Thread: Cable TV question (TWC)

I have DirecTv for most of my TV's in the house and use Time Warner for internet. I have a few TV's running off basic cable. In my old house those TV's were able to get decent HD pictures off of cable without cable boxes. In the new house the picture is snowy and just overall poor quality. Do I need to get boxes for those rooms?

I say yes you do. The additional boxes mean a 2 year extension with Direct.

I called them and asked I was told that I need to get cable boxes for those rooms. They could not tell me why I got a good picture in my last house with the same TV and no cable box.

Originally Posted by 16scores

I called them and asked I was told that I need to get cable boxes for those rooms. They could not tell me why I got a good picture in my last house with the same TV and no cable box.

I'd wager the wiring/distribution in your old house was better, or the cable runs are much longer in your new one. (ie. you're losing too much signal with your current house's wiring.) Those boxes probably have a preamp that's boosting weaker signals. I'm totally guessing though.

How long ago did you move into your current house?

In 2009, analog cable (and broadcast) channel frequencies were surrendered to the government and the programming was moved to digital frequencies. If your TV does not have a digital tuner, you shouldn't be able to get them with a straight connection into the set.

Termination of Analog TV Signals

If you have gotten the channels post 2009, then the conjecture about the lenght of the wire runs may be right. I live in Charter territory, and when we upgraded the service in our office at the back of the house from SD to HD, we weren't able to get all of the new HD nets (those at the high end of the spectrum) to lock, due to level issues. This was with a box. I got an extender amp from someone I knew in the industry and connected it to the cable and ran the output to the box. I'm not sure where to obtain them via retail.

There was no real diminuition of the signal quality; the channel was either up or black on air.

Just moved in October.

Originally Posted by 16scores

I have DirecTv for most of my TV's in the house and use Time Warner for internet. I have a few TV's running off basic cable. In my old house those TV's were able to get decent HD pictures off of cable without cable boxes. In the new house the picture is snowy and just overall poor quality. Do I need to get boxes for those rooms?

Originally Posted by RoyalSubject

I'd wager the wiring/distribution in your old house was better, or the cable runs are much longer in your new one. (ie. you're losing too much signal with your current house's wiring.) Those boxes probably have a preamp that's boosting weaker signals. I'm totally guessing though.

I would suspect this also but I am not sure if the OP has a picture with snow or no picture at all. If it is a picture with snow then I would suspect a wiring/connection problem. If there is no picture at all, I would guess the cable system is all digital and you would need a cable box. If you have a newer TV that is QAM capable, then you would be able to watch any unencrypted channels. These are usually only the local channels.

Originally Posted by ChilledAgua

How long ago did you move into your current house?

In 2009, analog cable (and broadcast) channel frequencies were surrendered to the government and the programming was moved to digital frequencies. If your TV does not have a digital tuner, you shouldn't be able to get them with a straight connection into the set.

Termination of Analog TV Signals

This only applies to over the air channels. It does not apply to cable companies. Some cable companies or clueless customer service reps used that switch over as an excuse to make their cable systems all digital and have customers pay for cable boxes.

Originally Posted by kaos

This only applies to over the air channels. It does not apply to cable companies. Some cable companies or clueless customer service reps used that switch over as an excuse to make their cable systems all digital and have customers pay for cable boxes.

This is incorrect; cable operators used to have analog spectrum available for low-income, or older, suscribers who couldn't afford (or didn't want) a set top box.

I used to have to monitor commercials on both the analog and digital channels (cable, not off air) on my set in my home office that had switchable inputs. I split the input from the wall; one output was connected directly to the antenna connection on the set for the analog nets and the other was routed to the set top box to check the SD and HD nets. Haven't had to look at the analog side since 2009, and removed the splitter and extra wiring at that time.

Originally Posted by ChilledAgua

This is incorrect; cable operators used to have analog spectrum available for low-income, or older, suscribers who couldn't afford (or didn't want) a set top box.

From the FCC:

The 2009 DTV transition required all full-power TV broadcast stations to switch from an analog to a digital format. Cable companies were not required to make this change.

DTV Transition Did Not Require Cable Systems to Switch to Digital | FCC.gov