Customer Reviews

Motorola Signal Booster 4-Port BDA-S4 Cable Modem TV HDTV Amplifier

5 star:		(79)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is the 4-port version of the Motorola Signal Booster, combining that product's high-quality 15 dB cable/antenna drop amplifier with an integrated 4-port splitter so you can use this device with up to four TVs (or a cable modem and three TVs) without having to buy a separate high-bandwidth signal splitter.

So who would benefit from a cable amplifier like this? Anyone who is having difficulty receiving a solid and reliable cable TV or cable modem signal is a candidate for the BDA-S4. But first check with your cable company to make sure they have done all they can to get a high quality cable feed into your home, with high quality cables, splitters and connectors. If they've "been there, done that," and you still notice frequent outages of your cable internet service, or pixilated (distorted) images on live or recorded TV shows from cable, then you may very well need a drop amp like this one.

This four-output 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). Whenever 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 as close as possible to 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 as well as a solid high-speed internet connection.

Why is this amp's "two-way" or "bi-directional" capability important? A two-way amp/splitter with "return" feed support is necessary in order to properly support a broadband cable modem (for data upload and download) and to enable interactive cable services such as PPV (pay per view) and interactive guides. A one-way amplifier will boost overall signal reception, but it will not work with a modem or interactive cable services. The BDA-S4 works perfectly with both.

The BDA-S4 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 amplification but only if you have a decent signal to begin with. A full review of the Motorola Signal Booster is available on Big Picture Big Sound's web site. Our writer's cable reception in Manhattan went from spotty to near perfect with this simple little amp. Highly recommended.

This amplifier is well made, durable and meets all of the requirements for professional use. It's is widely used in the cable industry (contrary to some of the reviews here). There are several companies that make these and they all meet the frequency requirements (5-1000 MHz) for modern HFC cable systems. It is provided and installed by cable guys and it costs $40-$50 on average.

First of all this device should only be used for your TV service. Do NOT amplify the modem line. You need to use the splitter to split one line to the modem and the other should feed the amplifier and the rest of your outlets. This amplifier will increase your modem upstream return level. Read the print on the amplifier : RTN(return) -8 dBmV. Your upstream power level will increase and your modem will have to work harder to communicate out. Also it will sometimes decrease your upstream signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

The amplifier is not a do-it-all miracle device that will solve all of your problems. It simply amplifies the incoming signal. It does not filter the noise. This means your incoming signal needs to be clean and at acceptable level before the amplifier. So if you have 4 or more TVs (on average, but this may vary) you will most likely benefit from this purchase. If you have more than that you should buy the single port version (cheaper) and use an 8 way splitter. In fact if you buy a single port version and use a 4 way splitter you will get the same signal levels.

However if you have problems I strongly recommend calling your local cable co and get a tech out. If you are a DIY person, make sure you do some research first and use quality equipment (like this amplifier), RG6 60% braid shielded or better cable (quad shield is better), compression fittings (like PPC, Thomas&Betts) and not crimp fittings (don't apply pressure on the coax), splitters that do not have glue on the back cover and are rated 5-1000 MHz. By investing more money and getting quality equipment it will help you have trouble-free service and will most likely save you some money in the long run.

PS If you can get a power inserter (it looks like a regular splitter but it's not) you can use it to back feed the power on one line so you don't need to have a power outlet right next to the amplifier (make sure you connect it to the "REMOTE POWER" (sometimes "DC IN/RF OUT") port on the amplifier).

This dramatically improved the reception in my house. I have Insight Cable (Ohio) and have always had several snowy channels. The cable company had been out but said there was nothing they could do, as some channels just get poor reception. To make matters worse, I recently added five new splices for a total of 10. Several TV's had terrible reception. I chose this model so I could run the main cable input into the booster and then each output to a splitter. The main cable line enters the house into a finished office so I also liked how the unit was powered, too. It works absolutely fantastic. All TV's now have excellent reception. I just cannot believe that this solved my issues. It seems very well made and sturdy and it's actually pretty neat how it works. The power source is an inverter that translates the house electric to 12V. You plug it into your outlet and then run an R59 or R6 coaxial cable from the power source to the amplifier/booster. So I just fished a new cable line in the wall near my outlet to power it, as opposed to having to deal with installing a new outlet near my cable input. I have broadband internet coming through my cable and have seen no interference or problems with that. It was always pretty good so I'm unsure if there was any improvement. To me this was well worth the money. I have several LCD TV's around and it sucked to have spent the money on them but have bad reception.

