» Philips High Performance Amplified Indoor Uhf/Vhf/Fm/HDTV Antenna

Philips High Performance Amplified Indoor Uhf/Vhf/Fm/HDTV Antenna Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Antenna
Comment: This antenna improved my digital reception on all but one of the stations I can receive with my dvd recorder (Toshiba D-R560 with atsc tuner), But, on my other tv with a digital convertor (insignia ns-dxa1)the signal strength nearly doubled. Channels that have been nearly impossible to watch on a windy day are perfect. Even the station my toshiba could not pull in was stronger. It may be the location in my house that is the problem with my dvd recorders reception but even there the Philips High Performance Antenna improved reception. I don't have an hdtv set so I can't say if this antenna is usefull for that purpose, but the local hd channels all had a clear picture.
I would buy this product again.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Decent HDTV antenna
Comment: Pulls in good signal reception within 10-15 miles of mounted location. Have difficulty picking up signal plus 20+ miles.

Overall the HD picture quality is good. Comparible to the GE Quantom Indoor Antenna.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the better amplified antennas
Comment: I'm surprised at the fairly low rating this antenna has gotten. I have gone through a myriad of "rabbit ears" and this antenna is the best I have found so far. I actually have two now for a TV in the living room and one in the bedroom. What I like is that you don't need to re-tune every time you switch to a channel on a different band. No, it doesn't come close to an outdoor antenna mounted high up, but it does pull in all my local channels. Now that there are digital channels available, it also does quite good at pulling them in. I would certainly recommend this antenna to someone who is looking for a indoor solution.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Extremely susceptible to RF interference, poor construction.
Comment: This is a review of a few antennas and why I finally settled on the Terk HDTVa. I only tested them with ATSC signals, so I can't comment on any analog reception.

I used this antenna for the longest time, all while being mildly annoyed by it. First off, it pulls in UHF signals like nobody's business, regardless of how it's oriented or where it is placed. It doesn't seem to mind multipath interference at all. VHF stations are a completely different story; it takes hours and hours of messing with these rabbit ears to get any picture, unlike the other two antennas reviewed. And then when you DO finally have the picture, heaven forbid you start to move around the room or even move on the couch, the picture will drop out.
I had this antenna at my old 3rd floor apartment, and tried it in two locations in my new 1st floor apartment. In the living room, I really couldn't pick up anything useful with it, so I moved it to the bedroom and tried with a Pinnacle ATSC tuner. When I finally had the rabbit ears set up right, for some reason I could no longer tune the strongest UHF signal in the area, go figure.
On the third floor, the only thing I had to worry about was the fact that it was VERY susceptible to RF interference. Is anyone in a nearby apartment using a microwave or making a cell phone call? Signal drops out. Get a text message? No TV. On the first floor, you can only sit in certain spots while watching TV or you've got no picture. This was especially annoying since it was being used to record shows while I was away, the signal would get weaker without someone in the room.
It just might have been my unit that was poorly shielded, but the more I turned down the amplification, the less susceptible it was to RF interference. I forgot to add this to my other two reviews, but one of the VHF elements snapped rather easily and the UHF panel seems flimsy.

Terk HDTVa Indoor Amplified High-Definition Antenna for Off-Air HDTV Reception
I just ordered this from Amazon.com and I can say without a doubt that it's the best antenna I've ever used. I'm about 25 miles away from most TV transmitters, and it picks up all of them. I was extremely surprised and very happy to see that it also picked up NBC and FOX, both VHF channels here, at full strength, something I was never able to do with my other two antennas.
I ran a longer coax cable and put the antenna on a window sill, I never have to fiddle with the rabbit ears or move it around to get a clear picture. This is on the window sill of a first floor (3 floor building) apartment that is surrounded by other apartment buildings. Also, the UHF element can be mounted with the blades oriented horizontally or vertically, perfect for putting it on the window sill and still being able to close the blinds.
The only con I can think of is that the VHF elements aren't as freely moved as they are on a lot of other antennas, like on an old pair of bunny ears. Basically, if you want to aim them horizontally, they have to be pointing in the OPPOSITE direction of the UHF element, or straight up, or tilted slightly forward. Aiming them horizontally in the same direction as the UHF element is impossible. This is only a minor issue, since the reception is so damn good I could aim the VHF elements however I wanted to and still get a clear picture; this isn't even enough of a nuisance to take one star off for. DEFINITELY get this; it's the best indoor antenna you'll ever use.
This is also the only antenna I've ever used that didn't lose signal on every single channel, both UHF and VHF, when someone was using a cell phone. Definitely a good perk.

GE 24775 Quantum Indoor HDTV Antenna
Mediocre, at best. This is one of the only antennas I've seen with ONE VHF element, which isn't exactly a problem in this market since most of our DTV stations are UHF, but don't count on being able to receive more than one VHF station with this setup. You'll find yourself moving the lone bunny ear around a lot if you've got 3-4 VHF stations you want to watch, even when the transmitters for these stations are on the same tower!
The UHF panel design is a gimmick at best, it does help if one station is in a different direction and you only want to aim one panel at it, but the reception for some reason is not consistent. The FIXED LENGTH power and coax cables are the nails in the coffin.
This antenna would be great at $10, maybe $15, not the $30 GE is trying to sell it at. For some reason, this antenna is also very limited in how many ways you can aim the VHF element; I'd prefer being able to aim the VHF element in whatever direction I want and have limited range on the UHF element since receiving those signals is much easier.
It did seem to like being placed in as high a location as possible; I'm on the first floor so it's not easy to get it very high up. When held to the ceiling reception did improve greatly, and as soon as I figure out how to staple it to my ceiling I'll find a use for it. Right now it's chugging along fine in the living room.
This antenna is definitely a good choice if you're in a tall building or out in the boonies away from any other buildings. WiFi, microwaves, and cell phones only bother it on certain VHF stations, but it can barely pull those in anyways.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Fantastic - Nothing Else Compares!
Comment: This is an excellent HD antenna. It has always been hard to get TV reception in North Phoenix and this antenna got most the main stations right out of the box.

With a little configuration, such as pointing the HD antenna in the correction direction and calibrating the correct signal amplification, you should be able to dial in almost every channel. To get the best possible reception with this antenna, try and position it someplace high inside, free from obstruction.

Since you will probably end up testing a couple different of products before giving up, make sure to give this one a whirl first to avoid as much frustration as possible.

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