Amplifier for cable TV

[Scudo]

Hey everyone, I'm currently wondering whether or not an amplifier will do me any good. See, two channels (HBO and the History Channel) seem to be coming in very poorly. The History Channel's video is very garbled and the only audio I get is static, while HBO's video is just very weak overall (compared to most other channels that look fine). This is just standard analog Cable TV, straight from the wall into my tuner. Standard TVs in the same building get these channels just fine.

I'm using an ATI Theater 550, and on these forums I've read that they require a strong signal. This is why I'm considering getting an amplifier to boost my signal a bit.

The only problem is that I'm living in a dorm on a university campus, and there's no telling how many times the cable is split to go to all the different rooms. My worry is that if I buy an amplifier, I'll be amplifying all of the noise in the signal as well and I'll be no better off.

I know it may be hard to comment without knowing the specifics of how many times the cable is split, how far it is from the source, etc., but do you think an amplifier would yield any improvement? Has anyone else had a similar situation, maybe in a dorm or an apartment?

[HtV]

My 2 cts: wrt the history channel: to me it sounds like a tuning problem, maybe there is a way to fine tune that channel. For the HBO channel it could be a weak signal. As I said: my 2 cts.
Maybe you could borrow an amp to see if it helps.

[Scudo]

I tried manually tuning HBO using the frequency shown in the GBPVR tuning assistant but the picture didn't look any stronger.

Also, the tuning assistant skipped right over the History Channel, so I have no idea what frequency it should be (I've been using the zap2it EPG for my area, and that is how I was getting the channel in my list).

That strikes me as odd that it doesn't even get picked up by the tuning assistant, though. Not sure what to do.

Thanks for the quick reply, by the way. I appreciate it.

[wtg]

Make sure you buy the amp at a place you can return it. I tried two and found out they actually introduced more noise than they were worth. From what I've read there's quite a bit that goes into a good amp and you tend to get what you pay for.

[pcostanza]

My cable guy just came by this week and removed the amp stating our area has had an upgrade and it wasn't needed. That night, I lost a few digital channels. The next morning, I lost my internet and that night, my phone (all with the cable company). They came out 2 days later after spotty service on all 3 and added the amp again and it's all perfect.
By the way, they demanded I not put the amp back myself!