TV 2 Picture Quality

[C1787GJ]

Is there any way to improve the quality of the picture on Tuner 2 off a 522. It is just a coax run I would say no more than 50 feet away. It just looks grainy, I check the connections and made sure they were tight and on correctly, is it just this way because it is so long, or a bad cable? It's not terrible but it is not the greatest picture. Is there an amplifier or anything that can be used. Let me know. I have today off so today is my fix the Dish day lol.

 

[iKramerica]

It could be a bad cable, but more likely you need a signal amplifier. I have a Radio Shack in line amplifier on my TV out on the 721, and I get very good pictures all over the house, even through splitters. With only 1 TV and 1 50 foot run, you might also need an attenuater at the TV end of it, depending on if your signal has been over boosted or not. Alternately, you could buy an adjustable amplifier and turn it up until the grain goes away.

Do note that you will always introduce a certain amount of audible noise to the picture doing this. It will be at a very low level, and really you'd have to stand close to the TV with a black screen to hear it at all, but it is there. You won't hear it at all with normal viewing, but it is a reality that you can't amplify an already amplified video/audio signal without doing a little damage to the signal. This is because you are raising the noise floor of the signal, but it's better than a crappy picture.

 

[Fetishquest]

I'm having the exact same problem. I'm gonna try replacing the splice I have with a 3GHZ barrel connector and see if that helps.

 

[C1787GJ]

I dont know how i posted this 2 times sorry. I might try an amplifier see if that helps. I'm just trying to avoid running a whole new cable because it is all fished through and such. Any other ideas would be appreciated

 

[iKramerica]

also, what kind of termination are you using? the best type are compression fittings, and you need a commpression tool for that. cable companies and dish installers often use crimp style, and that can give you an uneven connection that is not always exactly 75 Ohm because they compress the shielding out of round, similar to bending the cable half way through.

 

[KAB]

As you stated, this won't be your preferred option, but another way to skin such a cat is to use 6-strand Cat5 networking wire to create a one line/three connection RCA cable. Twist pairs and solder to RCA Male connectors. The wire is thin enough to run between carpet and baseboard, under quarter-round, etc. I use it and both audio and video are better on my TV2

 

[C1787GJ]

hmmm i never even though about doing that KAB that is a good idea.. Sounds like I got some thinking to do

 

[rthomp03]

This is my whole issue with the new standard for 2 TVs being a dual-tuner STB and driving the 2nd TV via RF. Give me composite or better yet S-Video any day.

 

[KAB]

I don't consider it an issue to pin on anybody. It's just normal that the second TV may be quite aways from TV1 and in most cases, the course of least resistance is existing coax. The fact that there are component jacks means you have an option if you want to grab on to it.

 

[Stargazer]

Change the channe number of the second tuner to 69. That will get you the highest picture quality possible. Combining this with an amplifier will help even more.

 

[Fetishquest]

Is there any way to improve the quality of the picture on Tuner 2 off a 522. It is just a coax run I would say no more than 50 feet away. It just looks grainy, I check the connections and made sure they were tight and on correctly, is it just this way because it is so long, or a bad cable? It's not terrible but it is not the greatest picture. Is there an amplifier or anything that can be used. Let me know. I have today off so today is my fix the Dish day lol.

I posted here today that I was having the same problem. I went ahead and put in the 3GHZ barrel connectors and installed a 15 DB amp I had left over from the cable company. A huge difference in picture quality on the two TV's run off of TV 2 using coax cable! I imagine the amp made the biggest difference as I installed the 2 upgrades in steps, checking the picture, and after I put the amp on it was looking great.

 

[HCI]

Also for some reason many installers think they need that attenuator in on TV2. For any installer putting this dam thing on STOP!

 

[volkodav]

Also for some reason many installers think they need that attenuator in on TV2. For any installer putting this dam thing on STOP!

I'm with you on that. PLEASE STOP USING ATTENUATORS!!!!!!!!!

 

[C1787GJ]

Mine did not use an attenuator lol he threw it away. Also Fetishquest, what channel is your TV 2 using, someone earlier said to use 69. I have an odd question for all of you too. My box says the output for TV2 is 60, yet the television is on channel 116. And if i tune it to 60 there is nothing on it. Is this normal, I'm assuming it is not.

 

[bweiteka]

Actually, channel 21 should give you a better picture than 69. The lower channel, the lower the frequency, and the less loss there will be through a run of cable. I have cleared up many pictures on whole house distribution of tv2 through several splitters or diplexors by lowering the channel to 21. C1787GJ, the reason your tv is set to channel 116 but the modulator on your receiver says 60 is because that mod is set to "AIR" 60. Your tv is obviously set up for "cable" or it would not go all the way to channel 116! Air 60 and cable 116 are similar frequencies so as long as your picture is ok I wouldn't worry about it. A very few tv's are very difficult to tune in as tv 2's and your installer probably just did an autoprogram on that tv to find a picture.

 

[Fetishquest]

I'm using air channel 60.

 

[volkodav]

on your receiver go menu 6,1,5 then scroll over to the left to air then change it to cable it will automatically set it to channel 73 then go to done. after that go to channel 73 on your TV2

 

[Stargazer]

I have seen better picture quality on the higher channel numbers for some reason.

 

[cali_installer]

i always use channel 25 which works best for me as a dns tech i have worked in several cities and if has never failed

 

[iKramerica]

Using the AIR frequencies you will likely see the best picture on the higher numbers because they are not crowded by real off air frequencies, but it depends on the market. That is why the modulator is set up to provide you such a range of channels. Experiment until you find the best one.

But the channel 60/116 issue might be part of your PQ problem to begin with. Get both units set to use the same decoding method. The TV should be switched to Off Air, or the receiver set to transmit a cable channel. Make sure they match.