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TV Antenna and Satellite on one coax cable

Hey.

I'm moving to a house next week and the previous owners have a large roof antenna for TV reception and no cable at all. I currently have basic cable and a satellite dish and when it was installed it was run over the same piece of coax with a combiner and splitter.

When the installer comes to put up the dish in the new house should I make them run a new piece of coax for it or let them use the same coax for both the TV antenna and satellite? My only concern is audio/video quality. Anything else I'm not considering?

Thanks!
leoturetsky
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
I would add another run for the satellite dish. Why take the chance. You can split/combine the two cables with a switch box at the HT system or TV.


When I bought my current house they had an antenna (attic) also, but it was plugged into where the cable comes into the house so it would go to all the rooms. All I did was remove the antenna and reconnect the cable TV. I then ran a separate cable from the antenna to the Audio system for the FM Tuner.

sean
6,231 posts
 
Sugarbrie is right on. Use seperate lines for best results if at all possible and convenient. Sean
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j_k
234 posts
 
The guys above have good suggestions and the advise is the safest / cleanest way to go.

What I have done is run my cable (lifeline service) directly to the TVs in the house. My rooftop antenna is split and run to the tuner and the HDTV STB / Satellite receiver. The cable for the one room that I have satellite, I have the cable going to the diplexer and the TV, to where it gets mixed with the satellite signal and then to the STB. My purist side hates mixing signals and running them together to a box, but the my wife thinks it is rediculous to switch between 2 inputs on the TV set when all can be done from the STB. It all works decently together, and the unmixed signal to the TV looks almost identical to the diplexed signal.

As I get additional satellite boxes, I will probably use the diplexed signal, because my wiring is installed in the walls. I know another guy that is doing this as well and it seems to work OK... The guy next door just had a satellite installed and the installers ran the wire on the exterior of his house...

The other thing to consider is to make sure that the cable installed is RG-6 and not RG-59. The RG-6 has better shielding, and is recommended for all AV installations.

With all of the home networking available, it can't hurt to have the extra runs.
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