Channel Master Ultra Mini 8 - 8-Port TV Antenna Distribution Amplifier, 4.5dB gain, Compatible with Non-Amplified TV Antennas, Cable TV and Internet Modems, Increases Signal Strength, Indoor/Outdoor

I put up an external TV antenna last month, but I was not happy with the signal levels on some stations. On some stations I was getting pixelization in some rooms and no signal at all in others. I have seven jacks I wanted to feed, so the loss through the 6-port splitter was significant. (I originally fed only six ports, but now I have all seven connected.) Signal levels to the rooms are now more than 10 times higher than they were and I can get all the channels in all the rooms. If you're not a geek, you can stop reading now. I also happen to be using the RG6 coax to provide Internet in some rooms. I have a few MOCA 2 to Ethernet converter boxes and I wanted to keep using them, but this was complicated because I fed the antenna down the same coax line as the main Internet connection. If I had connected the antenna port to this amplifier as recommended, the TV signals would have improved, but I would no longer have Internet at the end-points because of the high isolation between the amplifier output ports and the antenna input port. I solved this with a "TV / Satellite" diplexer between the antenna and amp. The antenna fed the "Input" of the diplexer, while the "TV Output" of the diplexer fed the input to the amp. The "Satellite Output" of the diplexer is connected to one of the amplifier output ports. The MOCA 2 signals are > 1GHz so they get split from the TV RF signal in the diplexer, and then sent to one of the output ports of the amp where they can cross-couple to the other output ports (which are connected to other MOCA 2 converters) with only about 9dB of loss in both directions. (All the Internet paths are working great with this configuration.)

Brilliant. My Comcast cable feed was pixelating my wife's favorite HD Hallmark channels (e.g., blocky, choppy, broken picture and sound). The major HD channels were fine (NBC, ABC, etc.). We watch and record channels using a home theater PC (Ceton InfiniTV4 tuners + cablecard + Windows 8.1 Media Center + Samsung 40" LED + Harmony remote). The signal on the hallmark channels had dropped to about -10db. The major channels were about -6db. Months earlier I had dealt with a Comcast db drop and pixelation and had gotten these channels to -3 to -4 db by reducing my household cable splitter from an 8 port to a 4 port by disconnecting unused cable runs. Now the db had again dropped more and I was out of options. Comcast (and other "experts") had always said that amplifiers didn't work and usually just made things worse. I took a chance and first bought the 4 port version (adds +8 db to the signal) thinking that would push my worst signals to about -2db. Nope. All channel were now in the +db range with my major HD channels pushing +10db and they started to pixelate. I then got the 8 port version (+4.5 db) and now all my signals are in the +1-5 db range with no hint of pixelation and all channels checked worked fine (including my internet connection, which comes through the cable). Also, since it was an 8 port, I was able to reconnect all the cable runs to the rest of the house in case we ever wanted to use them. My biggest worry is Comcast will decide to fix their signal and then I'll be overpowered, but for the moment everything is working very well.

I bought this for a spare to one exactly like it that I have been using for about three years. I use it to distribute the antenna signal to five rooms within my home. It is not necessary to use all of the ports leaving the empty port(s) for possible future use. There has never been a problem with it and it does provide some signal gain. To split the signal to more than one location does require a splitter and a powered one like this is necessary to overcome the signal loss that is induced by splitting the signal. A none powered splitter will reduce the signal strength to your TV. It works well with both UHF and VHF signals from any TV antenna. It also worked well for cable TV and it did boost the cable signal a small amount that was noticeable with the weaker cable channels. With so many free off of the air TV stations I dropped the very expensive cable service. A few things that anyone hooking this up should understand. This splitter may not work with a high gain signal booster in the line ahead of it. If the signal is very strong from nearby stations. The booster ahead of it will cause it to overload and shut down completely with a loss of reception of all of the stations. This is normal and should not damage this device. With a strong signal from nearby stations it does work fine for me without the other signal booster ahead of it. If you are in a fringe or deep fringe reception area you may need, and it will probably work fine with the high gain booster ahead of it. There are many variables since conditions of different locations can vary.

