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https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl DIY Forum >> Alarms, Phones, Aerials, CCTV & Datacomms >> tv connections https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1276176291 Message started by lenny on Jun 10^th, 2010, 2:24pm

Title: tv connections
Post by lenny on Jun 10^th, 2010, 2:24pm

hi

I have three tv points that i want to connect to.
The coax from the tv aerial goes into a junction box. Is it best to connect three seperate coax's into the junction box and then run them to each tv point or can i loop in and out of the tv points with one cable? Will the loop in method cause a bad reception?

cheers

Title: Re: tv connections
Post by Lectrician on Jun 10^th, 2010, 5:58pm

All coax's back to the central location individually.

You will likely need a powered distribution amplifier to take the aerial feed and split it the three ways - a passive splitter would incur huge losses.

Something like this if you have a socket near by, or this if not. (powered up coax from one of the TV locations.)

Title: Re: tv connections
Post by lenny on Jun 10^th, 2010, 7:25pm

Great, thanks for your help.

cheers.

Title: Re: tv connections
Post by CWatters on Jun 11^th, 2010, 8:42am

At the risk of complicating thinhs..

If you are installing new wires you could consider runing two wires from the loft to the main TV area. That way you can use one to send the output of your DVD player or Sky box back up to the loft for distribution to the other TVs. For this you need a distribution amplifier with two inputs. One for the TV aerial and one for the feed from the DVD player or skybox. They tend to be more expensive though.

Distribution amps also come with two different types of connector. The normal TV aerial type that plug in or F-Series that screw on. The latter are better quality but it's harder to fit the plugs to the wires. You either need strong fingers for the screw on type or a special crimping tool for the sort that crimp onto the wire.

In the rooms where the TVs are going most people would use a wall mounted face plate like this..
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/32342/Electrical-Supplies/TV-Range/Sockets/Labgear-Screened-Flush-Coaxial-Socket
However it's actually better to just leave a long wire coming out of the wall with an aerial plug on the end. To make it neat either remove the innards of a faceplate to leave a hole for the wire or drill a hole in a blank faceplate.