Hdtv Digital Antennas

Mossyoakglock · July 25, 2011

Hey Guys,

Since cable and sat TV are so expensive around here we are looking into the idea of getting a TV antenna for the house. I've looked at Best Buy and they have a couple indoor antennas from ClearStream that are under $100 that seem pretty good. Most seem to have a 35 mile range as well. While we like the additional channels, as long as we have the basic local channels (ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX) for news we are ok. When football season gets here these are they channels the games are usually on too. We have internet for anything else we might want to watch.

Are these antennas any good? Will the channels be in HD? I have never seen or used one of the new antennas so this is all new to me. If anything we'll just buy it and try it out for a week and then return it if we don't like it.

We are just trying to find ways to save some money while the wife is finishing up her degree.

Porter_ · July 25, 2011

i used to use a $40 in-door Philips HD antenna and it worked very well, at least in my area. at the time over-the-air HD picture quality was considered superior to cable and sat HD, it was the cleanest way to transmit an HD signal. not sure if that's the case these days but even so i don't think you'll be unhappy with the picture quality. one major annoyance is that the signal can still become interrupted (like any OTA signal) and instead of 'snow' or 'static' you get image pixelation or complete image loss. this site will help you locate the antennas in your area: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

Carder09 · July 25, 2011

I use the HD ant. also, It looks like a small book that you can hang up or stand, it has some 360deg. range or somethin of the sort so the signal doesnt fade and can always search for the best signal.

old-chevy-dude · July 25, 2011

I got this one from Radio Shack,

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...oductId=3912573

after going thru several of the crappy ones at best buy and never being able to grab all the channels without moving the damn thing for 10 minutes and standing on my head.

That one works wonderfully, plus has a remote to rotate the internal amplified antenna so once you have it set you don't have to do much except rotate the internal antenna or raise/lower the gain control.

The only other issue we have is being in the direct flight path for LAX and every 15 minutes as a plane takes off the signal drops for a few seconds as the plane passes overhead, and NOTHING can fix that, roof mounted antenna, DirecTV, Dish Network, nothing, they all have issues with the damn planes blocking line of site..