To start, your antenna is only as good as the signal that is reaching your home! The HDTVi does a great job on receiving UHF signals, a very good job on VHF signals. From alot of reviews of antennas, it would appear people are clueless on HDTV reception. For your local reception, I'd check out the forum at the following address. They have information and experience going back a couple years on HDTV reception in many cities. So before trying to wrestle with antennas, first make sure you aren't searching for nothing. When I started, I couldn't find ABC not because of the antenna, but because the station was transmitting for four days! http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=7e85bb49c56fa3787e7ed73e6ec7473d&forumid=45
I tried 5 antennas, an old one, the HDTVi, the Terk TV5, Radio Shack amplified antenna (15-1880), and Philips' amplified antenna (SCA050). The best reception was received on the Radio Shack, however, the amplifier needed to be higher for reception of CBS while it had to be lower for FOX or FOX wouldn't come in. This was bothersome. I was also able to get a weak NBC signal unlike any other antenna I had, but the signal just wasn't strong enough. The TV5 had mediocre coverage. It was able to get UHF decently, but it was fighting to get upper and lower VHF. The Philips and HDTVi had similar reception, but the HDTVi wasn't amplified which meant I would have more options regarding moving the antenna around, such as placing in the attic without worrying about plugging it in.
Ultimately, as far as UHF was concerned, each antenna had similar results. It was in VHF that the antennas were a bit different. As far as ranking the antennas for reception:
1) Radio Shack's 15-1880 Best
2) Terk HDTVi Very good
3) Philips SCA050 Very good
4) Terk TV5 Decent
The Terk HDTV wins out because of the lower price, the fact that it is unamplified, had very good reception, and took up the least space. One last comment would regard the coax cable you use. I tried using some coax (about 30 feet) just laying around to hook up the receiver to the antenna. The signal just wouldn't carry the distance. When I used a much higher quality coax that came with the installation of my sat dish, the signal came in loud and clear.
If possible, I'd recommend get a few antennas at the same time and make sure you can return them, most stores have 30 day policies. Plan on spending a week on gaining the best reception with the best antenna for your home. Terk Technology HDTVi VHF/UHF HDTV Indoor Antenna
If you're looking for a plain old rabbit-ear type antenna with about the same performance, this model will work for you but it's nothing special. It didn't improve the picture over our cheap $10 rabbit ear set with UHF loop. It's large and unstable with such a small base. One advantage is that the VHF telescoping antennae are quite thick and stout, much more durable than your average cheapo antenna.
I am a cable TV professional and have the gear to make actual measurements. I took readings on all the local channels and compared them to my simple antenna. This one measured at most 10% higher in signal strength, not enough to make a difference in the picture.
Here's a couple tips on antennas in general:
Other posts are correct when they say there's nothing HD about any antenna. The HD channels your TV tunes in are simply UHF channels, though it tries to hide that from you. So as long as your antenna has UHF capability then it's already HD capable. Don't waste money replacing an existing antenna thinking you need a new one for HD. For those of you who don't get the lingo, VHF uses the long pole antenna and includes integer-numbered channels 2-13. Everything else is UHF (including the ones your TV calls decimal numbers like 5.1, 5.2, etc) which uses the loop antenna or t-cross type elements as in this model.
One more note, an "amplified antenna" will not improve reception. They are made for applications with long cable runs or where you need to split the signal to several locations--they boost the signal to overcome signal loss introduced by the cables and splitter. If you are connecting the antenna to a single device, then the amplifier will not help you, in fact it's more likely to make things worse. The antenna tunes in what is coming through the airwaves, and an amplifier can not improve the strength of that signal in the antenna. If you are getting a bad picture, an amplifier will not improve it, it will only increase the power of the bad signal resulting in a 'louder' bad signal. It's much like on a stereo when you're listening to the radio and you hear static, turning up the volume only makes the static louder, it does not improve reception.
I was shopping around for an indoor HDTV antenna until I stumbled across Terk's HDTVi. I bought one but the HDTV reception was terrible. My Philips Magnavox SCP030 from Walmart even worked better.
I still needed a good indoor antenna so I headed to RadioShack. First I tried the RadioShack's Amplified HDTV antenna but that didn't work so well either. I noticed they also had a Terk HDTVa in stock so I exchanged it with that one.
The HDTVa and the HDTVi are essentially the same except the "a" version has an extra adaptor called an in-line signal amplifier. It's a powered adaptor that goes on the end of the coaxial cable. After attaching that to the antenna, the signal jumped from 75% to 85% signal strength.
I HIGHLY recommend the HDTVa version instead of the HDTVi. If you've already bought the HDTVi, you can make it an HDTVa by getting an in-line signal amplifier from RadioShack or any online store. - Terk - Hdtv - Indoor Antenna - Tv Antenna'
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
