Motorola Signal Booster 2-Port BDA-S2 Cable Modem TV HDTV Amplifier

by Motorola

Product Details

• Item Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B0017I1PVC
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,307 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 19, 2008

Product Description

There is nothing worse than having a great TV to watch your favorite programs, while having a grainy or pixilated (digital cable) picture. Motorola BDA amplifiers give your TV signal a boost while maintaining full compatibility with all of your cable services. Simply install the BDA-S2 where your cable or antenna comes into your house and begin enjoying a better picture, faster downloads, and a more reliable HD or Digital TV signal. With a name like Motorola, how can you go wrong? The BDA-S2 is fully compatible with all cable TV standards, cable boxes, cable modems, routers, HDTV and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magic Box, January 13, 2009

By 

Chris Boylan "MrBoylan" (Astoria, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Motorola Signal Booster 2-Port BDA-S2 Cable Modem TV HDTV Amplifier (Electronics)

This is the 2-port version of the Motorola Signal Booster, combining that product's excellent 15 dB cable/antenna drop amplifier with a 2-port splitter so you can use it with both a digital cable (HDTV) signal and a cable modem without having to buy a separate splitter.

So who needs one of these things? Anyone who is having difficulty receiving a consistent cable TV or cable modem signal is a candidate for this amp, but first check with your cable company to confirm that they have done all they can, in terms of getting high quality cables and splitters into your home. If they've done that, and you still notice frequent outages of your cable internet service, or pixelated (distorted) images on live or recorded TV shows from cable, then you may very well need a drop amp like this one.

The amplifier is particularly helpful if you are splitting a cable signal coming into your house to multiple rooms for multiple TV feeds (and this is perfectly legal to do, per the Cable Act of 1992). Any time you split a cable signal, you lose approximately 3 dB (decibels) of signal strength. Split a signal enough times and it can cause you to lose your cable modem feed or get sporadic distortion on your digital cable channels. Insert a cable amplifier like this into your cable feed right where it enters the home and it will boost the signal enough to survive multiple splits and, in most cases, will allow you to enjoy a glitch free cable TV signal throughout your home.

Why is this amp's "two-way" or "bi-directional" feature important? A two-way feed is necessary in order to support a cable modem (upload/download) and to support interactive cable services such as PPV (pay per view).

This amp won't work miracles. Again, always check your incoming signal, cable and connector quality first. But if you've done all that and are still having trouble, this little cable signal amp can be a real life-saver. It also works fine for OTA (over the air) HDTV signal distribution, but only if you're starting with a decent quality signal to begin with. A full review of the Motorola Signal Booster is available on Big Picture Big Sound's web site.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Works Great, December 12, 2009

By 

LCC402 (South Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Motorola Signal Booster 2-Port BDA-S2 Cable Modem TV HDTV Amplifier (Electronics)

I moved into a new home which had seven cable outlets in different rooms. One of the bedrooms I turned into an office but the problem was that I only had one cable connection in the room. The connection did okay with either the cable modem or the HDTV but not with both connected. The cable modem would not connect with the TV connected to a splitter. I connected the amplifier and ran one cable to the TV and the other to the cable modem. I crossed my fingers and plugged it in... Now I have a great cable internet AND HDTV signal, both from one cable connection. The only thing I had a problem with was the 13 days it took from the time I ordered until the time I received the item, but that has nothing to do with the item itself.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Video Signal amplifier, June 26, 2010

By 

anniesuncat - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Motorola Signal Booster 2-Port BDA-S2 Cable Modem TV HDTV Amplifier (Electronics)

My digital converter has a signal level indicator on it. Using this amplifier raised the signal quality from about 5% to about 50% on my worst channels. So I now get all the local channels from my roof top antennas.