How can I hook up an antenna and cable to tv's?
Jul 28, 2010 in
Electronics FAQs
I have cable running to a splitter in my attic going to 5 different tv’s. I want to install a HDTV Antenna in my attic and have the signal going to all 5 tv’s too. Can I buy a splitter with 2 inputs and hook up my cable and antenna? Or do they even make such a thing. And would it work or would the signals conflict with each other? Thanks for any help
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3 comments
R T on July 28, 2010 at 3:14 pm
That’s not going to work well from a number of standpoints. Cable and Air tuning only matches for the first 12 channels. Channels 13 and up are different. So, your TV would have to change modes and rescan whenever you wanted to change. Also, cable usually has all the channels filled so an Over The Air channel 5 for instance would interfere with Cable channel 5. Also, if you connected the antenna and cable together, you would be radiating the cable signal, which would be illegal.
You could duplicate the wiring (one set for cable and one for air) and switch between them at each TV. You would still have to change tuning and rescan whenever you switched, though.
You could also put a cable box at each set and connect it to the Red/White/Yellow connections on the TV and connect the antenna to the Antenna in. Then you could change between sources by changing inputs.
jamiethomaz on July 28, 2010 at 3:14 pm
get you a cable switch from best buy or traget or walmart or kmart or sears
Julie A on July 28, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Most new TV’s will have 2 coaxial on the back….one for basic cable, and a second for DTV, or d HDTV signal. Check your TV’s for a second antenna input.