Customer Reviews

RCA ANT1450BR Multi-Directional Amplified Digital Flat Antenna (Black)

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

This is an amplified indoor antenna to use with the converter box to receive ota (over the air) broadcast channels. This pulls in all the "free" TV stations in NYC Metro area. I live in Bergen County, NJ and the reception is fantastic.

The converter box plugs into the TV and has a power cord. The antenna plugs into the converter box and also has a power cord. Best reception is if the flat antenna panel is right next to a window. Also the long cord from the converter box to the flat panel antenna works best if stretched out.

I'm using a power strip for the TV, the converter box and the antenna. Once I got them on the power strip and could position the flat panel near the window with the antenna cable fully stretched out, the reception was full green and perfect on all the channels (except for Thirteen, WNET). Fantastic reception and the digital signal is very good. Highly recommended. Picture quality is fantastic and boy you can tell when you're viewing HDTV.

Thirteen WNET has not yet boosted their antenna so their signal is too weak to be received. Read their statement online at Thirteen WNET.

I recently tried five different antennae and found the Philips MANT940 to be the best of all five.

I compared it to the GE 24775, the RCA ANT537, Philips SDV2750, and the RCA ANT 1450. If I was giving a ranking for the five, it would be as follows:

1. Philips MANT940
2. RCA ANT 1450
3. GE 24775
4. RCA Ant 537
5. Philips SDV2750

By using the signal strength meter on my HDTV, the MANT940 was the only one to receive at least 80% on all relevant stations. I had chosen a location near a window in my garage and placed all antennae there and compared their performance. The top three I listed above all performed adequately, so I moved them to a place where I would mount the MANT940 between two windows.

Upon comparison of those three in the best window location, I found that the MANT940 had most channels in the 90-94% range and one channel at 80% while most of the channels on the other two were in the mid 70's to mid 80's.

I am in northern suburb of Atlanta, GA and found that the only channel that I wanted that no antenna would pick up is the NBC affiliate, WXIA.

Noticed improvement when first hooked up to TV, no amp. With amp beautiful pictures and 12 channels. Digital converter not hooked up yet but expect tremendous improvement with reception. Once placed don't need to keep adjusting 'rabbit ears'. Looks sleek and modern. ADDITIONAL NOTE: Please make this a five-star. I have added an Insignia NS-DXA1-APT digital converter between the antenna and my analog TV and gotten digital-quality pictures for at least 24 channels. This is a medium-sized market and I excluded several stations. Again, the quality of the pictures is excellent.

I've had this unit for just at two months and have been nothing but happy with my purchase choice. It just plain does what it advertises.

Currently this antenna is connected to a HDTV tuner that is plugged into my computer and since the first day of use it has outperformed any other amplified antenna I have used before.

Pros:

It's much more compact and easy to place "out of the way" than more traditional antennas.

Once in place you can just leave it be with no need for any adjustments.

Fairly long cables to connect the antenna to your tuner/TV.

Cons:

None that I have encountered to date.

I am located within 8 miles of the three main broadcast antennas for our local TV stations. In fact, you can see them from my front door. All the other broadcast antennas for other stations are located at least 25 miles away which was why I was looking for something that could pull those signals in, all the time.

This little unit does the trick!

Once I had found the optimal location I have not had to touch this antenna once since the first week of December and I have not had any problems picking up all my local stations, even during a snow storm!

Overall, this is a great little antenna for those who want something they will not have to "fuss" with and want to be able to hide it out of site.

Performs worse than RCA ANT1250 UHF/VHF Amplified indoor Antenna. The amplifier is not built in to the flat antenna so you have to connect it to the flat antenna and this makes for a lot of coaxial cable. I bought this because I thought it would be more streamlined than the antenna I have now. Didn't work well for me and it turned out to be less steamlined.

Our bunny ears were getting about 60% strength on our digital converter box meter. We bought this antenna thinking we could do a lot better. On the contrary. We could only get 20-30% with this antenna alone and about 50% with the amplifier. We tried every position you could imagine and our bunny ears still out performed it. Don't waste your time!!!

First off, let me preface this review by noting that antenna performance is highly dependent on your location relative to the transmitter. Clearly, some of the other reviewers had a different experience with this item than I did... Maybe they're in a better location than I am; who knows? Anyway, keep in mind when purchasing that your mileage may vary.

That said, this thing was a complete waste of my time and money, losing out to a simple $10 set of "rabbit ears." I typically get six digital channels, three of them strongly. To test, I tuned in the strongest of the six and swapped out the rabbit ears for this RCA 1450B... And got nada. Tried all different positions (horizontal, vertical, upside down, aimed out the window and all around the room) and the best I managed was a weak audio-only. Then I plugged in the amplifier and tried it all again. This time I managed to get a picture, but far lower strength than with the rabbit ears and full of artifacts and distortions. Scanning for channels yielded a grand total of two instead of the usual six, neither of which was watchable. Switched back to the rabbit ears and my test channel came back strong and steady.

In short, I found this item to be pretty much useless. Boxing it up and sending it back.

I just got this antenna today and hooked it up to my PC digital tv card and it easily picked up every HD channel in the city of Charlotte, NC. I live in the upper north of the city and it had no problem bringing in all of the channels. Just follow the easy instructions and you shouldn't have a problem.

This antenna picks up the same number of channels as our old bunny ears, but looks much better, and the signal strength is more stable. We haven't had to move or adjust it since we installed it. Very easy to install, also. In our case, it won't work vertically mounted on the wall, it has to be horizontal, but it is very unobtrusive sitting behind the TV.

Using Rabbit ears I was only able to pick up 2 of the 7 main stations (the .1 s) all the time and at night 4 or 5 of them.Even then the picture droped in and out.With this unit I was able to pick up all seven of the main stations and their sisters.I live close enough to the towers but have a line of trees between me and the towers.I have found that lying the unit upright on the window sill has the strongest signal.The only window in this room faces east and all the HDTV towers are located to the west.I guess that the omni-directional is picking up signals bouncing off other buildings near the window.The unit has a 10 foot cable that makes it easy to find a spot and it is nice and compact so it dosen't stick out.If you live say 40 miles or more from your HD towers this will not work for you and you should use an outdoor unit.25 to 40 miles you should problably go with a directional unit from terk or phillips.Update....... as of the DTV switch-over at night I can now get 2 more stations that are over 50 miles away (this is because some stations get permission to power up their signals).I could barely get these stations with the analog signal and I do not have to move this unit to pick-up any new stations.