This product works great ! I had some channels that would pixel and some channels that would not come in with Comcast cable. This unit solved all of that. It also made my computer down load faster. On my Tivo it made the signal strength go from 70 to 100. On my computer the downstream power went from -13dbmv to +2dbmv. This was money very well spent.

I can not tell you how many times I called my local cable tv provider (Comcast) to complain about the poor picture quality on my tv. I was unable to watch my brand new Sony flat screen HD TV due to pixelization and completely blank channels. It was happening every day. All Comcast would do is send a signal to the digital box to try to correct it. They even sent a service man out to look at it. He checked all the connections inside and out and told me if the problem continued, to call. They were totally worthless. I was ready to cancel my cable tv subscription, when someone at work suggested a signal booster. So, I signed onto my favorite website in the world!.... Amazon.com.... and found this wonderful little thing! Very simple to hook up outside where the cable wire feeds into the house. It was like flipping a switch. No more pixels across my screen and I'm also able to pick up channels I didn't have before! It really does work. I've had it now for 2 weeks and have not had one problem with my tv. Well worth the $52 I paid for it! Motorola Signal Booster 4-Port BDA-S4 Cable Modem TV HDTV Amplifier

Just purchased this item, and used it in place of a CATV cable splitter that supplied signal to my home office HDTV and to my high-speed internet cable modem (also Motorola) and WOW! what a difference. While there was not a substantial improvement in my HDTV reception (it was already very good), the throughput on my broadband cable modem and wireless router increased greatly, both upload and download. My wired desktop PC and wireless devices (notebook PC, Ipod Touch, etc) now consistently fly through web pages and e-mail send/recieve tasks. Awesome product...worth the price, easy to install.

I gave all 5 stars for this item attributes, but only 3 stars in general rating and here is the reason why.
I have 4 FIOS Cable boxes in my house and they are, of course, in different rooms and I was using a regular splitter for this. You can imagine how many cables I have and how far they are going. So HD picture was degraded on two of my TVs - there was pixelation and sound was being lost.
I went looking for a good Signal Booster and found this one. I got it, installed it and it was perfect - no more signal loss and picture and sound were like it was a direct cable connection. BUT, to my big disappointment on the two cable boxes that were connected to this Booster I was no longer getting the connection to my DVR, connection to all the Verizon FIOS services from the boxes got lost and I could not get any channel lineup.
So I did further research and stumbled upon this review:

amazon.com/review/RK8ZFK6ZYL6JY/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#RK8ZFK6ZYL6JY

Apparently for the Cable TV services to work you need a Booster with "Active Return Cable Modem Boost", which is this one: Motorola Signal Booster 4-Port Cable Modem TV HDTV Amplifier with Active Return Cable Modem Boost

So, for anyone who does NOT care about the Cable Services this is a perfect solution. But the BDA-K4/RA model sells for the exact same price as the BDA-S4, so I'm returning this one and getting the one with Active Return Model Boost. I will try to review it after I get it and test it.

I've got 7 TV's around the house and was getting poor quality on some. This booster gives each TV a sharp picture, especially the HD channels.

After going to Comcast digital I had several TV's that either would not receive channels or were very poor quality. Comcast advised I had poor wiring and too many splitters (which probably is true) Anyway I did not want to rewire my 2 story house so I tried the Motorola 4 port HDTV Amplifier and am now able to use all TV's with good quality pictures. This product was a great and reasonably priced solution to my problem. My Internet also is connected and is running great.

This was a fantastic purchase. I receive an OTA signal from towers that are approximately 45 miles from my home. The antenna I have is not adequate for the distance, but does the job for the most part. Typically I receive a signal strength in the 20-30 range. I purchased this signal booster and it changed the way we watch television. I did NOTHING else but add this signal booster. In some cases, the addition of this booster tripled my signal. I am now able to get three additional channels that I was originally unable to receive. I cannot predict how this will work for you but it was a great addition to my home.