Motorola Signal Booster 484095-001-00 Bi-Directional RF Amplifier
by Motorola
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List Price: Our Price: $34.99 You Save: $65.00 (65%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Speakers See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Motorola Signal Booster 484095-001-00 Bi-Directional RF Amplifier
Customer Review: Saving Useless Calls to my Cable Company
Summary: 5 Stars
I had two problems: Our house is 200 feet from the cable connection, and the inside of the house is wired with older RG59 coaxial cables rather than RG6. None of this would be a problem if it were not for digital TV or high speed Internet. Long distances and RG59 coaxial cable cannot transmit the high frequencies necessary for both. As a result, any time the strength of the cable signal dropped a little (which can happen from minor line problems or more people using cable), I would have trouble receiving digital TV and maintaining a connection with the Internet. A call to my cable provider would only confirm what I already knew...I would need to rewire the house with RG6 cable, and still might have problems because of the distance to my house. The Motorola Signal Booster, installed at the point the cable entered the house, followed by a high quality 3-way splitter, provided trouble-free operation of two cable boxes and an Internet connection. Although this signal booster amplifies only the signal received from the cable company, signals transmitted either by a computer or cable box are at lower frequencies and are more likely not to need amplification for this type of problem; however, the use of too many splitters can cause a problem.
I also have a DVD recorder, VCR, and TV that requires an analog signal so that these components can tune to the analog channels. If I had used a 4-way splitter at the cable box to do this, it would have reduced the signal strength to and from the cable box by another 7db, and provided a signal that might have been over amplified to each of the other components. The use of a "tap" (a "tap" is a splitter that sends most of the signal to one component, and a small fraction of the signal to other components), followed by a 3-way splitter on the "9 db" side of the tap solved this problem, only reducing the signal to the cable box by 1.5 db, but reducing the signal to the each of the components by 14 db. But because of the 15 db amplification of the Signal Booster, this was still a strong signal to the analog components.
Customer Review: Definitely Works (may also boost/causes some interference)
Summary: 4 Stars
The difference in lower-numbered channels (1-12) from before to after is nothing short of amazing! The only issue (and honestly compared to going from almost complete snow to the point it is now it is not a major one) is that there is a wide vertical line (wave) on some channels that moves from right to left. If I disconnect the booster, the "wave" goes away but for most of my lower channels the snow that follows is pretty intolerable... so I'll live with it. So while it's not perfect, it is very effective at boosting stations to a level that they render without "snow", and other low-signal artifacts. My situation is that I have a splitter when the cable first comes in, on one side another splitter for cable modem and cable box--that whole leg works great, because the cable box is 100% digital and signal loss is less of an issue. On the other leg, I feed a cable drop into my computer running Windows Media Center Edition over a Hauppauge tuner card. The tuner picks up channels 1-99 over the cable, but channels 1-12 are almost completely "snow". With this booster, those channels now come in just fine. I am not sure if the aforementioned vertical band of lines is the result of a defective unit, or just what happens when you boost a bad signal, but either way, I am going to put Ferrite Cores on the cables to see if that helps, and if not, live with the reception--which now at least is viewable for all stations. If others experience this, please indicate in your reviews, in case there is any work around (or at least to know that it is a reality of certain situations like mine). I would recommend this anyone with unacceptably low signal levels coming from their cable provider (when connecting to an analog receiver like a tuner card or old TV). Last piece... I used this in place of my Terk HDTV antenna (HDTVa) booster, and it actually made the signal strength coming from my Terk worse, so I am not sure that it is a great fit for all applications. On the whole, for boosting degraded cable, I can attest it works well.Customer Review: There is a reason a $99 device is reduced to $38
Summary: 1 Stars
When I was shopping for a stronger antenna, this device came up as something others buy along with an antenna. Made sense. Obviously, and regrettably, many other people people thought it made sense, too. A signal booster might be a good thing to buy along with a better antenna.
Wow! A 99.00 machine for 38.00. The deal seems too "good" to be "true". It is. The device cut my reception from 25 to 3 channels.
I am assured on the package that it is the same device that the pros use. And simple to install. (It was--only three steps.)
