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From: wales@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.video
Subject: Cable splitter question
Message-ID: <3401@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 24-Jan-85 20:07:39 EST
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.3401
Posted: Thu Jan 24 20:07:39 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 28-Jan-85 04:59:12 EST
Reply-To: wales@ucla-cs.UUCP (Rich Wales)
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Lines: 38

I have cable TV in my apartment.  I run the cable through a splitter;
one side goes to the channel selector supplied by the cable company,
while the other side goes to my VCR.  The two outputs in turn run
through a two-way coaxial switch ("A-B switch") to my TV set -- which,
of course, allows me to watch material either from the VCR or directly
from the cable, and/or to record one program while watching another.

My question regards my splitter, which is a strictly passive unit with
one input and two outputs.

(1) Can a setup like mine be expected to degrade cable reception --
    either my own or anyone else's?  (I can't see any degradation in
    signal quality, but maybe I'm just not picky enough.)

(2) If I were to do something extravagant like get a second VCR, and
    wanted to split the incoming signal THREE ways, would problems start
    arising that I don't currently find with my two-way split?

(3) Are there more sophisticated splitters available which would act
    just like a single load to the incoming cable? If so, where should
    I go looking for them, and about how much should I expect to spend?

    (I would assume that such a creature would be a broadband amplifier
    with multiple outputs -- and, since broadband amplifiers are tricky
    to make work well, it would probably be expensive.)
-- 

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                                                             Rich Wales
                           University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
                                            Computer Science Department
                                                      3531 Boelter Hall
                                   Los Angeles, California 90024 // USA
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Phone:    (213) 825-5683 // +1 213 825 5683
ARPANET:  wales@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA
UUCP:     ...!{cepu,ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!wales
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