need to split, get splitters from the cable company as well.

One more thing, signal amplifiers could cause significant interference for your neighbors by sort of leaking back into the cable system. When you use one, don't be surprised if a cable tech comes to the house one day with a funny looking meter which emits a sound and detects the source of such interference.

On the other hand, if he comes...just tell him to boost your signal quality and you will remove the booster!

Hi,

What klaa2 says about Cable TV amplifiers is not quite true. He is correct that the amplifier you purchase needs to be two way. One way to ampify your cable tv signal coming in, and also allow, but not neccesarily amplify the control signals going out. Control signals are for when you want to order a pay per view movie for example.

Electroline EDA-FT8100 is an example of this sort of amplifier. I had the same issue and bought one from "Cable TV Amps." I think he is a one man show on E-Bay and has a store there. The service was good and the amp worked just fine with digital TV.

Best, Mike.

Mike, I believe that this type of cable will alow signal to leak back into the cable companies line and create interference. I'd be willing to bet that eventually, a service call would be made. Not that that in and of itself is bad. Most techs are decent people. If you let them into your house to look at how you set things up after their line, they will almost always either give advice, help you (new free compression fittings, maybe?) for a slight fee or free altogether. IF you don't let them into your house and they feel you are creating a problem in the line, expect your line to go dead (snip, snip) This by the way, will cost you more in the long run.

If your runs are properly installed then you should not need a booster. The absolute last resort would be to pay for a power boost type signal where the cable company provided a higher decibel line coming into your home. I havent heard of anyone having a problem that this didn't clear up.

Hey, as stinkytiger says, go fo the EDA-FT8100. If it worked for him, I would assume it should work for you and probelm solved.

Both you guys can let us know if someone ever comes knocking on your front door.. Thanks.

I too suffer from signal loss problems, caused mainly by a home that was wired 13 years ago with Cat 4. Using standard cable splitters causes too much additional loss for my High Speed Internet and VOIP, while running TV's as well on the same cable, therefore, I need some sort of booster or amplifier to improve signal strength. I just purchased an Electroline EDA-2200 (eBay), which is a 2-port amplifier. The specs show a forward gain of 11db and a return path insertion loss of 4db. Hopefully, this should do the trick for me. I will report back on this forum what the final results are. My cable provider does nothing in the way of extra service or signal strength, except to say, take some of your equipment off the line. Great help!