Customer Reviews

Antennas Direct DB4 Multi-Directional HDTV Antenna

5 star:		(263)
4 star:		(80)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

I really believe that anyone giving this a negative or low review of this product never bothered to find out what type of antenna they needed for their specific location. There is a web site created specifically for this purpose [..]. I followed the instructions on the site, ordered the appropriate antenna, aimed my antenna in the direction suggested, and low and behold I'm at a 98 signal strength (out of 100). Great success with this product.

The DB4 was the strongest antenna I have tried. It is also the only one that receives every digital station at nearly 40 miles from the Kansas City stations, (and my signal meter pegged.) I was even able to pick up a few out of area stations I was not expecting. The build quality is better than anything else I have seen.

I have recommended the DB4 to several friends who are also having similar success. It would be hard to screw up HD reception with a DB4, but I would not use an antenna as strong is this if you live less than 5 miles from the transmitters as you may encounter multipath interference.

Also keep in mind, even a great antenna can not make up for line of sight obstacles such as buildings and hills, and no antenna will it solve installation errors with, poor connections, splitters, long cable runs, low elevation or faulty tuners.

Our home is located down in a valley where it is impossible to get any local stations in - period - so please bare that in mind as you read our review. Usually, homes around us have either digital cable or satellite service. We have found the multi directional HDTV antenna does pick up stations clearly for the most part. However, for reasons we can't figure out at this time the signals come and go every so often - even on cloudless days. But, you get what you pay for. We are happy to be free of the cable bill of $65 a month for very basic cable or the ridiculous service we had with a horrible satellite company who robbed us blind with poor quality service. Thankfully, we have netflix when the antenna can't pick up the stations. We would, however, recommend purchase of this mutli directional HDTV antenna. We've tried others in the past and have gotten no signal whatsoever - so this is a great improvement. We would estimate a clear signal/sharp picture 90% of the time. I'm sure in time we'll figure out how to keep the sharp picture constant - save during bad storms when signals are expected to be lost.

This antenna is hands down, awesome. The J-bar and butterfly screws that are included give it a secure hold on just about any surface (brick, concrete, wood). For portability sake, I have the DB4 drilled into a cinder block, for ease of lining up the signals. Use a compass! Don't guess. You'll quickly see that this antenna does exactly what your money pays for and more.

If you are trying to decide between an indoor antenna and outdoor. Look no further. Outdoor is much more reliable ... when it rains or snows, this one has never failed me. Don't be fooled by amplifiers, you don't need it with the DB4 if you have outdoor access and 50-75ft of cable distance.

I spent more time fretting over which antenna to buy than I should have. The fact is that digital TV (DTV) and HDTV are simply a UHF broadcast. ANY UHF antenna should provide some signal. The reason for purchasing a high gain antenna (such as the DB4) is that with digital, a good signal means a perfect picture. A poor signal means no picture. There is no fuzzy middle ground.

Here is a summary of the tips I gathered while researching antennas. The more closely you follow these steps, the better your results will be.

1) Go to www.antennaweb.org and click on "Choose and antenna" to determine the distance and direction of the channels you want to get.

2) If possible, mount the antenna on the roof. Attic mounting will result in 40 - 50% signal loss.

3) Orient the antenna as accurately as possible. If you have one, use a compass and the heading you got from antennaweb.org. UHF is directional, so the more accurate the direction, the better the signal.

4) Use RG-6 (Satellite) coax cable and keep the run as short as practical. The same length of RG-59 (CATV) cable will result in much more signal loss.

That said, here's what was working against me. 1) I am a fairly distant 40 miles from all of the transmitters. 2) I didn't feel like messing around on the roof, so I mounted the antenna in the attic. If interested, my antenna mount consisted of a scrap piece of conduit and a spare conduit strap. Total cost should be less than $4. On the plus side, I did aim the antenna as best as possible and I had a fairly short length (32 feet) of RG-6.

My unscientific analysis was to look at the signal strength meter function of the digital TV converter box. It is simply a scale from 0 to 100. To my surprise, the signal strength was in the 90's for all of the channels. That is better than expected.

Basically, this is a very good antenna. Just remember that the better the installation job, the better your reception will be.

Those who experienced problems with DB4 and posted frustration here probably have their own unique issues. In my case, DB4 works like a charm.

My location is quite bad: The house is 32 miles away from the nearest station, sitting half way on a dense wooded hillside facing the opposite direction from the stations. The negative postings did make me hesitant. Then I figured in case DB4 did not work, I could return it to Amazon for DB8, so I ordered DB4.

First I tried it in the family room next to my HDTV, it did not work. Then when I put DB4 in attic (as some folks posting here suggested), the result is beyond anything I can imagine : WITHOUT ANY FINE TUNING of DB4 direction, snap, I got 30+ DTV channels from even 40 miles away, clear and sharp! I also got analog signals from DB4 as well.

It is funny to look at the DB4 setup: attached to a shovel handle mounted to my Christmas tree stand, standing in attic, wire dangling, but the picture on my HDTV beat those in Best Buy! I will move DB4 to the roof once the outside temp is not freezing.

