Co Ax booster/amplifier

kevodaly

I have set up a new LCD tv in a downstairs room, have co ax running from a sky box upstairs, using a tv-link for the remote. it's about 10 metres of a run.

Thing is the picture quality is only ok. Would a signal booster help this or is using co-ax always going to limit the quality ?

The co-ax cable downstairs is chased into the wall - so changing to another cable type would be a pain, and i'd also need a new way of using the sky remote.

all suggestions welcome ...

big_moe

boosters are ok in some circumstances. they boost the signal, so if you have a grainy signal, the grain will get boosted. Coax isn't great to start with so you're never going to get great quality.

moe

kevodaly

its a pity my coax is already behind plaster. its so neat just having the tv on the wall with no cables visible.

i guess s-video would be the best connection ? i'm sure i'd figure out a way of getting it to the back of the tv without much of a mess.

tv is hanging on a cavity wall - so perhaps i could bore through to the cavity and drop the cable down from the attic.

would an s-video run of over 10 metres lose quality ? it'd still be better than the coax though right ?

big_moe

yeah s-vid is the way to go. the only thing is your sky box mightn't have an s-vid output.

we use a 15 metre run of s-video in work and its grand, signal looks perfect.

moe

byte

Just bear in mind that you'll still need a remote extender of some sort to be able to change channels, probably best to just leave the Coaxial cable and Sky eye there for that purpose.

If you do go ahead with S-Video, bear in mind you'll also need to consider audio cabling.

kevodaly

Thanks a lot for the replies...

The Sky box has s-video and audio outputs alright - i'll look into the best way of concealing the cables in the room - I don't really want to have to drop them from the ceiling.