Cable comparison

[janctil]

I would like to know if anyone has an opinion on which cable is better for a new installation. The two cables in question are
Monster Cable (MVQUAD direct burial RG-6 cable)
or
Belden 7911A RG-6 quad shield cable

Will I see a difference between these two cables?

I am in the process of adding a swm slimline dish (when they are available) which will feed two HR-20 DVR's.

Thank you for you time and trouble.

John

:confused:

[carl6]

You should be just fine with either. Many people feel that Monster does not provide good benefit for cost.

Carl

[janctil]

You should be just fine with either. Many people feel that Monster does not provide good benefit for cost.

Carl

Okay, is there a difference (in picture quality) between using the quad shield cable (7916a) versus say the single shield cable (say 1694A)? My runs will be under 100 foot total.

[dave29]

monster is a waste of money.

[dave29]

any rg6 with a solid copper center conductor is fine

[jaguar325]

I won't comment on the Monster vs. Belden.. but would definitely recommend spending a few extra bucks on quad shield, especially if the runs are long and you have to route them near power or HVAC. I used quad shield RG6 from Home Depot (about $50 for 500 ft) to run 4 lines at 75+ feet/each from a Zinwell that was already 40-50 feet from the dish without any signal loss or interference.

There are plenty of opinions to go around about whether Monster is worth the extra money.. you might convince me that there are some brand-specific advantages on certain devices like power conditioners but I think cable, especially something like RG6 is a hard sell on brand differentiation. The big differences with coax will be on RG5 vs. RG6 and regular vs. quad shield.

[beakor]

I would like to know if anyone has an opinion on which cable is better for a new installation. The two cables in question are
Monster Cable (MVQUAD direct burial RG-6 cable)
or
Belden 7911A RG-6 quad shield cable

Will I see a difference between these two cables?

:confused:


You wont see any "better picture" between the two. They both have quad shield (to keep interference and leaks out, serves as the ground. There is nothing superior about monster other than the price. I can tell you the connectors on monster cable products are a complete joke. Belden has been making excellent cable, we use alot of that at my job (we do live sports / concert broadcast). Canary is another great product. I would stay away from monster, its just marketing and packaging.

[Carl Spock]

Belden makes great cable. I'm sure it will be cheaper. You won't go wrong.

I often use dual shielded cable (there's no single shield) although the best is certainly quad shield. It is just much stiffer and tougher to work with. It depends on the application. You should know that the fittings are different for dual and quad shield RG-6.

[carl6]

As a general rule, you do not need quad shield unless you are very close to a high power broadcast transmitter. The benefit is in shielding external signals so they don't interfere. Quad shield will make absolutely no difference in picture quality.

Carl

[glennb]

As another general rule - You never have to use MONSTER BRAND anything. It isn't any better no matter what some salesguy at the store tells you.

[AntAltMike]

...(there's no single shield) ...
I service the distribution systems in two hotels that use single foil shield RG-6 with just a couple of drain wires. They were probably wired 40 years ago.

I also service several buidings that are wired with copper braid shielded RG-59, with no foil. I know one of them was built and wired in 1961.

Two of my former customers used coax with stranded center conductors, and they were tapped by punching little holes in the vinyl jacked and inserting 1/8 watt, 75 ohm resistors with the leads trimmed to about 1/16" long each. One was wired in 1950, but I don't know the date of the other. They each have single shield coax as well. One is about the size of RG-11, the other is the size of RG-6.

But realistically, none of you will ever be plagued with this kind of wiring.

[aim2pls]

basics of RG-6
1) always use solid copper core
2) always use 60% braid
3) sweep tested for 3 Mhz ... optional (most will pass this test anyway)
4) Monster cable generates more income for the seller and manufacturer
5) IF you live next door to a TV or Radio station use Quad shield

[MONSTERMAN]

Use the siamese 1841AC belden cable. Quad shield is a pain in the ass for installs, and not worth it. The 1841AC is BC and plenty shielded.

Nothing wrong with monster cable products. The ISAT (BC) is also direct burial which most cable isn't. I just like siamese cabling better. For quality cable products (monster, belden) you won't find hardly any difference in prices, monster cable is a lot easier to find tough.