Help me improve signal Quality.

[Diamond Dog]

I just got one of those new Dishnetworkn 522 boxes that control 2 TV's with one unit and have 2 seperate DVR's built in that run independently. Its pretty slick.

For the 2nd TV there is a coax out and it runs from my master bedroom to my kitchen through a coax cable. I had a crummy TV at first, so the picture and sound looked ok. I just put up a stereo lcd tv and now the picture doesnt look so hot and the audio is in mono.

The cables are already run through my house and through walls, so running more cables from my bedroom to my kitchen are not an option. Everything is running off this one coax cable to my kitchen.

The back of the Dishnetwork receiver has both RCA and s-video outputs. Is there an adaptor for s-video to F (coax) that I could put at both ends of the coax and use the s-video out on the receiver and s video in on the TV? Would this improve the picture quality?

For the audio, I was thinking of using a wireless transmitter that would plug into the rca outs in the receiver and the RCA ins on the TV. Hopefully someone makes speakers that could accomadate this setup that would clip onto my TV? Anyone make a good stereo wireless transmitter that would fit the bill? Is it true you can only get mono out of the coax?

My LCD is hanging on the wall with nothing around it. It looks so clean as there is only a coax cable and a plug that are behind the receiver so you see nothing but the LCD. I want to keep this look.

The distance from my receiver to the kitchen LCD is about 100 feet and it would be next to impossible to route more cables as it has to go through multiple walls with no crawlspace or attic access.

Anyone have other suggestions?

Thanks in advance

 

[Diamond Dog]

HOw good is this solution?

I just did a search and someone recomended buying a radio shack modulator # 15-2525

How is the picture and sound from this unit?

Will it be better than the setup I have now (coax running from the back of the 522 to my kitchen)?

If I got this device, I assume i would plug a s video cable into the receiver, then into the modulator. I would do the same with a pair of RCA cables for the audio, then hook my existing coax into in the modulator's coax out plug.

I guess I just don't understand how this improves signal quality as you are still using a coax.

 

[haertig]

You might want to check the simple stuff first. Are your cable connections all nice and tight? Are the connectors themselves attached to the cables securely? If you have any splitters in the mix, try getting rid of them and connect the resulting cable ends with a simple barrel connector. If you have cables that can be replaced, do so. Not the ones inside your walls - but the one's that go from the wall jacks to your 522 and TV if this is your setup. Does your new TV have a more sensitive tuner that is picking up other signals/interference that your old TV did not? You could totally unplug the cable from the back of your new TV and verify that you have no signal what so ever, just noise, on the channel you're currently modulating on and at least one channel up and down from that center channel. Even if you don't see any stray signal you might want to set your 522 to modulate on a different channel far distant from where it currently is set (change the TV's channel to match what you set on the 522 - obviously!) Lastly, is the coax input jack on your new TV in good shape? I had a new TV once that had a bad jack (cold/loose solder joint). You couldn't tell it by looking at the connector, but jiggling the connection revealed the problem.

[edit] One other thing. Your new TV just might not have a very good RF input. I have my 522 going out to a four-way splitter, then to a 10dB distribution amp, then through about 200(?) feet of coax to a cheap TV. The picture looks quite decent for a small bedroom TV. I took the other 522 coax output and ran it directly to my other (expensive!) TV via a five foot cable direct from 522 to the set. The picture is much inferior to the one on my cheap bedroom TV (despite the good TV costing over 15 times as much!) Of course I don't use the RF input on the good TV normally - I was just testing. But I was very surprised that the cheap TV beat the expensive one given RF modulated input. Of course I may be experiencing one of the things I mentioned above as well - bad connection, bad cable, etc. It may not be the good TV's fault.[/edit]

[edit2] And another thought. In a quest for neatness in your wiring, did you perhaps entertwine a poor quality (marginal shielding) coax cable and your 120v power cord like two mating snakes? This could cause some interference possibly. [/edit2]

 

[Diamond Dog]

Thank you so much for the response.

Its not so much that my picture is "bad". I think the LCD shows a lot more detail than my old $99 13" that I previously had so all the imperfections show.

Its just that its not as clear as the other TV's I have in the house that are hooked directly to a box.

I dont want to hook up a box because I like the look of just a LCD panel on the wall with no cables or anything around it (cables are behind the panel...plug too!)

I was just wondering if I converted the coax into a RCA plug if the picture would improve.

I am also curious about this radio shack modulator thing.

 

[boba]

Diamond you might want to rethink your kitchen TV that $99 13" maybe a better option for the kitchen. Kitchens tend to be great places to build up a good coating of dust and grease which is not going to be great for LCD TVs

 

[haertig]

I think the LCD shows a lot more detail than my old $99 13" that I previously had so all the imperfections show.

I have to admit that I see more picture imperfections on my big screen TV with satellite than I did with analog cable. Pixelation in dark areas of the picture now shows up with satellite.

Most new TV's come out of the box with settings way off for watching movies. Since you're talking a kitchen TV, this may not be the case. But anyway, for a main movie-watching display, I'd recommend turning sharpness all the way down. Generally, contrast and brightness come set from the factory way too high, probably color as well. You can buy/rent calibration DVD's, but as a first step just set sharpness as low as it will go. The calibration DVD I used recommended that you should always do this.

 

[SimpleSimon]

DD: The TV2 coax output (UHF) of the 522 IS Stereo. The TV1 coax output (Channel 3/4) is NOT. Are you by chance on the wrong connector? Are the TV & 522 both set to the correct modes? (Cable vs. UHF I think - check your manual).

I wouldn't bother considering an external modulator - it's effectively the same as the ones inside the 522.

 

[Diamond Dog]

Hi Simon,

I have TV one hooked up with s-video and rca's for audio. TV 2 is with coax on channel 73 and its set to cable.

before today it was on channel 60 and set to "air" (or maybe its UHF....its the one that isnt' "cable").

It seems a little better, but I cant tell. there seems to be a ton of channels you can set this to.

 

[SimpleSimon]

From the other thread, yes, some channels might work better than others because of interference from OTA and sometimes other stuff around the house. Above you say you've switched channels with only a little difference, so that's probably not an issue here. Note that your TV needs to be in the same mode as the receiver (air vs. cable). Some TVs do this automatically.

Have you gotten a stereo signal from the 522 TV2 output yet? If not, double-check your TV's settings (I assume it IS a stereo LCD panel that I'm referring to as "TV").

If still no joy, I'd suggest taking the LCD panel and setting it next to the receiver and [plugging it in using a new cable (or at least one that isn't used in the existing hookup). If this solves the quality problem, then it's obvious a cable issue.

 

[Jahntassa]

Interference is a potential problem, also, you might want to experiement with changing the channels on the RF modulator for TV2. Certain channels will work better than others, as i've noticed from my RadioShack UHF Modulator.

Also, you would notice a definite decrease in picture quality from every other set in your household. RF is arguably the WORST format for sending video over, especially compared to direct Composite or S-Video connections.

Try changing the channels around on the modulator, as it might also be the LCD TV itself might do better with certain channels..