# What's a decent to good signal strength for channels?



## samsgood (Jul 25, 2012)

Just installed a TIVO premiere with my optimum cable card here in Brooklyn NY and I was wondering what a good signal strength is for channels?

I did a few tests on a regular broadcast network, a cable channel, and then a premium channel.

My results were basically in the 77-89 range for the three. Is that ok or should results always be in the high 90's?


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

Ideally, for signal strength, you would want it between 85-95 on each of the tuners. Generally the higher the channel frequency, the lower the signal strength.
Minimum for a 2 tuner Premiere is probably 70-75,
Elite/XL4 needs 80-85
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The ideal SNR level would be 30 - 40dB on QAM 256

The ideal signal level in dBmV is going to be 0 to 10 dBmV.
Technically anything between -10dBmV and 10dBmV should be acceptable, but SNR (Signal-to-Noise) also has to be factored in.

IMO
-5dBmV to -3dBmV is barely acceptable
-2dBmV to 0dBmV is acceptable
0dBmV to 2dBmV is good
2dBmV to 5dBmV is great


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## samsgood (Jul 25, 2012)

TY very much.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

I use my Premiere for OTA and I have 3 channels with signals in the upper 30's (to low 40's at best) and have no issues.


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## ScottP461 (Sep 4, 2005)

I have 3 new XL's used for OTA only. The signal strength meter shows green at 50 and above, yellow 40-49 and blue (ghost!) 39 and below. I have 2 channels in the low 40's usually (high VHF, digital 11 & 13), the rest are high 50's up to 85+.

My signals breakup below 40 and seem to be OK above that. I consider 50 and above to be safe (probably won't dip below 40 at any point), although I get nervous if the signal dips below 50. So, the color coding of the signal strength "bar" is an accurate indicator of good signal for me.



scandia101 said:


> I use my Premiere for OTA and I have 3 channels with signals in the upper 30's (to low 40's at best) and have no issues.


I have severe multipath problems (only with the TiVo's OTA tuners) which may account for your getting acceptable results below 40! This is, however, a subject better suited to another thread.


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