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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Antenna, But Slightly misleading, January 17, 2006
This review is from: Philips MANT-410 Amplified Indoor Antenna (Electronics)
So far, so good. First the background:
I live in downtown Dallas, on the 6th floor of an 11 story apartment building with concrete/brick walls, and only two windows in my apartment. I have a Plasma HDTV, and my cable is horrible, with very bad reception, caused by thousands of feet of cable, snaked throughout my building. As far as stations in my area, FOX and ABC are in the downtown area (ABC is about 5 blocks away from me, FOX about 15 blocks), and NBC is a little further, while CBS is the furthest at around 30 miles away. I purchased the antenna in hopes of receiving over-the-air HD signals from these major stations.
I was not expecting much from this $25 antenna, especially since it would be placed inside my building, and the majority of folks on-line seem to think that indoor antennas are a waste of money. But, upon plugging it in, and having my TV search for the channels, I was AMAZED at the quality of reception that this thing brings in. The picture quality is amazing, and oddly enough, the best station that I get is CBS, which is transmitting from the furthest distance. Not only do I get the 4 MAJOR networks (CBS, ABC, FOX, and NBC) but I also get UPN, WB, PBS, and an abundance of Spanish language and religious programming, all in either HD, or high quality Digital Transmission.
Watching sports and quality shows on television is the reason that you get an HD television. This antenna works very well for me. However, be forewarned: this antenna will not work for everyone who buys it. I recommend purchasing from a retailer that will allow for an exchange or return without penalty (i.e. restocking fees, or shipping charges). Also, I have yet to use my antenna during bad weather, so I have yet to see if the signals will fail during storms, or hold up. I am not expecting every station to come through during a storm, but hoping for the best.
So, that being said, here is why I find this product Good, but misleading. The product comes with a "Built-in selector switch makes it easy to change between antenna reception and alternate video sources" which I took to mean that I could switch between the antenna reception and my regular cable source, with no problems. This is not possible, as if you plug the cable source in, it cancels all antenna reception. I am not sure if this is supposed to happen or not. If not, then I have a defective antenna. If it is supposed to happen, then I am not sure what the purpose of the switch is. Maybe it's to switch between a VCR and antenna, so that you don't have to run your antenna through your VCR, but the switch does not work with my cable.
There are other ways to get around having two separate video sources (antenna and cable) that you need to get to your TV. If your television has picture in picture, with dual tuner, then you can plug your cable into one, and your antenna into the other. Or, you can run your cable through your VCR, plug the VCR into an AV jack on your television, and change channels via your VCR.
Anyway, the MANT410 is capable of great reception, and it works beautifully for me. Good luck.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good for the price, March 29, 2006
This review is from: Philips MANT-410 Amplified Indoor Antenna (Electronics)
I got mine at Walmart for $19.00. It works very well with HD and analog signals. I found that some stations work better with the unit turned off. Channel 6 freaks out with the power on, but comes in clear with the power off.
I live under 10 miles from the local tv stations. So, I cannot say how well it would work if you lived a greater distance away.
Price verses performance makes this a winner. I had a Terk antenna that clips on the Direct TV dish that was a piece of junk, and cost well over $100.00. It was returned after a week due to its POOR performance. On the other hand, This unit is way much better!
The Good: Compact
Cheap
Easier to install than a clip on Satelite antenna
Works better than a clip on Satelite antenna
The Bad: Nothing
I think most people would be pleased with this product.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good HDTV Antenna, January 11, 2008
This review is from: Philips MANT-410 Amplified Indoor Antenna (Electronics)
Let me qualify this review by first saying I am only using this antenna for HDTV, so I can't say anything useful about analog reception. What I can say about this antenna, is that it works well for me. After literally trying 6 (and returning 5) antennas, I am convinced that the percieved quality of the antenna has less to do with the antenna itself than with your individual situation/location. I'm sure all the antennas I returned work perfectly well, just not for my very specific location, so beware of any reviews that say 'this antenna is crap', because you need to try for yourself to be sure. This amplified antenna did slightly better than a standard rabbit ears I tried. Both could pull in every station within about 30 miles, but the amped antenna gave me a much more connsistent signal strength, with less drop-out, and no further per-station tweaking required once i got it situated in a good position. A word of warning, it does need to be turned on to work properly (and to use the very convenient a/b switch), so if you had plans to try it unpowered, think again. Also, out of all the antennas I tried, this was the only one that could even begin to lock on my more distant ABC station. The lock is far from solid, and is only watchable on rare occasions, but this antenna was the only one I tried that could even detect ABC was out there, so I think that says something too.
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