The machine might be "good"-- ... for something having to do with cables, signals and TVs. A use that some kind of "pro" would appreciate.
But it appears that one of Motorola's claims is not "true": it will not boost antenna signal. Or if it does, one must hire or be a pro to know how to Gerry-rig the 484095-001-00 Signal Booster so that it will, well, you know, boost signals. (Not being a pro I use layman's terms.)
Of course, there is another possibility: judging from other reviews, a great many of which were positive, it may be that some are good even to a novice, but a great number of these contraptions are simply defective, and it is the luck of the draw if a customer received one that actually works as advertised. In which case it is "true" that some are "good", but also that many are not--or are only so in an expert implementation unable to be appreciated by the hoi polloi.
Amazon is great about free postage on returns, but Motorola is costing Amazon money by their false advertisement and/or crummy workmanship.
If Motorola wants to make another misleading claim I have a suggestion: "The 484095-001-00 Signal Booster also works well as an attractive and inexpensive paperweight." They could write it alongside their oracular claim that the device is "the same as the one that the pros use".
Customer Review: Fantastic
Summary: 5 Stars
I moved into a new house with my family this past year, and the house was built in the mid-80s. So the wiring was not necessarily up to snuff for all of today's technology, but in general, worked well enough. But pertaining to our cable service, which provides cable, phone and internet service, we were having a few issues. We have three primary television setups, one on the main level, one in the basement, and one upstairs. All three setups were using an HD-DVR cable box from the cable company, and all were having problems with choppy and stuttering programming, audio dropouts, and lack of ability to use the interactive functions of the cable boxes (such as guide, on-demand, etc.).
The cable company came out and told us that there was nothing they could do, and that we'd need to re-wire the whole house with better wiring. Not so keen on doing that, I ordered a couple of these Motorola Signal Boosters to try on 2 of the TVs. And I already had a Radio Shack booster around from another situation for the 3rd TV.
Long story short, I connected the Motorola signal boosters at 2 of the televisions, directly between the coax cable and the cable box. Notwithstanding what some people have written, that this needs to go right at the initial entry of the cable into the house, this setup worked perfectly. Our television programming was now pristine without stuttering, our interactive access was fully restored, and all of the issues went away.
Interestingly, the one television where we were using the Radio Shack booster was still experiencing problems. So I ordered another Motorola for the 3rd television, and lo and behold, the problems went away again. To conclude, I am totally sold on this booster, and it has been a quick and easy fix for our cable problems. I am sure I would not have been able to re-wire our whole house for the cost of these 3 boosters. Good work Motorola.
Customer Review: Good Cable Modem - PPView-On-Demand Amp
Summary: 5 Stars
In order to handle cable modems or "interactive" cable TV boxes, an amplifier must be able to pass a return signal to the cable provider. The Motorola Signal Booster will pass the return signal with a -1 db loss (according to the specifications). It will also amplify the forward signal by +15db (again specs). So if you have a bunch of two-way splitters, each causing about -4.0 db loss (a good one will be around -3.5 db) this amplifier will power through about three of these splitters to your modem or cable box. This Motorola will do the input amplification to a regular TV set through three (or even more) splitters like a charm.
But can the cable modem get its return signal back out? Can On-Demand get its signal back out?
My Motorola Bidirectional AMP worked with both Cable Modem and an On-Demand Cable box for about six months, then suddenly quit working. I bypassed all the splitters, and the signal returned to its original successful state. The cable company apparently suddenly changed something (turns out it was new fiber for telephones).
To make a long story short, I tried everything, from $175 distribution systems to just a straight line running up the stairs. Only the straight line worked. But the stairs didn't. Then I discovered the "reverse amplifier". Yes, there is an amplifier that only works on the "reverse" frequencies. I stuck it in the system at my computer, and -Viola!- everything works with all the old splitters.
So I heartily recommend this Bidirectional Motorola Amplifier, but if it doesn't work with a cable modem and more than one or two splitters, I also suggest that you spend $35 on an ASKA DA1G-1R (or equivalent)reverse amplifier.
I will also add that none of the distribution systems I tried worked. I think the Cable signal overloads them, but even the ones with built-in attenuation couldn't compensate.