DB4 has a brilliant design to offer light weight, easy mount and best of all the good quality. With the price and fast shipment from Amazon, I only regret I did not try it out earlier.

Folks, ignore the negative postings and try yourself. Even factoring out the easy return and exchange at Amazon, what's the downside to try one DIY with only 40 bucks? A digital-to-analog convert box costs that much. And the one time $58 vs $60 per month cable charge? you know the value in this economy :-) (The RG6 cable costs $18, see my other posting.)

I had this temporarily setup on a pole/mast in the house next to my Terk amplified indoor antenna and it got about the same reception. I was underwhelmed but was ok with it since I bought it for the roof, where my Terk can't go.

Then, I realized I had my in-line amplifier connected wrong, then wow, after amplification the DB4 clearly did it's job better indoor or outdoor. It's on my roof now and pulling in NBC in High Point reliably from Greensboro which is listed to be 35 miles away. before amplification it was apparently on the fringe and would go out with the weather (I have a lot of dense trees), now it's good.

not only that, it indeed is fairly omni-directional as I'm only pointing at the weakest channel and it's pulling everything else at full green bars within a 30 mile range.

lastly, the square grid is relatively small and hardly noticeable on a roof compared to a dish or large traditional vhf/uhf antenna. make sure you have a good mast to mount it to.

Let me start off by saying that I am very new to the OTA HDTV world. Neither my local cable company, Dish Network, nor DirectTV carry our locals in HD (yet). I wanted the 'big 4' in HD, and so an OTA antenna was my only choice. I live in a small town, 30-miles away from the nearest broadcast towers (FOX & ABC). The next nearest towers are 75 (NBC) and 95 (CBS) miles away, though all in the same direction - to the east. They are all UHF channels. I live in Illinois, and there are basically no hills between my house and these towers. I thought there would be little hope of being able to get all four networks without a NASA-inspired antenna array on the roof.

I started my quest for the 'big four' channels with an old set of UHF/VHF rabbit-ears from the closet. It would get FOX & ABC with about 65% signal when sitting in my den. Nothing else. I moved up to a Terk, the HDTVa. It improved the FOX & ABC signals to near 85%. I put it in the attic and the signal levels increased to around 95% and it could occasionally pick up the NBC station when conditions were perfect, but otherwise it was unwatchable.

Then I moved up to this DB4, based on the good reviews here and elsewhere. I bought the DB4 over the DB8 specifically because the DB4's measurements meant that it would fit nicely in a window and wouldn't even need a mount. I wanted to try something 'manageable' as an inside antenna first, before resorting to an outside one.

It took me several hours of 'tinkering' with placement to find the ideal spot. Be very careful as you aim this antenna, because it does matter. It is directional. From many places, I would get LESS signal than I had with the Terk. Far less sometimes. I wasn't too discouraged because I know that UHF signals are tricky. But after a few hours I found a 'sweet spot' in my house. It's currently in a 2nd floor attic window, behind the glass, pointed east towards all of the towers.

From this spot, unamplified, it was pulling in the ABC & FOX stations in at 90%+, and the 75-mile away NBC station at about 70%. I then bought a ChannelMaster 7777 preamp for it. Now it's pulling in the ABC & Fox at a solid 100%, the NBC station near 80-85%, and the 96-mile away CBS station at about 60-65%. The HD feeds are perfect at anything above 58%, according to my tuner (Dish 722), and so they all look fantastic. The CBS feed does occasionally break up, but it's usually watchable. In the early morning, when the atmosphere is the most stable, I've seen all of those stations pegged near 100% with perfect feeds. I was even able to get a signal from another network who's tower is about 110 miles away. Incredibly, I also found another feed from an antenna that's **140** miles away from my home. Both were essentially unwatchable, but I would occasionally get a 10-15 seconds of stable HD before the picture would break up for a second or two. Not that these channels really count, but the signal was there. Again, this is just from an attic window. Incredible.

I don't think I'm even going to bother mounting it on the roof, since being inside I don't have to worry about any weather damage and it's easy to tinker with. I might though, and I'd expect that I'd be able to pull in those 70+ mile stations in with perfect clarity almost all the time.

So it's a worthwhile investment. Everyone's home and location is so different that it's hard to say that it's universally a perfect antenna. But for me, I'm pretty impressed with it. It's working quite well. If you live in a fringe area and need all the UHF help you can get, definitely check out the DB4 + ChannelMaster combo. Thumbs up!

I bought this for UHF HDTV local channels. I am about 20 miles from the broadcast towers, and the unit is mounted on the house eave on a 8' post. I am able to receive all of my local Chattanooga digital stations in crystal clarity
A bit pricey for what you get, but a good product

The solder on the board cracks at the rf connector and the signal gets weak. I have resoldered the board twice in 5 months. I got excellent signal when first installed but the signal keeps getting weak. I found the solder joints in the board was cracked. The cable is tapped to the mask, so there is no pressure on the rf connector. Just bad design.