Update -- 12/11/2016: I've been running with this amp for quite some time now. As my earlier review stated my TV distribution before this amp was done by splitting 2-way splitter through another 4-way splitter and I had pixelation issues on the Smithsonian Channel. As we passed from summer through fall into winter most of my problem dissolved. I still get very rare pixelation on some channels but it's no longer unwatchable as things were without this distribution amp. I'm now convinced that I had a problem which was sourced at the CATV company and exacerbated by my earlier setup. So far so good. I bought this to replace a 2-way and a pair of 4-way splitters in my house. After all splitters were considered the theoretical signal loss at my DVR was ~ -20db. I was having issues with signal pixelation on the Smithsonian Channel. In theory replacing my splitters with this amp would boost the CATV signal at my DVR to just -4Db. I have a 2-way splitter at the entry point, the cablemodem gets on side, the TVs share the other. Before I bought this, programming on the Smithsonian Channel would pixelate frequently for 1 ~ 2 seconds at a time. It still pixelates but it doesn't seem to on the programs that I want to watch. Thus, I believe that this amplifier has not completely solved the problem but it has improved things. I'll run a few more tests but I'm starting to believe that at least some of my problem is sourced at the Cable TV company. * Note well * I bought the 8-port version of this product. I have 8 active CATV drops in my house but only 4 TVs. If you have "dead" drops, I have 4, you want to be certain to terminate each those drops with a signal terminator like this: 75 Ohm F Terminator=4-Pack for Cable TV Connections . If you do not terminate the dead drops, an amplifier can create more interference and noise than you had before which makes your problem worse, not better.

A little while ago, I went to to install a C4-CJM Clearstream-4 Antenna on my roof. I had successfully tested it indoors on a short cable directly to one TV. I was getting about 30 digital channels. However, once it went on the roof, it needed 100ft of coax cable to get down to my basement. I also put in a TII 212 Lightning Surge Protector to keep my equipment safe. The problem is, this all dropped the signal immensely. Even without a splitter, I was down to about 25 channels, with one of my favorites freezing up every now and then. Yet the whole point of getting it to the basement was because I wanted to split this out to multiple TVs. With a two-way splitter (-2.5db), it was still bearable. I went down to about 22 channels per TV. However, I wanted to split it up to 3 TVs. When I tried hooking up to every source in my house with an 8-way splitter (-12.5db), it was pretty much useless. A 4-way splitter (-7db) was somewhat bearable, but I did still lose a few channels. Furthermore, the channel that froze up every now and then was now freezing every 3 seconds. That's when I decided to go with this amplifier. As opposed to a loss of signal, the Channel Master CM3418 promised 8-way splitting with a 4.5db gain. I went ahead and hooked this up with all 8 sources in my house (3 actually connected to TVs) and fired it up. The results were excellent! I'm back to 30 digital channels, and the one that flickered was coming in clearly on all 3 TVs! As for quality, the equipment seems well made and sturdy. I mounted it within my media box and was sure to hook up a ground wire. It all looks clean and organized. There is an indicator light to show that power is reaching the unit. The system came with a power adapter and a coax cable (about 3' long) to hook it up. Needless to say, I am very pleased. Excellent quality and excellent price.

