Originally Posted by maclarenjc

Having recently upgraded to a high def capable widescreen TV I found the SD quality even with a digital cable box very poor. As mentioned in earlier posts it degrades at higher screen sizes and especially with home theater projectors. My first attempt at high definition TV involved a Samsung 4674 DLP TV. The filters and upconversion in that TV made even standard definition channels look fantastic, much sharper and noise free than I had ever seen. Unfortunately for me I suffered headaches and vision issues from the rainbow artifacts so I had to return the TV. After that I am now using a Hitatchi 51S715. The high def channels looked great and most digital channels (i.e. above 100) but below 100 most SD channels looked consistently terrible. I tried various "typical" signal amplifiers from Radio Shack, Best Buy but nothing helped.

Then I came across several websites discussing the Electroline line of cable signal amplifiers and in particular the Cable TV amps seller on EBay. I recently received the 4-port version made by PDI in this case but with the same specs as the Electrolines. They also make 2 up to 8 port versions. The company recommends installing the amplifier before the first splits of signal but just to try it out right away I installed it directly on the line going into my Hitachi and the difference blew me away, it completely removed the bluriness, ghosting, and noise, in fact some of the major network feeds look almost as good as their high def counterparts (clearly the resolution and detail are not there but as far as clear picture they become very close). The 4-port version was only $60 and well worth every penny.

After that I installed the amplifier outside at the junction box before any cable company supplied splits attaching it right as the line comes into the junction box. I also removed an extra splitter the cable company had put in there to separate a line for my cable modem. This particular model also amplifies the return path back to the cable company making for a stronger connection back to the cable company for the return signal. By placing this at the top of the signal path it improves the signal to all cable runs in the house and the cable modem.

http://cgi.ebay.com/PDI-4-PORT-ACTI...Qcmd ZViewItem