Anyone have one of these?

[Road Guy]

Well our house were renting doesn’t have a lot of pre hooked up cable boxes and I can’t find a way to run a line from the basement without drilling a hole and I just don’t feel like paying someone to install a new outlet.. Land lady said she was okay with us installing one but wanted it to be done “by a professional” whatever that means? Professional HS dropout that installs cable boxes for $100 buck?

So I was thinking of getting one of these three products that relay something on one cable box to another TV? And from the reviews it looks like it works best when you just watch what is on the same TV.

The room they have the cable box wired in is right next to kitchen and it doesn’t fit our TV.. Was thinking this would just be for watching something on the DVR, or walking dead but?

I have also wondered if anyone would notice a 3/8 inch hole drilled through the carpet into the basement to run the wire too?

Best Buy has one for sale but its $200.00..

http://www.smarthome.com/wireless-cable-tv.html

Or is there some other "internet" type product you smarter than me people can recommend?

 

[MA_PE]

The edge of the carpet is typically held by a tack strip along the base of the wall. I'd just pull up the parpet edge a drill a whole at the base of the wall and run your cable. Put the drill hole in a corner or other obscure location and run the cable along the base of the wall as needed. No cable tech is going to do more than that. If there is hardwood floors, you might want to go into the wall above the baseboard. then if the hole needs to be patched at some later date it can be done with a blob of drywall compound.

 

[Road Guy]

Out west they have this weird textured surface on all the sheetrock or else I would have already cut one in to be honest with you. I just don’t know how to match that texture. I can see where someone patched a hole in the bathroom and it looks really bad. If it were normal sheetrock I would just drill and cut and be done with it and beg forgiveness later, but yeah this one room has wood floors where we need this…

I was also thinking of removing the HVAC duct from the floor temporarily and sliding the cable in between the HVAC and the edge of the floor and reinstalling it (tight squeeze).. They also have spray foam insulation in the basement about 2 feet from the edge of the wall under the floor which is also making things complicated..

Maybe I need that AT&T cable service where you can take the TV outside like in their stupid commercials?

 

[Road Guy]

uverse?

 

[Road Guy]

no uverse available here.....

Does Dish or Direct TV have wireless receivers?

 

[knight1fox3]

I was going to suggest U-verse as from what I've read, they currently have the best wireless receiver option for their services. Appears that isn't an option for you though.

I've heard nothing but poor comments from people with any sort of service from Dish Network. I thought I had read something where DTV had a wireless solution but I'm not seeing any advertised on their main site. Plenty of "do it yourself" things out there, but I have no good info on how reliable they are. Including the one you referenced from Smart Home. If you go that route, I would stay away from the 2.4GHz bands altogether. Go with 5.8GHz or higher. But that will also affect your max. reception distance.

 

[Exception Collection]

I've had Dish a few years ago, and I found it to be fantastic; if we could get a decent secure* (ie not wireless) high-speed connection without CenturyLink (we're cell-only as on 2012) or a cable line (It's Craptastic!) we'd go back to them in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, we can't, so Comcast it is.

*My wife deals with confidential information. By contract, she is required to use a landline and even a hardwired connection to the router.

 

[jeb6294]

Running cable to the upstairs bedroom is on my to-do list also. One thing we've got that may be a huge benefit is an old central vac system. It wasn't working when we got the house but there's a ~2" PVC vent running from the machine in the basement all the way up into the attic. Would still need to drill a hole in the wall somewhere but I'm guessing I can use one of those 6-foot flexible drill bit doodads and go up through the hole in the wall where the outlet/cable connection would be.

*Disclaimer* this only works if you have an old central vac system in your house.

 

[cement]

For patching, they sell spray texture at the home depot or a paint store. It has an adjustable nozzle from light to heavy to match the surrounding.

I hate the texture on the walls, when we did our downstairs we had the walls finished smooth and the guy asked me three times if I really wanted that...

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

The texture thing is definitely a change for those from the east side of the Mississippi. You'll be hard-pressed to find a house without it. Like Cement said, you can buy that stuff in a can to attempt to match (good luck with that).

 

[Capt Worley PE]

The texture thing is definitely a change for those from the east side of the Mississippi.

I don't even know what y'all are talking about with textured wall. Only thing that springs to mind with me is adobe or popcorn.

 

[IlPadrino]

Use an old-work box (blue plastic ones with "ears" that tighten over the back side of the drywall) and you can easily add a CATV outlet. anywhere. Terminating coax is one of the simplest things to do!

 

[MA_PE]

Use an old-work box (blue plastic ones with "ears" that tighten over the back side of the drywall) and you can easily add a CATV outlet. anywhere. Terminating coax is one of the simplest things to do!

you can also use "madison bars" to set an outlet box in the middle of the wall.

http://www.mrelectrician.tv/questions/PhotosMadisonBars.html

 

[Road Guy]

If it was my house I would have already put one in a month ago, but I am trying to be a good tenant and follow her wishes... And that fucking textured Sheetrock I just don't want to mess with....

We have survived a month without it so I think we're just gonna use the big tv for movies and it gets really great digital reception with a $25 antena I got from wal mart...

 

[knight1fox3]

We have survived a month without it so I think we're just gonna use the big tv for movies and it gets really great digital reception with a $25 antena I got from wal mart...

Your money would probably be better spent with something more reputable off Amazon. I tried the Wal-mart/Best Buy variety and was very disappointed in the quality. I would also recommend something amplified and omni-directional.

 

[Road Guy]

[SIZE=medium]If I was doing a full set up I would agree but for one TV I have been pretty amazed at what this little antennae does. I am getting about 30 channels (about 10 in Spanish though) but I don’t know if it’s the utterly flatness or lack of real trees around here but it does the trick..[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Mainly for Saturday and Sunday football non cable tv channels its great HD to be honest..[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]When we get to our next house (our house) we will probably do a larger HDTV digital antenna when I can get in the attic and run some wires and stuff..[/SIZE]

 

[knight1fox3]

^ sweet! And that's all I was referring to. Not one of those huge monstrosities that need to be properly braced and all that jazz. Just something simple, small. The one I have (as you've probably seen) is small, compact and was only like $40.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

^ sweet! And that's all I was referring to. Not one of those huge monstrosities that need to be properly braced and all that jazz. Just something simple, small. The one I have (as you've probably seen) is small, compact and was only like $40.

I own one of said antennae. It works great once you get it setup. Mine is hard-wired into the attic...

 

[cement]

The texture thing is definitely a change for those from the east side of the Mississippi.

I don't even know what y'all are talking about with textured wall. Only thing that springs to mind with me is adobe or popcorn.

they call it orange peel. I think there was a shortage of drywall finishers out here or something.

here is a horror gallery of alternative finishes. http://www.drywallschool.com/textures.htm

 

[Capt Worley PE]

^Ugh.