I was a bit skeptical as to whether this device would be an effective way to distribute Coax connections from a HDTV Antenna that I have mounted in my attic. The previous unit I had came from Comcast and I decided a few years ago to cancel my cable TV service, which included several X1 boxes and 3 other standard cable boxes. I used the old Comcast 8-port distribution amplifier in conjunction with the 8 Element Bowtie Indoor/Outdoor HDTV Antenna - 70 Mile Range ($127) and the Winegard DS-2000 Universal 22-inch Tower Mount for Off-Air TV Antennas (1.5in Diameter Mount Pipe) - Includes 2 U-Bolts, Fit 1in to 2in Pipe/Towers ($12.50). Using this setup with the old Comcast 8-port distribution amplifier only allow me to pull in 24-29 channels 50 miles from Atlanta with many being crystal clear, however, many were not so great and dropped in an out frequently. When using the old Comcast device and when it got cold outside, say 40 degree, or it rained, my channel reception would drop to around 10 channels.... So a few months ago, the old Comcast device failed and I decided to give this Channel Master CM3418 8-Port Distribution Amplifier a shot, since it was only $38 bucks. I thought to myself, well it can't be any worst than what I had in place originally. Since I was in the process of making this change, I also decided to include the Channel Master CM-7777HD TV Antenna Amplifier with Adjustable Gain ($69 direct from Channel Master) while I'm at. To say that I am extremely pleased with the outcome, well that would be an understatement! The combination of these two devices totally exceeded my expectations! I have been able to pull in 90+ channels on all my HDTVs. All clear as they can be. The days of regretting dropping my expensive cable TV service and hearing the family complain are gone. We are all very pleased with the results for the price of one month's cable bill....

When our local Cable TV affiliate announced we would need a digital set box for EVERY TV in our home, even HDTVs to get BASIC cable service, I was dismayed. This is 2013!! All of my TVs are very high quality DIGITAL HDTVs, there is NO REASON on this earth anyone should need a digital cable box for BASIC cable tv reception. Furthermore they are planning to charge somewhere between $5 and $10 PER BOX monthly rental fees!! Let's just say I'd be looking at between $50 to $100 month EXTRA, plus basic cable fees and taxes and everything. Let's face it, cable TV is a dieing breed. With Roku boxes or Apple TV or Google TV or Internet HDTVs or wifi Blu-ray players, most of us now have access to Netflix for movies and older seasons of popular TV shows, Hulu+ for most current seasons (and many back seasons and even more movies) and Amazon's Prime instant moving streaming, we now only use "regular tv" for local news. We don't need to pay a cable provider $50+ a month for basic cable AND another chunk of change for each additional box, then also pay extra energy bills not only for the energy draw on each box but also the cooling bill as each box is generating large quantities of heat, too! Our cable tech stopped by to put a "cable tv filter" on our pole so it blocks any chance of converting back to cable tv without paying them (d'oh we have no intent to convert back to cable tv!) He pointed at the Channel Master and said their cable company used to use these distribution amplifier. Since we have more than 8 HDTVs connected to our antenna (cough), we have an amp piggy backed into an amp, unbelievably without any issues whatsoever. Good job Channel Master! I would definitely buy again and recommend to others. So much so I have created an Amazon Guide to "cut the cable" (accessible from my profile) which includes a link to this Channel Master amplified splitter.

Bought this to boost my basic CATV signal due to having 7 TVs hooked up. I have an incoming CATV line that has a tap for the internet modem and then I had it split with a three way splitter and then a five way splitter to run all the TVs. All the non digital channels looked like crap. I bought this to consolidate splitting and boost. Installed using the tap for modem and hooked up all seven TVs. Same results on all the TVs. Non digital channels still look crappy. Just not a strong enough signal from CATV provider to boost a crappy signal. It can only boost the signal coming into home and not make a stronger signal. I will keep just to simplify using all different splitters.

I have 5 High Def cable boxes set up along with cable telephone and internet services. I was having some issues with my High Def channels so I bought a amp/splitter from Best Buy. This helped but I was still getting dropouts on my high def. Put this box in and no more drop outs. I highly recommend this product. Don't waste your time or money on the boxes you get in the big box electronic stores.

Very impressed with the design and construction of the device and power supply. Replaced an old amplifier that was doing okay, but occasional pixeling. This unit produces excellent cable video off the end of a long run from the service entry point to the house. Good purchase.

Well made.works too expectations

I actually used this for our building and also used it to test some software defined radios and it amplified those signals as well very nicely. All sturdy and reliable parts. Remember when they say they don't make them like they used to? Well these guys do.

From an attic antenna to 8 ports I get a better signal than when the same antenna was plugged directly into the television, without a pre-amp, which I'm not sure I understand why but I'm not complaining. Fairly heavy, easy to install, the connections on the cables will matter of course. I installed this inside, I expect it to last 20 years if not longer.